Abstract
In this paper, representations of Spanish Secondary Education trainee teachers (n = 163) are analyzed with regard to the socio-environmental problematic, end-purposes, and strategies of education for sustainable development (ESD). Likewise, the study seeks to identify the potential influence of sociodemographic variables on those representations and, in particular, possible differences between either the perceptions or the beliefs of trainee teachers of Geography and History and those from other disciplines. The study can be classified as a non-experimental ex post facto investigation based on a questionnaire, yielding results that reflected the commitment of the students towards teaching through the implementation of strategies directed at conflict resolution for social transformation, and towards teaching the development of critical and creative thinking skills for social interventions. Likewise, the study reports the promotion of specific socio-educational actions leading to sustainable development. These results show the absence of differences in terms of the sex, age, institutional affiliation, background discipline or specialism, or previous training in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the students. Despite the identification of greater tendencies towards the conceptualized development of social awareness and active citizenship among trainee teachers of Geography and History, these results reflected the pertinence and the educational need for ESD in higher education from a holistic and transversal perspective.
Highlights
In accordance with the Sustainable Development Report 2019 [1] from the Bertelsmann Stiftung Foundation and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network from the UN, there is a high risk of failure over compliance with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda
The attitudes of trainee teachers differed over the consideration of poverty as an environmental problem and, in consequence, with economic roots
They presented a clear tendency towards agreement over the teaching objective for the treatment of the sustainability-related subject matter on the need to strengthen conflict-resolution strategies as a tool for social transformation
Summary
In accordance with the Sustainable Development Report 2019 [1] from the Bertelsmann Stiftung Foundation and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network from the UN, there is a high risk of failure over compliance with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. The principal differences between countries are centered on such aspects as social inequality and environmental pollution. These countries confront challenges within very specific areas such as climate change, inequality, and education. In so far as those indicators are not improved, widespread sustainable development, and with it the well-being of local communities, will not be achieved. In this process, one of the main actions for sustainable change is the promotion of education for critical and responsible citizenship towards the immediate surroundings. The concept of sustainability is, clothed in controversial features and is difficult to define [5]
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