How do you prepare a student for a job that does not yet exist?
As the green and digital transitions reshape economies, labour markets and communities, schools are facing a crucial challenge: equipping young people with the skills they will need to navigate an uncertain future. This is the starting point of LIGHT – Learning Initiatives for Green and High-Tech, a project implemented by AVSI in Sicily to strengthen the role of education in preparing the next generation for the professions of tomorrow.
At the heart of the initiative is a simple conviction: investing in young people means first investing in their teachers. To guide students through a future marked by climate change, technological innovation and evolving labour market demands, educators need access to updated tools, knowledge and teaching methodologies.
Education for sustainable development
The importance of education in building a sustainable future has long been recognised internationally. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 highlights the need to provide quality education that enables learners to address environmental, social and economic challenges.
In Italy, schools have increasingly incorporated themes such as citizenship education, environmental sustainability and digital skills into their curricula. Yet the challenge goes beyond introducing new topics. It requires turning these concepts into educational practices that foster critical thinking, collaboration and the transversal skills needed in a rapidly changing world.
This is particularly relevant for teachers working with students who face educational and social vulnerabilities, often intensified by economic uncertainty and limited opportunities.
Supporting vulnerable communities across Sicily
The LIGHT project operates in different areas of Sicily that share significant educational and social challenges.
These include the island’s inner rural areas, where depopulation and limited employment opportunities affect young people's prospects, as well as peripheral neighbourhoods in the metropolitan area of Catania, where educational poverty, economic hardship and social exclusion continue to hinder opportunities for many families.
In these contexts, discussing the green and digital transitions means much more than teaching technical skills. It means helping young people imagine a future for themselves, recognise the value of local resources and become active agents of change in their communities.
To achieve this, LIGHT promotes an experiential approach that brings together schools, local actors and professionals from different sectors, creating concrete opportunities for learning, career guidance and personal development.
Environment, innovation and future skills
Teachers and experts involved in the project have developed multidisciplinary learning pathways that connect environmental sustainability, technological innovation and local development.
Students have taken part in activities ranging from:
- exploring ancient grains and local biodiversity;
- creating bioplastics from prickly pear cactus pads;
- using artificial intelligence, theatre and STEAM disciplines to interpret present-day challenges and imagine future scenarios.
Through these experiences, students discover how agriculture, environmental protection, craftsmanship, technology and local development can generate new professional opportunities while building skills rooted in their own territories.
Training teachers for the world of 2035
A central component of LIGHT is its professional development programme for teachers.
Hosted at Archè vocational training centre, the programme combines online learning through a digital platform developed by Forest Valley with in-person workshops and collaborative learning activities.
During recent training sessions, facilitators Alice Casiraghi and Daniele Tamborini invited participants to imagine possible scenarios for the year 2035, reflecting on the impacts of climate change, technological innovation and labour market transformation.
The exercise led to a key question:
What skills will today’s students need to thrive in tomorrow’s world?
Participants identified a set of competencies that will become increasingly important alongside technical knowledge:
- adaptability;
- problem-solving;
- teamwork;
- responsible and critical use of technology;
- effective communication;
- lifelong learning.
In other words, the workers of the future will need not only specialised expertise, but also the ability to understand change and turn it into opportunity.
Educating for possibility
This is the challenge that LIGHT addresses every day in Sicilian schools: transforming educational difficulties, uncertainty and vulnerability into opportunities for growth.
In communities facing social and economic challenges, talking about green and digital transitions means above all helping young people regain the ability to imagine their future. It means showing that the places where they live can become spaces of innovation, sustainable development and meaningful work, building on natural resources, cultural heritage, agricultural value chains and emerging technologies.
LIGHT is founded on the belief that education for transition must first and foremost be education for possibility. By investing in teachers, supporting students and strengthening local communities, the project aims to equip the next generation with the skills not only to face the future, but to help shape it.
About the project
LIGHT – Learning Initiatives for Green and High-Tech is a three-year programme implemented by AVSI Foundation and funded by the Villum Foundation. The project supports teachers and students across Sicily through e-learning and practical training pathways focused on the green and digital transitions. Activities explore opportunities in sectors including hospitality, wellness, plumbing and heating systems, and mechanics, helping young people develop the competencies required by emerging labour markets.