Abstract
This paper analyses what occurs when in-service secondary teachers face a new subject, Landscape and Sustainability. Recently implemented in Galicia (NW Spain), this subject has no strong curricular constrictions. It is opened to diverse contents that can be integrated into Social Sciences. It promotes an environmental, social and critical consciousness. The hypothesis was that teachers may present deficiencies when approaching a subject which, due to its characteristics, requires training extending beyond disciplinary knowledge, thus impeding better performance and a greater degree of learning among pupils. The study was organised in three axes: (a) observation of the teaching and learning process in schools (n = 3); (b) teacher’s conceptions (n = 38) on the subject, its context and their pupils’ learning; and (c) pupils’ reflections (n = 70) derived from their learning process. The objectives were: (1) to elaborate a theoretical substantiation for the subject and, in accordance with it, making a critical analysis of the practices observed; (2) to analyse how teachers conceive the subject; and (3) to analyse the pupils’ reflections regarding the experience and to what extent they acquire social, civic and/or academic skills. The methodology was qualitative, using in the data analysis a quantitative perspective too. The instruments used were the participant observation, interviews, a closed questionnaire and a semi-opened questionnaire. The results are presented in a descriptive-interpretative way, but also quantitative. It can be advanced that teachers designed the subject in line with Place-Based Education and Heritage Education, but the lack of specific training in those theories ends up blurring their holistic approach in the nearby places. Teachers show similar conceptions about the subject and its teaching process. And the majority of students value positively the methodology used in the initiatives and acquire a socio-critical consciousness.
Highlights
This paper analyses what occurs when in-service secondary teachers face a new subject, Landscape and Sustainability
The Landscape and Sustainability (L&S), subject recently intro- The study is enriched by integrating Heritage Education, duced in Galicia
The results of the research are presented taking into account these three fundamental axes: observation, teachers’ conceptions and reception among the pupils. They are integrated in a framework of six thematic blocks (TB) based on the 10 dimensions of the teaching model which has been proposed for the successful teaching of Landscape and Sustainability (Fig. 1)
Summary
This paper analyses what occurs when in-service secondary teachers face a new subject, Landscape and Sustainability. The Landscape and Sustainability (L&S), subject recently intro- The study is enriched by integrating Heritage Education, duced in Galicia. It was offered from 2015 to 2016, with 1 h of reflecting with the pupils on the possible inclusion as heritage of class per week for pupils between 12 and 14 years of age (Xunta these everyday spaces, stimulating the work of investigating them, de Galicia, 2015). In the teaching of the social sciences there is no possibility of This model adopts a socio-critical approach: Transmitted observing a subject from its origins, if it is not subject heritage elements are addressed, which are publicly recognised as to great regulatory constraints and to the same pressure of eva- living documents. Invisible and hidden places and luation as the compulsory subjects
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