Cultural Aspects of Sustainable Development in Teacher Education (original) (raw)
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Educating teachers for sustainable development (pp. 285-317)
Facets and Aspects of Research on Vocational Education and Training at Stockholm University - Emergent Issues in Research on Vocational Education & Training Vol. 4, 2019
Indeed, sustainability and sustainable development are the catchwords of our time. As a starting point for a scholarly conversation on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), the presentation here is approaching ESD from the perspective of teacher education. When we refer to teacher education, we are mainly moving within a Swedish context and using, as a case study, for the sake of exemplification, the vocational teachers training program. Initially, the discourse on sustain-ability is set in the context of current societal trends, experiences of social acceleration and changes in the tempo of modern social life. After that, a review is made of how the Curriculum for upper secondary school as well as the Education Plan for teacher education address SDE and whether it provides sufficient and unambiguous guidelines for teachers and school leaders to work for sustainable development in a sustainable way. The chapter concludes with some reflections about the transformative potential of ESD.
The teacher is the most important element in any educational program. It is the teacher who is responsible for implementation of the educational processes at any stage. This shows that it is imperative to invest in the preparation of teachers, so that the future of the nation is secure. Also, this is a well documented fact that the quality of teacher education has a direct bearing on the kind of education their students would obtain. It is hence implied that how the teachers are educated has to happen through a considerate, well- supervised and well thought out programs and curriculum. We must create such teachers who can educate students and teach them to become what we foresee our children to be in the future. If we want our students to be skillful, having knowledge of sustainable development and adopting these values in real life too, we must have our teachers trained with this philosophy. This transformation may come about in young children when their educators, i.e. teachers are educated in a holistic manner so that what teachers do is a synonym of their belief system. This may have a deeper influence on the thoughts of young children. It is well known that the quality and extent of learner achievement are determined primarily by teacher competence, sensitivity and motivation. Also, when the goal happens to be sustainable development then training of teachers with this outlook becomes even more important. They ought to be trained and educated how to teach what they teach in a sustainable manner. Therefore, integration of values of sustainable development in teacher education program is the necessary demand to have aware teachers who would produce students fully aware of intricacies of economic, political, global and environmental aspects of the reality they are present in. Our students need to be trained to handle and have a dialogue about big issues such as inequality, public health, global consumption, biodiversity loss and the limits of natural systems. In this paper, we have made an attempt to establish the balance, if any, between the purpose of teacher education as envisioned in UNESCO document and what actually is followed and even mentioned in B. Ed curriculum and the training institutes. Also to explore is there any gaps? What is the nature of these gaps and what plausible steps as a collective response we all must raise? Our paper will shed light on these aspects.
Education for Sustainable Development in Teacher Education. An International Perspective
Environmental Education, 2019
Teacher education is a key prerequisite for the promotion of education for sustainable development (ESD) at schools. Whether school-based education processes and the schools themselves can be shaped as sustainable educational institutions, depends largely on the knowledge, competencies, attitudes and values of the teachers, but also on the interaction with institutional frameworks and curricular structures. However, looking in detail at the state of teacher education for sustainable development in Germany, it becomes clear that the field is still very much characterised by courses and projects in individual disciplines. To date, there are hardly any structural changes in teacher education and training, and there is a need for development in the school structures and curricular requirements in order to promote the ESD concept. Therefore, in the coming years in the context of the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD, a stronger and faster integration of ESD into the structures of teacher education and the fostering of ESD practice should be given more importance.
Prospective teachers' understanding of sustainable development concept: A qualitative study
New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2020
This study aims to determine the prospective teachers' understanding of the concept of sustainable development (SD). This study used a qualitative research method. A total of 22 prospective teachers were included in this study. The participants were chosen using the purposeful sampling method. The research data were collected through a test of three open-ended questions developed by the researchers. The prospective teachers were asked the following questions: what are the reasons of the emergence of the concept of SD, what are the goals of the concept of SD and what are the criticisms of the concept of SD. They were required to answer the questions in writing and the written answers were analysed via content analysis. The findings obtained through content analysis were divided into categories related to the concept of SD, and then the themes were defined. Prospective teachers' understanding of the concept of SD was categorised into three (namely general reasons, environmenta...
Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 2012
A reflective case study approach, including focus interviews, reflective/reflexive journals and analysis of project-based works of 30 pre-service teachers participating in an undergraduate course was employed to investigate the discrepancy between the teachers" constructivist conceptions and the actual practice. The identified discrepancy seemed to be an outcome of the difficulty in translating constructivism into teaching practice, but also of the misleading conception of constructivism as a homogeneous philosophy. Through reflective practice, the participants were able to deconstruct and reconstruct their theories and practices of teaching in more emancipatory ways addressing issues of education for sustainable development. The present case study helps understand the nature of change process towards teaching and learning for more sustainable future.
Role of Teachers in Building the Concept of Sustainable Development: Success or Failure
2020
Sustainable Development (SD) is a rich, challenging and thought-provoking construct in social sciences. The main purpose of this paper was to identify and explore the role played by primary school teachers in building up the idea of sustainable development (SD) among students. This paper was intended to identify that how a teacher can successfully execute the concept of SD by influencing students’ minds at the primary level. Quantitative survey technique were utilized for data collection. All the primary school teachers of Lahore division comprised the population of the study. Through multistage sampling technique, 352 primary school teachers were selected as participants of the study. A self-developed SD questionnaire incorporating four major factors (teachers’ awareness, pedagogy, curricular and co-curricular activities) with Cronbach’s alpha value = .93 was used to measure the role of teachers in building the sustainability concept among students at primary level. The results ind...
The move to a sustainable future requires that we all learn to live, work and engage with our planet differently. Teacher education has been recognised as one of the most significant catalysts for bringing innovation and sustainability into education and thus supporting learners to contribute to the green transition. This theoretical paper seeks to provide an understanding of the need for, and challenge of, mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and describes the critical role of teacher education in advancing sustainable development. Drawing on findings of a literature review and case study collection commissioned by the European Commission, the authors identify key challenges and lessons learned to enhance teachers' professional learning in ESD. Future practice is identified to support efforts in this area and help teachers and teacher educators, including mathematics educators, to build competences that better allow them to connect their work and expertise with the sustainability imperative.
Education Sciences
The development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a challenge that requires the involvement of the educational system. This study seeks to identify the perception and knowledge of future teachers in relation to sustainable development (SD), the European Green Deal (ECD), and circular economy (CE) at the University of Granada. A qualitative study was carried out, conducted face to face, using an online questionnaire in the classroom. A total of 321 students participated, from bachelor’s degrees in early childhood and primary education to master’s degrees in secondary education. Out of these, 176 validated questionnaires were analyzed. The results showed that future teachers understood the importance of SD education as an important social problem. They believed that education in SD, EGD, or CE could contribute to solving environmental and social problems. Nevertheless, they doubted whether this training should be included by universities in their training actions for teac...
Analysis of Teacher Candidates Views on Sustainable Development
The purpose of this research is to evaluate teacher candidates' views about sustainable development. In this study, phenomenological method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used to gather data appropriate for the aim of the research. A total of 35 participants, chosen by purposive sampling among teacher candidates who were students in various teaching programs in an education faculty of a public university, form the study group of this research. The research data were gathered by means of semi-structured interviews and content analysis was used to analyze the obtained qualitative data. The research reveals that teacher candidates are not knowledgeable enough about sustainable development and its importance, and that they do not have enough activities regarding sustainable development.