Abstract
Teacher education programs have an especially important role in reorienting education to realise education for sustainable development (ESD). In this paper, we investigate how ESD can be realised in science teacher education and we present findings from a case study in a Norwegian teacher education institution that has the overall aim of educating teachers who can contribute to sustainable development. Data was collected through participant observation and interviews, and, together with instructional artefacts and student assignments, analysed based on a model for science ESD. The paper provides an example of how ESD can be realised through a strengths model where ESD is founded in the strengths among the teacher educators and existing teaching practices. The results indicate that an emphasis on experiential learning and sociocultural learning theory builds a thorough foundation for ESD. However, the teaching has to be explicit in order to reach all student teachers.
Highlights
The teachers of today are educating the future leaders and citizens of the world; they play an important role in education for sustainable development (ESD) (Hopkins & McKeown, 2002)
The purpose of this study is to investigate how a teacher education institution with the overall aim of educating teachers who can contribute to sustainable development includes such practices in its science teacher education program
We have given an example of how a teacher education institution in Norway realised ESD through a strengths model by building on elements already present in the teacher education program, such as phenomenon-based teaching and inquiry learning
Summary
The teachers of today are educating the future leaders and citizens of the world; they play an important role in education for sustainable development (ESD) (Hopkins & McKeown, 2002). Several studies have found that teachers struggle to realise ESD in their teaching (Burmeister & Eilks, 2013; Burmeister, Rauch, & Eilks, 2012; Sinnes & Jegstad, 2011). It has been suggested that ESD be integrated as a perspective applied across the content in all existing subjects (Jegstad & Sinnes, 2015; Rudsberg & Öhman, 2010). Teacher educators play an important role in facilitating the development of student teachers’ professional understanding and practice within ESD (Corney & Reid, 2007). ESD as an overall aim of teacher education is rare in the research literature and the paper provides insight into a previously little researched area
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