Education For Sustainable Development Practices Research Articles

EXPLORING THE TEACHER EDUCATORS PRACTICES FOR INTEGRATING EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTIONS

In the contemporary era, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has become a pivotal paradigm in global education, aiming to equip learners with essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes for a sustainable future. In Pakistan, embedding ESD within the education system is a national response to global sustainability challenges and the country's unique socio-economic and environmental issues. This study investigates the practices of teacher educators in integrating ESD into teacher education programs in Pakistan. Using the mixed-methods approach, research examines the practices about ESD and how these practices align with global ESD standards. Quantitative data were collected through a survey of 316 teacher educators from public universities in Punjab, while qualitative data was collected via interviews with 17 teacher educators. The findings reveal that many educators employ innovative methods such as project-based learning, collaborative tasks, and field trips, to ensure reliance on the traditional lecture-based approaches. It concludes with recommendations for enhancing ESD practices amid teacher educators, emphasizing the importance of training and awareness to foster SDE in Pakistan.

A multi-stakeholder perspective on the development of key competencies for sustainability in Education for Sustainable Development at school

A range of stakeholder groups are involved with fostering Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It is crucial that their views on the aims of ESD are aligned. This is a prerequisite for coordinated integration of ESD into the formal education system. However, research has not explored whether stakeholder groups have similar ideas about the aims and learning outcomes of ESD. This study investigates the differences and similarities in stakeholders’ opinions on the sustainability key competencies students should develop. We conducted 15 interviews with German experts in ESD practice, policy, and science, analyzing the results deductively using Qualitative Content Analysis within the UNESCO framework of Key Competencies for Sustainability. An inductive approach was used to identify aspects and concepts of competence that went beyond this framework. Most of the competencies mentioned could be assigned to the UNESCO framework, but we identified the additional competency of participating at the political level as being important for ESD. The experts also identified several other concepts. The three stakeholder groups emphasized different competencies and concepts, probably due to their differing professional backgrounds. However, similarities predominated, and the experts largely agreed on which competencies should be developed. Structural difficulties with integrating ESD into the education system are therefore not likely to be the result of fundamental differences in perspective between the three stakeholder groups on the aims of ESD. However, their different frames of reference might lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding, which could impede integration. This aspect needs thorough examination in the future.

The influence of the whole school approach on implementing education for sustainable development in Japan

This research investigates the influence of the whole school approach (WSA) on the education for sustainable development (ESD) practices of teachers in Japan. We focus on understanding how school organizations that facilitate WSA influence teachers’ ESD practices in a multifaceted and hierarchical manner. The multilevel analysis, which targeted 683 elementary and middle school teachers in ESD-promoting schools, revealed that the actual working environment may be more important than the school’s management system for helping individual teachers implement ESD, and that school-level WSA made a clear contribution to promoting ESD. The research suggests the importance of establishing the environmental conditions, such as the school board and principals’ guarantee of basic conditions (e.g., working hours, teaching materials, and an environment where teachers can exercise ownership), so that teachers who are interested in ESD practice can feel secure and assume ownership of ESD activities.

Early childhood educators’ understanding of education for sustainable development

ABSTRACT Education for sustainable development (ESD) prepares learners for global citizenship. It is considered the great hope through which Anthropogenic destruction can be halted and a sustainable future created. In Ireland, relevant State departments suggest Aistear, The Early Childhood Curriculum Framework, supports ESD in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practice. However, there is an absence of research concerning how or if Irish educators are facilitating ESD in ECEC. Bringing a children’s rights lens and systems-perspective, this article reports on a quantitative study framed within the Irish policy context. It offers first insight into educators’ practices and engagement with ESD in ECEC. Findings reveal educators feel inadequately prepared to facilitate ESD; they are either unsure or do not believe Aistear contains ESD content or facilitates their practice in this area. When viewed through a systematic lens missed opportunities to realise the goal of ESD in Irish ECEC are evident. It is highly probable large discrepancies exist in ESD implementation. This article joins other voices calling for the current updating of Aistear to ensure the presence of ESD. The implementation of the revised framework must include robust training, as, at present educators lack a foundation on which to base their ESD practice.

CULTIVATING TEACHERS’ CREATIVITY TOWARDS EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (ESD) IN TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET)

Background and Purpose: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a mechanism to educate people and make awareness toward sustainable development aims to develop competencies that enable and empower individuals to reflect on their actions. Although efforts to cultivate ESD have been implemented, government initiatives are still inadequate as the ESD issues, perspectives and skills integrate into various curriculum component that most research pursues are not apparent in the curriculum.
 
 Methodology: This quantitative research design aims to identify the relationship between the components of creativity on the pedagogical practice of ESD among teachers. There are three components of creativity which are domain skills, creative thinking skills and motivation. As for ESD, there are three pedagogical practices, namely holistic ideas, routines and structures besides professional knowledge creation. This study has carried out a survey design and uses quantitative approach by distributing questionnaire to the respondents randomly, comprising of 98 teachers from TVET institutions in Johor, for data collection. The data derived from questionnaires is analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) version 21. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the level of creativity components and ESD pedagogical practices among teachers in the TVET institution. The Spearman correlation has been used to evaluate the inferential statistical analysis by determining the relationship between the creativity components with ESD pedagogical practice among teachers in the TVET institution.
 Findings: Based on the results, it showed that the teachers in the TVET institution had high level of creativity components and ESD pedagogical practices. The results of the Spearman correlation analysis showed a significant relationship between creativity component to the pedagogical practice of ESD with a value of r = 0.724 and sig = 0.000 (p <0.05). The analysis reveals a strong relationship between creative components and ESD pedagogical practice. This suggested that the teachers' level of creativity influences pedagogical practice of ESD since having creativity affects teachers' awareness and concern for the environment for sustainable development as well as achieving the country's educational goals.
 
 Contributions: The results found a definite significant difference between the components of creativity on pedagogical practice for ESD among teachers in this TVET institution. Thus, the results of the study prove that the creativity component can influence pedagogical practice for ESD.
 
 Keywords: Teachers, creativity, pedagogical practices, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
 
 Cite as: Hashim, S., Mohd Zain, N. Z., & Mohamed Zahir, N. Z. (2023). Cultivating teachers’ creativity towards education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Journal of Nusantara Studies, 8(2), 155-179. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss2pp155-179

Optimizing Higher Education for Sustainable Development through the Design and Implementation of the Global Engagement Program

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) plays a significant role in the environmental, economic, social and cultural spheres and is a key element in achieving sustainable development goals. Higher education institutions, as the main producers of future leaders, are essential to the practice of ESD. However, Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD) is still in its infancy in many higher education institutions. This study adopts corpus-based text analysis and case study methods. Starting from the features of ESD and examining the case of the “Global Engagement Program”, this paper aims to explore how higher education can better promote sustainable development within the framework of ESD and proposes the model of HESD. Specifically, this study focuses on the following questions: (1) what are the features of ESD based on UNESCO’s official documents; (2) how does the Global Engagement Program seek to achieve HESD and (3) what is the proposed model of HESD?

Information Communication Technologies and Implementation of Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education in Uganda: A case of Busitema University

Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) play an important role in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), one of the multiple approaches advanced in the last two decades to address the global sustainability crisis. The role of higher education, especially as a main driver of change, in ameliorating the immense sustainability challenges is widely acknowledged. Educators in higher education institutions must strategically engage in profound transformative programmatic, pedagogical and organisational shifts in order to play this role. ICTs are important in enabling educators to make the necessary modifications to effectively promote themes, skills, knowledge, values and attitudes in learners that will foster sustainable development. This study adopted a concurrent mixed strategy to investigate the use of ICT in the implementation of ESD practices by academic staff of Busitema University in Uganda. It sought to find out the dominant ICT activities that staff used for implementing particular ESD practices. The sample consisted of 134 academic staff and students selected using simple random and purposive sampling. The study employed a questionnaire, interview and focus group guides as primary data collection instruments. The results point to a low level of ICT use, with the dominant ICT activities being of communication and sharing information, information creation and management, which did not add much value to the educational experiences of the learners in ESD. The study recommends staff training in ICT skills to address the challenge that comes with the use of new digital technologies, addressing the issues of access to ICTs and internet infrastructure.

A Deep Transformative Dimension of ESD in Japanese University: From Experiential to Emancipatory Learning in Online and Offline Environments

(1) Japanese universities have an important role in the sustainability of the students who are “oppressed” by social norms, while some of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) practices take a conventional approach. The purpose of this study is to take an educational programme as a case study on sustainability of oneself, others, and nature at a university in Tokyo, to compare the programme before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to illustrate what elaboration is required for the future programme. (2) This study used literature on the ESD framework for deeper learning and the Japanese youth as well as descriptive data such as observation and reflection of the participants in the ESD practice. (3) The relationships are confirmed among experiential, social, and transformative learnings in the formal and informal settings. The dynamics in the education about, in, and for sustainability is shown with education theory. The study shows a deeper dimension of self-transformation of the students in the online and offline learning environments. (4) The study suggests that the ESD programme with participatory and transformative approaches as socialisation and subjectification can lead the emancipation from “business as usual” for the Japanese university students when they accept new perspectives through the process of self-discovery and dialogues with others.

The role of ‘experience’ in teaching innovation in education for sustainable development in France

In the field of education for sustainable development (ESD), many authors refer to the notion of ‘experience’ and associated concepts. This highlights some of the theoretical underpinnings of ESD, a disciplinary field which, in France, became generalized in schools as of 2004. It has since been the subject of numerous research studies and undergone many institutional and professional changes. The present work first identifies the role that experience occupies in the educational field of ESD, according to educational researchers. It then explores the state and implementation of the notion in practice among professionals who use activities aimed at educating and training learners on the subject of sustainable development (SD). The gap we observe between various scientific meanings of the notion and its appropriation in professional contexts suggests that there are potential avenues for developing and improving teacher training by enriching ESD practices.

A Modeling Study on Science Teachers’ Sustainable Development Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices

This study investigates possible predictors of science teachers’ education for sustainable development (ESD) practices by controlling their significant life experiences (SLE), knowledge and attitudes about sustainable development (SD), and schools’ environment. Fifty schools and 376 teachers participated in the study. A survey was conducted investigating teachers’ demographic information and their knowledge and attitude about SD and ESD practices. Their schools were examined as ESD facilitators. Teachers’ SLE was a significant predictor of their knowledge and attitude about SD and their ESD practices. Besides, teachers’ knowledge about SD predicted their attitude towards SD. Their attitude towards SD and SLE predicted their ESD practices. Also, schools’ physical environment was not a significant predictor of any teacher-related variables.

Teachers’ ESD self-efficacy and practices: a longitudinal study on the impact of teacher professional development

This longitudinal quantitative study investigated teachers’ development of self-efficacy and teaching practices relating to education for sustainable development (ESD) in four compulsory schools in a Swedish municipality. The teachers participated in a professional development program over three school years designed to support them in implementing ESD. The program was based on five seminars that supported teachers to discuss and experiment with the principles, complexities and challenges of ESD. Data was collected at five different time points strategically planned at key moments in the program, using a questionnaire including scales measuring teachers’ self-efficacy for ESD and their self-reported ESD practices. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to follow the teachers evolution across a time span of about three years. Results show that the teachers’ self-efficacy was boosted early in the program, but fell back to initial levels after confrontation with practice. Through further experimentation in practice, the teachers’ self-efficacy increased back to the initial level toward the end of the program. Furthermore, teachers started self-reporting ESD practices as the program progressed, and the correlation between self-efficacy for ESD and ESD practices grew. These results highlight the importance of providing teachers with long-term opportunities for bringing ESD into their own educational practice. The results also caution against using self-efficacy as an outcome measure in short-term professionalization initiatives.

Early Childhood Educators’ Practices in Education for Sustainable Development in China: Evidence from Shandong Province

Educators can drive educational change and enable children’s learning for sustainable development. Early childhood education is an important component of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and analyzing early childhood educators’ ESD practices can help advance the implementation and realization of ESD. However, the existing overseas studies’ survey instruments do not systematically reflect the basic ideas of ESD. Furthermore, few studies have explored early childhood educators’ ESD practices in China. Therefore, this study established a newly developed and validated instrument, the Early Childhood Educators’ Education for Sustainable Development Practices Scale (ECEESDPS), to assess early childhood educators’ ESD practices. We randomly surveyed 7287 early childhood educators from Shandong Province. The psychometric properties show that the ECEESDPS is a reliable and valid scale that contains four constructs: Values, Content, Competency, and Implementation. The descriptive statistics revealed that educators scored relatively higher for the Values and Implementation constructs, and lower for the Content and Competency constructs. These results suggest that early childhood educators’ ESD practices are generally positive, which correlates with the theoretical background and policies of early childhood education in China. We provide implications for policy development and practical improvement.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of, and Experiences with, Technology-Enhanced Transformative Learning towards Education for Sustainable Development

Teacher education for sustainable development (ESD) is faced with continuing unsustainability trends, which require deep and enduring social transformation. Transformative learning is a possible solution to facilitating reflection on the cognitive and socio-emotional processes underpinning students’ learning towards sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of, and experiences with, technology-enhanced self-directed learning and design thinking as possible moderators of transformative learning in order to advance the concept and practice of teacher ESD. These perceptions and experiences are represented by 225 pedagogical and non-pedagogical students from the University of Ljubljana, asked to respond anonymously to three online questionnaires in May and June 2021. Findings indicate that strengthening the transformative aspect of ESD in pre-service teachers requires the consideration of critical reflection, self-awareness, risk propensity, holistic view and openness to diversity, and social support. Moreover, self-directed learning was found to be a moderator for transformative learning among pre-service science teachers, while design thinking was evenly developed among transformative learning for both low- and high-ability students, no matter the study programme. The conditioning factors and explanatory arguments for these results are also discussed.

(Un)expected Learning Outcomes of Virtual School Garden Exchanges in the Field of Education for Sustainable Development

Global solidarity is paramount in times of global crises and essential in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Virtual School Garden Exchanges (VSGEs) link local gardening with global thinking. In VSGEs, elementary and secondary school students in different parts of the world exchange information about their school gardens and related topics via digital media. Educators’ perspectives and the learning outcomes they observed in the participants of the VSGEs were the focus of this study, as there has been controversy about whether VSGEs are suitable for implementing ESD and whether VSGEs result in the learning outcomes that the educators expect them to. We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with VSGE educators and analyzed them in an abductive and qualitative manner. The results showed substantial overlap with both the expected learning outcomes and the aims of ESD. Nevertheless, the data revealed different ways in which learners who engaged with their international peers were influenced by stereotypes and norms. On the one hand, VSGEs can lead to Othering, which is not congruent with either ESD or the expected learning outcomes. On the other hand, it can inspire Transformative Learning processes, which contribute to the aims of ESD. Therefore, depending on a complex interplay of various factors, there is potential for ESD in VSGEs, but VSGEs are not guaranteed to be a good ESD practice.

Teacher education for sustainable development within national frameworks: Squaring the circle from a German perspective

This article deals with the question of how teacher education and teacher training in Germany – of which many aspects have been fragmentized – can nevertheless provide teachers with an adequate opportunity to systematically develop their professional competences in the field of education for sustainable development (ESD). Based on current education policy goals and relevant empirical research, the article offers a theory intended to cause coherence between three phases of teacher education and training in Germany, thereby integrating academic theory and ESD practice more consistently. Particular attention is given to teacher educators, educational managers, researchers and decision makers, who often have not acquired solid expertise in the specific area of ESD themselves. Their active inclusion is the key success factor in the intrinsic processes regarding organizational development at teacher education institutions.

The Construction of Teacher Identity in Education for Sustainable Development: The Case of Chinese ESP Teachers

As the education for sustainable development (ESD) has been advocated in diverse educational contexts, increasingly more attention has been paid to facilitate teachers as the promoters of such educational practice in higher education. Yet, less sufficient research has focused on the ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teachers, who are regarded as the pioneers of ESD practice, and their professional development. This study aims to promote teacher professional development in the area of ESD practice by investigating the identity construction of eight ESP teachers from a northern Chinese university. Drawing on a model of ESP teacher identity, the authors conducted life-history interviews concerning the five frames of identity construction. The results reveal a complex picture of ESP teachers’ professional identity construction. It is revealed that a majority of participants claimed a sense of achievement in their teaching of ESP skills and sustainability competences in graduates for the local socioeconomic development. However, their professional identification is undermined by such factors as the marginalization of ESP as a legitimate discipline, lack of acknowledgement of ESD in curriculum design, and teachers’ professional insecurity resulted from their professional incompetence and low academic status. This study provides a new and innovative perspective on the issue of ESD development in higher education.

Transdisciplinary Collaboration in ESD Teacher Education Programs

Putting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into effect will become a major task for the 21st century, particularly for future teachers who are expected to participate in ESD but whose studies often do not prepare them for this task. This article responds to the question how collaboration in teacher education can help bridge that gap and how it can contribute to the transdisciplinary demands of ESD. It assumes an essential role in enabling collaborative spaces of dialogue and transfer of knowledge between educators and students of all academic disciplines, schools, universities, local stakeholders, and CSO. This specifically includes perspectives from the Global South.
 Presenting the certificate program “el mundo – ESD in university level teacher education” (LMU Munich) as an example for collaborative ESD practice, the article identifies and presents four central fields of transdisciplinary collaboration in teacher education: content– related, institutional, and biography–affecting collaboration, as well as collaboration in pedagogical–didactic contexts.

Reviewing education for sustainable development practices in South African eco-schools

The Eco-Schools programme in South Africa is the longest-running Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) initiative in Africa, which aims to enhance environmental literacy amongst students. This paper reports on a qualitative study involving a focus group of environmental educators working for a non-profit organisation. Through a Rapid Appraisal Method, the environmental educators identified 44 successful eco-schools along with criteria and indicators which typified their selections. A Google search for articles on eco-schools found narrative histories of environmental learning to validate the indicators with a reflective commentary. The research identified 16 indicators including the ‘award’ achieved by schools, a supportive principal, an eco-committee, sustained eco-projects and whole-school involvement. This study develops and tentatively proposes a set of indicators that could support ‘successful’ ESD practice in South African contexts. It provides a critique of these context-specific indicators and recommends that we should use them as a reflective rather than a standardisation tool.

The Smart Classroom as a Means to the Development of ESD Methodologies

Educational institutions are envisioned as principal agents for addressing the current sustainability challenge that society is facing. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is transformational and concerns learning content and outcomes, pedagogy and the learning environment in itself. ESD entails rethinking the learning environment (physical and virtual) in line with sustainable development, which implies classrooms’ transformation towards learner engagement, formative assessments and active methodologies. This paper responds to this need through exploring the relationship between Smart Classrooms and four widely used ESD methodologies (project or problem-based learning, case study, simulation and cooperative inquiry), identifying how the dimensions and categories of the characteristics of Smart Classrooms can contribute and lead to the implementation of ESD methodologies in real teaching practice in an effective way. The method used in this study consisted of a literature review of both theoretical frameworks separately, ESD and Smart Classrooms, and a subsequent expert analysis to identify the interrelation between both. The Smart Classroom shows a high level of adequacy for using problem and project-based learning, case study and cooperative inquiry methods because of its characteristics in terms of technology developments, environmental conditions and processes. Simulation is the ESD methodology with the lowest level of adequacy in a Smart Classroom, because it is primarily held online rather than through face-to-face teaching. Smart Education facilitates the putting in practice of ESD processes as it enables the creation of intelligent, sustainable, resource-efficient, personalised and adaptive learning environments. Further empirical research is needed to explore the influence that the Smart Classroom has in enabling ESD processes and practices, and to identify students’ and teachers’ needs at different education levels. Additionally, teacher training programmes focused on the correct use of Smart Classrooms and on the digital competence of teachers are critical to its successful implementation.

‘I think it works better if we have an example to help us’: experiences in collaboratively conceptualizing the scaling of education for sustainable development practices in South Africa

This article aims to contribute to the knowledge of how the ‘scaling’ of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities is conceptualized in practice through transactional learning encounters. In the context of the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD, I discuss the re-actualisation of experiences as part of these encounters. The study is a result of data collected as part of a Re-Solve participatory research workshop held in South Africa in 2016, involving researchers and practitioners with experiences of ESD-activities in the Southern African region. To identify and analyse the transactional learning encounters a practical epistemology analysis (PEA) is used. The article draws on a Deweyan theory of learning as transactional encounters, supported with a tentative conceptual framework of scaling-ESD-activities-as-learning (SEAL). Throughout the study, I illustrate the transactional encounters, including the re-actualisation of participants’ past experiences of ESD-activities. These encounters enabled the conceptualization of contextually relevant concepts of scaling, thus constituting an enabling condition for reflective scaling practices.