Building Teacher Identity in Environmental and Sustainability Education: The Perspectives of Preservice Secondary School Geography Teachers

Elizabeth A. C. Rushton

doi:10.3390/su13095321

Abstract

Geography teachers have an important role within environmental education and, in England, are developing their professional identities at a time when environmental education is contested. This study considers the experiences of five trainee secondary school geography teachers who are all part of a university-based teacher education programme rooted in an environmental justice approach. Data is drawn from three interviews with each of five individuals over the course of their training (15 interviews in total) and participants’ written reflections. Findings include (1) teachers draw on a range of approaches to implement Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE), (2) teachers share and value their own and their students’ stories of and personal connections with the environment and (3) teachers seek to enable young people to bring about change to their lives and communities. The contested nature of foregrounding ESE in the geography classroom is noted, as are the tensions and emotional load that teachers experience when seeking to develop their professional identity. Reflections are shared regarding the ways in which PGCE programmes provide teachers with opportunities to build ESE identities, in particular the role of semi-structured, reflexive interviews in providing an important space for identity work that could be usefully considered within the broader context of the newly implemented Early Career Teacher framework for England.

Highlights

Over recent years, young people across the world have been at the forefront of movements calling for climate justice and climate education including Fridays for Future andTeach the Future
In a review of environmental education policy in England, Glackin and King [3] highlight the limited and patchy coverage of the environment in national-level education policy and assessment specifications, with the environment largely restricted to science and geography, and the latter subject optional for students post-14 years
As previous studies have underlined the importance of the training year in developing teachers’ professional identity [4] and while environmental education is largely restricted to science and geography, it is teachers of these subjects that might usefully be the initial focus of further research

Summary

Introduction

Young people across the world have been at the forefront of movements calling for climate justice and climate education including Fridays for Future and. Glackin and King [3] found that where the environment is present, the focus is on education about or in the environment, rather than a holistic approach that includes education for the environment This is troubling as there is an overwhelming scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic climate change, in England, climate change education is persistently peripheral. As previous studies have underlined the importance of the training year in developing teachers’ professional identity [4] and while environmental education (in England) is largely restricted to science and geography, it is teachers of these subjects that might usefully be the initial focus of further research. I reflect on what these findings may indicate for future policy focused on teacher education and ESE more broadly in England

Teacher Identity and Environmental and Sutstainability Education

Institutional Context

Training to Become a Teacher in a Time of Global Pandemic

Data Collection

Analytical Process

Results and Discussion

Theme A

Theme B

Theme C

Theme D

Implications