Reference
Teaching guide: Monitoring the SDGs in 18 workshops
One opening workshop on the framework and methods, then one workshop per goal. Each goal workshop practises a different monitoring skill, so by the end students can audit any SDG progress report.
The 18 workshops
| Workshop | Topic | Monitoring skill | In-class activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The SDG framework, data and methods | Indicators, normalisation, aggregation, ratings and the trend rule | Read the G7 scorecard; use the trend calculator on Canada’s CO₂; agree how the class will judge ‘progress’. |
| 2 | 1No poverty | Choosing indicators that fit the context | Compare extreme and relative poverty; explain why the index and dashboard disagree. |
| 3 | 2Zero hunger | Composite goals and the ‘two worst indicators’ rule | Rebuild one country’s Goal 2 colour from its indicator ratings. |
| 4 | 3Good health and well-being | Data lags | List the year of every Goal 3 data point for Canada and discuss what ‘2026’ really measures. |
| 5 | 4Quality education | Survey cycles and timeliness | Trace PISA results across cycles and judge whether a trend arrow is justified. |
| 6 | 5Gender equality | Ratios, parity targets and step changes | Rank the G7 on women in parliament and link changes to election dates. |
| 7 | 6Clean water and sanitation | Disaggregation: what national averages hide | Find a Canadian group or region for whom the national water indicator is misleading. |
| 8 | 7Affordable and clean energy | Endowments and normalisation | Explain renewable shares with geography; rescale one indicator by hand from its bounds. |
| 9 | 8Decent work and economic growth | Business cycles and base-year sensitivity | Use the Trend lab to change the base year for unemployment and compare verdicts. |
| 10 | 9Industry, innovation and infrastructure | Input versus outcome indicators | Classify Goal 9 indicators and propose one outcome measure. |
| 11 | 10Reduced inequalities | Comparing inequality measures | Rank the G7 by Gini and Palma ratio and explain any differences. |
| 12 | 11Sustainable cities and communities | Stale data and urban averages | Decide how a report should treat a 2019 value when assigning a 2026 trend. |
| 13 | 12Responsible consumption and production | Consumption-based accounting and spillovers | Use the Spillovers page to separate domestic from imported impacts. |
| 14 | 13Climate action | Science-based thresholds and projections | Project Canada’s CO₂ to 2030 in the Trend lab and compute the pace needed. |
| 15 | 14Life below water | Data gaps and old data | Audit Goal 14 data years and write a short data-quality warning. |
| 16 | 15Life on land | Quantity versus quality indicators | Compare protected-area coverage with species survival and imported deforestation. |
| 17 | 16Peace, justice and strong institutions | Expert assessments versus official statistics | Classify Goal 16 indicators by source type and discuss reliability. |
| 18 | 17Partnerships for the goals | Commitments versus delivery; course synthesis | Track aid against the 0.7% target, then present group monitoring reports. |
Running a workshop
- Predict (10 minutes). Before opening the goal page, students guess Canada’s colour and arrow and which G7 country leads.
- Read the evidence (25 minutes). Work through the goal page: G7 trend, indicator table, one indicator over time, and the world comparison.
- Practise the skill (30 minutes). Pairs complete the activity in the table above and the workshop questions at the bottom of the goal page.
- Debrief (15 minutes). Compare answers: where did different choices lead to different verdicts?
Every chart has a Table view and a CSV download, so the same data can be analysed in Python, R or a spreadsheet.
Threads across the course
- Canada in focus. Each workshop starts from Canada’s result; the Canada page collects its strengths, weaknesses and backward trends.
- The rest of the world. Each goal page has a world map and regional averages; the world page supports comparisons beyond the G7.
- Spillovers. Introduced with Goal 6 (imported water), developed in Goals 12, 13 and 15, and concluded with Goal 17.
- Method sensitivity. Students revisit the Trend lab in workshops 9, 14 and 18 to test how base years and methods change the verdict.
Assessment ideas
- Country monitor (groups, through the term): each group adopts a G7 country and keeps a running log of its ratings, trends and data issues, goal by goal.
- Indicator audit (individual): choose one indicator; document its source, latest year, threshold and trend, and recompute the trend in the Trend lab.
- Method comparison (pairs): compare the SDSN verdict for one Canadian goal with Statistics Canada’s Canadian Indicator Framework and explain any disagreement.
- Final brief (groups): a short progress review for one G7 country, modelled on the Voluntary National Reviews countries present to the UN, with one page on spillovers.