Despite the growing recognition of the importance of education for sustainable development (ESD), assessment practices have remained surprisingly underdeveloped (Redman et al, 2021). Assessment plays a critical role in advancing lifelong learning and quality education, particularly from an ESD perspective, suggesting the need to identify innovations in ESD assessment practice. As ESD-related learning diverges from traditional, transmissive education (Sterling, 2001), so too must ESD-related learning assessment. The importance of better aligning learning assessment with the principles and aspirations of ESD can hardly be overestimated given that in formal education contexts, assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning experience, shaping what and how students learn. For students, assessment is the real curriculum - what gets measured matters (Lingard & Lewis, 2016). Not only does assessment determine learning priorities, but it can contribute to students’ capacity to meet their own future learning needs by empowering them to take ownership of their learning and develop the skills and competencies necessary to navigate complex, real-world challenges (Boud, 2000). Hence, in the context of ESD, there is a need for assessment to be reimagined to reflect the distinct aspirations and learning outcomes of ESD, moving beyond traditional approaches to create a more nuanced and context-dependent assessment framework that empowers learners to take an active role in their learning (King et al., 2024).

UNESCO's ESD for 2030 Roadmap aims to raise awareness and understanding through the means of ESD for the SDGs and hopes to mobilize action towards SDG achievement. To support member states and partners in the implementation and realization of the ESD for 2030 framework within the 17 SDGs, UNESCO in 2024 launched the Transforming Futures project. Through a multi-stage action research approach this project will develop and publish three interlocking guidance documents for improving ESD learning: 

1. ESD Learning Outcomes, focusing on ESD competencies.

2. ESD Learning Assessment, improving assessment systems on ESD.

3. ESD Learning Environments, harnessing the power of the whole-institution approach. 

This research workshop focuses on the ESD Learning assessment guidance and its application in the participants research and practice.

To support the crucially needed innovation we have developed an ESD Learning Assessment Framework (ESD-LAF) based on four considerations; the why, what, how and who which are applied with three levels of alignment. 

Considerations:

• Why: the purpose or main objective(s) of implementing an assessment. The three main types are summative, formative, and impact.
• What: the learning outcomes that are being assessed. The three main types are cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral.
• How: the form and method of the assessment. The three main types are reflective, performance, and response assessments.
• Who: the configuration of roles for learners, teachers, and others involved in the assessment process. The four main types are the learner, peers, the educator, and third-parties. 

Assessments intended for use in ESD should be reviewed and appraised by checking its alignment with these considerations at three levels.

• Level 1: Inner alignment, assuring that there is internal consistency between the four considerations in such a way that they are mutually supportive and free from contradictions.

• Level 2: Outer alignment, assuring the assessment reflects the general principles and aspirations of ESD AND that the specifics of the assessment concretely and specifically align with the ESD learning objectives and pedagogies deployed for the learning unit to be assessed.

• Level 3: Contextual alignment, considers the feasibility of an assessment approach within the reality of where it must be deployed. 

Taken together the framework can be applied to promote the design and implementation of assessment approaches in ESD that can both evaluate and enhance learning and its application in relation to sustainability.

This research workshop will be a highly interactive session. The research team will start the session with a brief presentation (~20 minutes) and discussion (~10 minutes) on the ESD Learning Assessment Framework (Fischer et. al, in press). The ESD-LAF is currently undergoing testing as part of a UNESCO funded action research project in several countries around the world. Results, experiences, and lessons learned from the action research will be incorporated into the presentation as well as guide the more hands-on portion of the workshop. At this point each participant will be given a worksheet and asked to use the four considerations to describe an assessment that they have carried out (or are planning to carry out) in an ESD context (15 minutes). The participants will then be formed into small groups where they will share their descriptions of their assessments and together appraise the alignments of each other through a series of reflective prompts. The group time will conclude with a brainstorming session of how they might re-design or improve and strengthen their respective ESD learning assessments. The representatives from each group will share about their emergent insights and intended actions within their own assessment practices with the whole session. The session will close with the moderators tying together everyone's participation and reflecting on how innovative assessment can advance ESD more broadly while challenging the practices of mainstream education. The main goals of this workshop are to: +Introduce participants to the ESD-LAF approach to assessment as well as its purpose and potential applications. +Build skills in designing, modifying, and enhancing assessment tools in ESD. +Foster a dialogue around the links between transformative learning and assessment practices.

For ESD to do its part in transforming the world for better there is an enormous need both for more and better data about what works and how AND for assessment that supports and fosters learning of a different kind. Yet assessment research and practice in ESD has not yet matured to the extent needed to meet this demand. The challenges of sustainability are however urgent and therefore assessment must draw heavily from the experiences of other fields. To this end, as part of the UNESCO-sponsored Transforming Futures project, we integrated key learnings and experience from the broad field of educational assessment with the unique and transformative characteristics of ESD to develop a practical framework. By taking into account the alignment of four considerations across three levels, everyone involved in ESD, from teachers to policymakers can shift the current status quo (and often counterproductive) practices of assessment to the innovations needed for ESD Learning Assessments. Herein also lies a potential for ESD to chart a way forward and innovate assessment practices in other educational fields, contributing to its broader ambition to advance quality education. As ESD is (hopefully) increasingly mainstreamed as called for by the UN and others, assessment practices in ESD will play a key role if this mainstreaming moves us closer to the education that is needed or just reinforces the status quo ante.

Boud, D. (2000). Sustainable Assessment: Rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in Continuing Education, 22(2), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/713695728 Fischer, D., King, J., & Redman, A. (In Press). Rethinking Learning Assessment in Education for Sustainable Development: A Call for Action. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development. King, J., Brundiers, K., & Fischer, D. (2024). Student agency in a sustainability-oriented assessment process: exploring expansive learning in student-led rubric co-design. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 49(6), 851–863. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2024.2333031 Lingard, B., & Lewis, S. (2016). Globalization of the Anglo-American Approach to Top-Down, Test-Based Educational Accountability. In G. T. L. Brown & L. R. Harris (Eds.), Handbook of human and social conditions in assessment (pp. 387–403). RoutledgeTaylor & Francis Group. Redman, A., Wiek, A., & Barth, M. (2021). Current practice of assessing students’ sustainability competencies: A review of tools. Sustainability Science, 16(1), 117–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00855-1 Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable Education: Re-visioning Learning and Change. Schumacher Briefings: Vol. 6. Green Books Ltd.