Hollistic
ResilientSustainableHolistic
Sustainable
Who we are and what we do
what's the Bildung Climate School?
The Bildung Climate School is a groundbreaking educational program that empowers young people to face sustainability challenges with resilience, creativity, and care. We bring together students from vocational, applied, and university education in an interdisciplinary learning community, combining science, hands-on skills, and personal development to prepare the next generation for a just and sustainable world.
Vision: Resilient youth for sustainable futures
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
The Bildung Climate School (BCS) empowers students to face sustainability challenges with courage, creativity, and compassion. We provide students with experiences, mindsets, and tools to approach environmental crises systemically, while also helping them to manage emotions, stay hopeful without denying ecological realities, and encourage them to take action, both individually and collectively.
A unique aspect of the BCS is its interdisciplinary learning community, bringing together students from vocational (MBO), applied (HBO), and university (WO) education in one classroom. This mix of backgrounds and perspectives creates a rich environment for learning, experimentation, and collaboration.
The BCS mission
Our goal is to create an immersive personal and community development space for our students. Our programs combine creative practices, accessible science, martial arts, practical sustainability skills and personal reflection with project-work, real-world challenges, and internships.
Graduates gain personal resilience and wellbeing, stronger community ties, and the necessary leadership skills to navigate the transitions ahead of us. To achieve this, our education and pedagogics combine head, hands and heart.
When we say ‘head’, we equip students with clear frameworks to understand the planetary crisis, from climate science and ecosystems to economics and political forces. Short, accessible inputs are paired with workshops, basic research skills and project management, so knowledge is actively applied. Ethical and philosophical reflection helps students ask critical questions about responsibility, impact and stewardship.
Students leave with reliable knowledge, sound judgment and the tools to design and run meaningful projects.
When we say ‘hands’, we focus on practical resilience skills such as sustainable cooking, repair, mending, upcycling and basic craft. Through hands-on workshops and community collaborations, students turn simple techniques into real-world solutions.
Working with materials builds confidence, reduces waste and reconnects students with practical knowledge for a more resource-conscious society.
When we say ‘heart’, we draw on the Scandinavian tradition of Bildung. Through artistic practice, reflection and peer learning, students build emotional resilience and a sense of belonging. They learn to work with emotions such as grief and eco-anxiety, build trust, engage with difference and collaborate across backgrounds.
Heart strengthens the emotional and social capacity needed to stay well, act responsibly and lead together.
Our approach
Combining personal development and real-life practical learning
We believe that human flourishing is a whole-person experience, in which the body and the mind work together to reach their potential.
At the same time, potential is not an abstract concept: it is born in practice, in working with our hands, our heart and head.
Combining education, art and science for all youth
Humans are naturally creative and thirsty for knowledge and understanding; our highest potential comes from combining the two.
Whereas academic programs focus exclusively on scientific knowledge and vocational programs on practical skills, we believe everyone should be able to express themselves creatively, deserves a basic education in the scientific realities of the world, and the opportunity to do something with that knowledge in practice, regardless of their educational background.
Combining critical thinking, emotional resilience and community-building
Confronting the realities of our environmental and social crises can be emotionally intense for young people. That’s why we believe in helping them build emotional resilience through individual and collective efforts.
We believe that resilience will come from growing young people’s capacity to look after themselves and each other so they can better help others.
Learning across educational boundaries
Societal transitions do not respect disciplinary boundaries. The days of hyper-specialized education are over: we need people from all education backgrounds, from vocational to university education, to work together to help tackle the major challenges of our time.
Based on this belief, we offer the first integrated, credited MBO, HBO, WO program in the Netherlands.
Experimental Pedagogics
Framework (XP)
Experimental Pedagogics (XP) is a progressive educational meta-approach developed by Dr. Ginie Servant-Miklos at Erasmus University. Rooted in critical pedagogy and experiential learning, XP combines practical tools with deep theoretical foundations to empower educators in diverse contexts.
Towards a six month program (2027 - 2028)
Designing an integrated learning pathway that connects personal development, societal impact and academic recognition
The education model of the Bildung Climate School is built around the idea that meaningful sustainability learning starts with the individual and unfolds through collaboration, community engagement, and global perspective. Students from different educational backgrounds come together in a shared learning environment that combines reflection, project-based work, and real-world experience.
Across the program, academic learning is interwoven with practice, enabling participants to translate theory into action while earning formal recognition through electives and ECTS pathways. The result is a long-term framework that prepares learners not only to understand complex societal challenges, but to actively shape the systems and communities they become part of.
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Learn With Us
BCS Latest News
BCS documentary ‘Together: the Bildung Climate School’ available for public viewing
24. Feb. 2026
We are thrilled to finally be able to share our brand-new documentary ‘Together: the Bildung Climate School’ with the world.
The film provides exclusive, behind-the-scenes insights into the foundations, motivations and challenges behind our educational program.
BCS Inspiration Session - February 10th
24. Feb. 2026
What happens when you put educational leaders, students, policy makers and teachers from MBO, HBO, and WO together in a room and let them think about the future of education, together?
On February 10th, during our Inspiration Session at Albeda Rosestraat we explored exactly that question, and many more.
Get in touch with the team
Have a question, idea, or interest in collaborating with the Bildung Climate School? We would love to hear from you.
Reach out to explore partnerships, programs, or opportunities to contribute to inclusive and future-focused sustainability education.