CHILDREN'S 500 - TEACHERS FOR SUSTAINABILITY 2025

CHILDREN’S 500 SPECIAL EDITION

TEACHERS FOR SUSTAINABILITY

CHILDREN’S 500 SPECIAL EDITION

“We witnessed how teachers dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to raising their students — the future — with an awareness of the importance of a sustainable and clean world. They do this by giving each student the attention they deserve, making complex topics understandable, and emphasizing the societal importance of climate education.

This attitude of solidarity is truly inspiring: by committing themselves in this way, teachers help secure the future of their students — who, after all, will live the longest with the consequences of climate change.”

- Mehrzad Joussefi

MEHRZAD & KIKI 2025 © ChildPress.org

All the inspiring people in the Children’s 500!

For every inspiring person we meet, we publish a cover on our website.

The ChildPress reporters create these covers in their own digital press center at childpress.org.

Each cover features a portrait, a quote, a video, a tip, and a date for an inspiring event.

2025 © ChildPress.org

CHILDPRESS AT THE TEACHERS FOR SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS 2025

Foto’s Wouter van Leeuwen 2025 © ChildPress.org

APPLICATIONS FOR THE NOMINATION OF THE TEACHERS FOR SUSTAINABILITY 2025

Nominees are marked with a yellow border.

WINNERS TEACHERS FOR SUSTAINABILITY 2025 NHL Stenden Hogeschool Leeuwarden

Alfa College Hoogeveen

Zone College Doetinchem

De Talisman Eindhoven

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MARK BOODE – STORIES FOR THE FUTURE Mark Boode is co-founder of Teachers for Climate and an active children's book author. In both roles, he advocates for an educational practice that not only provides young people with knowledge, but also offers them hope and a sense of agency.

Together with other writers, he founded Writers for the Future — an initiative that recently published the collection Hopeful Stories About the End of the World. Not a message of doom, but imagination as a driving force for change.

In his teaching, Mark promotes “planetary citizenship”: a mindset that prepares students for their role in a connected and fragile world. Not as spectators, but as active participants.

At the Dutch Education Exhibition 2025, we spoke with Mark, Chris van Hall, and Sjieka van Rooijen about citizenship, children's rights, activism in the classroom, and the importance of perspective-shifting in a world facing polarization and digital challenges. It became a powerful plea for making more room in education for empathy, imagination, and action.

We are looking for adults who are well-informed and make wise decisions — because children and young people urgently need their wisdom. The series Adolescence clearly shows how deeply young people long for adults who are approachable and truly knowledgeable.

Journalists can play a key role in this. Their publications can provide adults with the reliable information needed to make thoughtful choices.

ChildPress tools empower students to create meaningful publications from their own classrooms — just like professional journalists.

Imagine: if each of the 2.5 million students in the Netherlands could find one or more adults who could serve as role models for others... then you would not be alone in becoming better informed about what adults can truly do for children.

Read and follow us in the Children’s 500!

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN! Will you organize an election at your school too? Who inspires, motivates, and truly makes a difference — in the classroom and beyond? Which teacher, in your view, is most committed to sustainability and works toward a greener, fairer future? ● ●

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Every student counts and receives equal attention — evaluated on a scale from 1 to 10.

Proactivity is encouraged among all students, with special attention for those who may risk disengaging — scored from 1 to 10.

Students are given space to opt out of activities if needed — without judgment.

The importance of addressing climate issues is explained clearly and understandably.

COLOFON Children’s 500 Special Edition Duurzame Docenten ChildPress reporters Mehrzad Joussefi Kiki Ermers Foto’s Wouter van Leeuwen Geïnterviewden Bart Thijs Johanna Janssen Mandy van Valkenburg Frederique Amting Mark Boode Manuela de Zeeuw Joly Bogers Caro van Haalen Dirk Wascher Maximilian Eisenbart Productie & Design ChildPress.org

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