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A Teacher committed to sustainable learning!
Testimonial : A Teacher committed to sustainable learning!
As part of the Eduki National Competition 2023/2024 – « My Future, My Ideas! », Ms Hajar Chmiti, geography teacher at the Vuillonnex Orientation Cycle in Geneva, guided her students through a process that was simultaneously creative, scientific, and civic-minded.
Under her supervision, the students stood out by winning the first and second Awards in the Media – Lower Secondary category with two original projects:
- ECOLOGYWELL – a documentary raising awareness about energy waste through the life of a person named Gywell, symbolizing our everyday actions and their global consequences.
- DETECTIVE-ENERGY – a humorous fiction exploring heat loss in their school, where two students investigate to understand and solve the problem.
These projects illustrate the commitment of the Vuillonnex school students and their teacher’s commitment to encourage the younger generation to reflect on the challenges of sustainable development.
👉 Discover the videos of the Award-winning “Media” projects below!
A new adventure for 2025/2026!
Following the enriching experience in 2024, Ms. Chmiti has chosen to participate in the Eduki 2025/2026 Competition – « Interconnected: human – digital – sustainable ».
After partaking in the Interconnected workshop with her class, she kindly shared her reflections on teaching sustainability, project-based learning, and ways to motivate her students.
Please find her complete interview below 👇
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🎤 Interview with Ms. Hajar Chmiti ✅
- What inspired you to participate in the « Interconnected: human – digital – sustainable » Competition?
My approach to teaching geography focuses on inquiry, awareness, and action, as it is essential for me to engage students in order to transmit knowledge effectively. For this reason, I pay particular attention to Education for Sustainability and project-based learning. These approaches help students explore the world in all its diversity and complexity, while guiding them to envision a multitude of possible futures.
- How do you prepare your students for the Competition?
I try to anchor the project in strong sustainability principles: teaching students to think critically without imposing solutions and guiding them toward complex thinking that considers numerous interactions between factors and stakeholders, while integrating value systems.
The goal is to provide knowledge that is usually less accessible, enhancing understanding of the issues and fostering innovation. I make it a point to formalize learning throughout the sequence, using a spiral approach that revisits key concepts at increasing levels of complexity.
- How does the Competition theme fit into the school curriculum?
The current Competition theme aligns perfectly with one of the three topics in the 11th-grade geography curriculum: “Information Flows.”
- Which theme interests you the most personally?
Personally, I am very motivated by exploring the diverse facets of teaching. I am therefore interested in any theme that encourages students to adopt a reflective approach. I try to instill a love for project-based work in my students, to which they respond enthusiastically.
- What memories do you value from the last edition of the Competition?
The atmosphere at the Award ceremony at the United Nations Palais was very warm, and the students were proud and delighted. It was a moment of sharing and recognition of their work, both moving and inspiring.
Testimonial : A Teacher committed to sustainable learning!
- How did your students experience the last Competition?
I prefer to answer this question by quoting one of the students directly. Throughout the project, I implemented an individual logbook to track each member of the group.
Here is an excerpt from Lisa’s conclusion:
“Thanks to this project, I learned a lot about the topic and thought about ways to save energy.
Thanks to group work and classroom activities, we learned to collaborate better and divide tasks.
With everyone’s ideas, we were able to improve Gywell’s video.
I hope this project will change people’s mindset and help them realize the consequences of their actions.”
- In your opinion, what did this project bring to your students?
This project allowed them to develop their critical thinking and autonomy. The students became aware of the impact of their daily choices and learned to connect course concepts to real-world issues.
They also strengthened their collaborative skills, creativity, and ability to communicate a committed message. Finally, they gained confidence by seeing that their ideas could have meaning and a real impact.
- What would you say to other teachers who are still hesitant to participate?
I would say: go for it without hesitation! This Competition is a wonderful opportunity to motivate students in new ways, give learning meaningful purpose, and create a very positive collective dynamic.
It also allows teachers to step outside the usual framework, experiment with new practices, and see how inventive, responsible, and committed students can be when placed at the center of their own learning.
“This Competition is a wonderful opportunity to motivate students in new ways,
give meaning to learning, and create a very positive collective dynamic.” Ms. Hajar Chmiti, Teacher, Cycle d’orientation de Vuillonnex
“I hope this project will change people’s mindset and help them realize the consequences of their actions.” Lisa, a student of Ms. Hajar Chmiti, Cycle d’orientation de Vuillonnex Orientation
