Learning for the Future? Effects of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) on Teacher Education Students

Klas Andersson,Sverker Jagers,Annika Lindskog,Johan Martinsson

doi:10.3390/su5125135

Klas Andersson, Sverker Jagers + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su5125135

Copy DOI

Abstract

Currently, politicians, university representatives, scholars and leading NGOs share a strong belief in the ability of educational systems to generate positive attitudes to sustainable development (SD) among citizens, with the idea of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as perhaps the most apparent expression of this conviction. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether ESD might have the intended effects on teacher education students. More specifically, we account for the results from a panel study on the effects of a course on SD held in autumn 2010 at the University of Gothenburg (n = 323) on teacher education students. The surveys consisted of questions about the students’ concerns about various issues, including issues related to SD, and their attitudes towards SD and views of moral obligations to contributing to SD. The study included a control group (n = 97) consisting of students from the teacher-training programme at University West, which had not and did not include ESD. We find positive effects of ESD on almost all attitudes and perceptions, including e.g., personal responsibility in relation to SD and willingness to contribute to SD, while there is no noticeable effect in the control group. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of our results for the idea of ESD in teacher training programmes at Swedish higher education institutions.

Highlights

Many politicians, university representatives, scholars and leading NGOs currently share a belief in the ability of educational systems to generate positive attitudes to Sustainable Development (SD)among citizens [1]
The central idea behind Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is that the educational system can be more powerful in promoting changes than regulatory and market-based systems, when it comes to forming future generations of citizens who are either willing to change their attitudes and behaviour, or else at least accept policies aimed at steering society in a more sustainable direction
Participation and the Generation of Pro-SD Beliefs and Norms among the Student Teachers In Table 1, we account for the results concerning the first hypothesis, i.e., if participating in a teacher education course designed to provide the tools needed to teach about SD generates any pro-SD beliefs and norms among future teachers

Summary

Introduction

University representatives, scholars and leading NGOs currently share a belief in the ability of educational systems to generate positive attitudes to Sustainable Development (SD)among citizens [1]. The central idea behind ESD is that the educational system can be more powerful in promoting changes than regulatory and market-based systems (e.g., legislation and environmental taxes), when it comes to forming future generations of citizens who are either willing to change their attitudes and behaviour, or else at least accept policies aimed at steering society in a more sustainable direction. In this vision, schools, teachers and the institutions that educate the generation of teachers can be seen as a trinity carrying rather heavy expectations from various groupings concerned with SD. The expectations are high we find a limited literature investigating whether the trinity can affect the values, beliefs and norms regarding SD among future teachers and, if so, under what conditions

Objectives

Results

Conclusion