Project Overview: ZL²

UNESCO views futures literacy as a key competence of the 21st century—the ability to understand changes, particularly in the context of climate change, and respond to them in a solution-oriented manner. Futures literacy requires imagination: while we cannot know the future, we can envision it and create a livable future for everyone in the present.

• Suggestions for pedagogy and beyond are offered in the anthology and video contributions from the reflection workshop.
• The Sparkling Science project "'Es wird einmal …' Wertstoffgeschichten erzählen für Zukünfte im Anthropozän" is dedicated to researching futures literacy.
• The research and development project "Learning future, teaching futures" (ZL²) translates futures literacy into the language of schools.

The Center for Futures⋅Literacy at the University College of Teacher Education Lower Austria and the UNESCO Chair "Futures Literacy – Learning and Teaching Futures Literacy in the Anthropocene" initiate and support this and other projects focused on cultural sustainability, science communication, and futures literacy.

"If not schools, then who? Future competence is the educational responsibility in the Anthropocene: Those who share responsibility for the future must have knowledge of the past. It is our pedagogical duty to counter the environmental skeptics and the Cassandras of our society with trust in the attainability of the good and to convey shared responsibility for societal change in the classroom. Learning means learning to take responsibility. Teaching means translating science into human language and enabling cultural optimism." – Erwin Rauscher, Rector of the University of Teacher Education Lower Austria