The United Nations defined 17 so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While education is crucial for achieving each of them, SDG 4 is specifically about inclusive, equitable, quality education.
SDG4 aims to ensure it is not only for children, but promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all. Its 10 targets – very much in line with what this module has already covered – are the following:
Targets 1 to 3 aim to ensure access to free formal education, early childhood development services and tertiary education, emphasising the need for barrier-free access regardless of the family’s financial background, gender or other, as well as the need to offer quality services leading to relevant learning.
Target 5 especially calls for removing all barriers.
Targets 4, 4a, 4b, 4c and 6 aim at providing education that supports the learner in gaining basic skills as well as relevant ones for life as a worker as well as a citizen. They also aim for creating the right environment for learning for all, by ensuring physically accessible and financial access to education as well as by training educators.
Target 7 advocates for educating global citizens aware of the SDGs, thus making SDG4 a goal supporting all others.
For SDG 4 an infographics map has been created by UNESCO that shows the various venues of learning and the interlinkages of these venues. As a teacher, you should have an idea of the actual map around children attending your school.
Essay:
Use Google Maps or an alternative map available online, and pin and label as many learning venues in your school’s immediate neighbourhood as you can. Share the map in your learning journal.