Sustainable Development In Schools Research Articles

CHALLENGES OF ELEMENTARY TEACHERS IN TEACHING ENGLISH: INSTRUCTIONAL SUPERVISION AND PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES IN FOCUS

The main purpose of this study is to discover the instructional supervision and pedagogical practices as major strategies used by teachers who are currently teaching in the elementary schools. This study will focus on the commitment of the teachers to teaching elementary students and how they boost perseverance in achieving their goals in teaching English. The decreasing number of students and increasing accountability to the public challenge in the Philippines is the sustainable development of schools. Schools must provide quality education to attract students and maintain their brand. For sustainable development, leaders are expected to strengthen the professional competency of teachers and staff, formulate strategic plans, and build collaborative relationships with external parties to manage change. Principals, as instructional leaders, are primarily responsible for promoting effective teaching implementation. Effective principals continually engage teachers in instructional dialog and reflective practices to ensure that they are thoroughly equipped to improve student performance. Effective principals are aware of the varied instructional strategies that directly or indirectly improve teachers professional development. When teachers are not well supervised, effectiveness in instruction will be adversely affected and the instructional purposes may not be well realized. Negligence in the improvement of instruction through improper instructional supervisory practices by school heads may go on without being detected. This may lead to low quality of instruction and invariably teachers lack of commitment to their job. KEYWORDS: Instructional supervision, pedagogical practices, challenges, elementary teacher

Living and Learning With Integrity: A Pushing and Pulling Ground for Teachers

Teacher integrity is crucial for maintaining their own sense of ethical identity, professionalism, developing institutional culture of learning and sustainable development of schools. However, there are several elements related to socio-cultural norms, values and practices that support or resist the effective adoption of integrity at schools and in day to day life. This study explores how teachers’ professional integrity is shaped and practised at schools. Following the qualitative study design, I employed mostly literature review substantiated by in-depth interviews with six teachers from two schools in Kavre district. The findings reveal that school culture determines integrity of teachers. School environment, prescribed rights and duties of teachers and headteacher’s leadership shape the integrity of teachers. The social settings and its ingredients are pushing and pulling grounds that teachers address duly for effective implementation of integrity at schools. Since integrity is a social phenomenon deeply rooted in socio-cultural practices, the state needs to come up with more sensitive and inclusive code of conduct for responsive behaviours and better results that are contextually developed through the continuous participation of the concerned stakeholders of the schools.

Laboratory Risk Assessment Based on SHELL-HACCP-Cloud Model

With the increasing demand and expanding scale of laboratories in colleges and universities, laboratory accidents frequently occur, seriously impacting personal health, schools, society, and the environment. Scientific and effective risk assessment is crucial to prevent accidents. Therefore, in order to effectively reduce the risk of chemical laboratories and minimize the frequency of accidents. This study employs the combination of the SHELL model and HACCP system to analyze the potential sources of hazards in hazardous chemical laboratories and establish a risk assessment index system. Based on the Cloud model, a dynamic risk assessment model for the laboratory is established to quantitatively evaluate the risk level of the evaluation results. In order to ensure the rationality of the assessment results, the subjective and objective weights are combined by the principle of minimizing information entropy. Case analysis proves the scientific validity of the evaluation results of the model, which can assist laboratory managers in formulating emergency plans and risk management mechanisms to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of experimental accidents. This approach ensures the safe and sustainable development of schools and laboratories, which is conducive to the progress of researchers’ scientific research results.

Environmental Literacy Education and Sustainable Development in Schools Based on Teaching Effectiveness

Environmental Literacy Education and Sustainable Development in Schools Based on Teaching Effectiveness

Misinformation as a Societal Problem in Times of Crisis: A Mixed-Methods Study with Future Teachers to Promote a Critical Attitude towards Information

Global society is facing major challenges, which are to be met by pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Digitalization processes bring many opportunities for achieving SDGs, but they also bring pitfalls. For example, on one hand, social media makes it easier for more parts of society to participate. On the other hand, the ability to rapidly circulate unfiltered information can lead to the spread of misinformation and subsequently interfere with the achievement of SDGs. This effect could be observed during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to occur in the context of climate change. Young people are especially likely to be exposed to misinformation on social media. With this in mind, it is enormously important for schools to prepare young people to critically handle the overload of information available online. The aim of this study was to provide future middle and high school teachers with a fruitful approach to foster a critical attitude towards information in classrooms. To this end, we expanded an existing approach by implementing active, technique-based inoculation and technique-based debunking within the COVID-19 content framework in a teacher education course. This implementation was monitored by a mixed-methods study with n = 24 future middle and high school teachers who participated in two courses in subsequent semesters. By performing statistical analysis on pretests and posttests and qualitative content analysis on reflective journal entries, we found that future teachers’ self-efficacy expectations for detecting and debunking misinformation, as well as their debunking skills, increased throughout the courses. In addition, our results show that future teachers perceive active, technology-based inoculation as a helpful approach for their future teaching. They feel that this approach can be a way to implement education for sustainable development in schools with a focus on the promotion of critical thinking. In summary, we believe that the approach presented in this article may be beneficial for teaching the critical treatment of information in various thematic contexts.

A sustainable development project including a role-play: analysis of teachers’ intentions to promote students’ engagement

This article raises the question of how to develop student engagement in activities for sustainable development in schools. It presents a case study in France resulting from a collaborative research involving the authors of this paper and a design team composed of two coordinators and two teachers, from elementary school and from the beginning of the college respectively. The project, designed by the teaching team, was carried out in two classes. Students had to design a new living space, one that remained fictitious, but which involved radically transforming their territory in order to make it pleasant and sustainable. After having imagined this new neighborhood, then transformed it by introducing constraints (related to energy, transportation, food, leisure…) and asking themselves questions, they then met, during a forum, experts in their area. The final stage of this process was a role-play during which the students were invited to take on the role of these experts and develop arguments about the construction of an amusement park in their neighborhood. From a scientific point of view, this article analyses the different levers mobilized by the design team to promote students’ engagement and the importance of the creative character of the project.

Analysis of Principal Leadership and Sustainable Development of Schools

Analysis of Principal Leadership and Sustainable Development of Schools

Preparing pre-service teachers for integration of education for sustainable development in school: A systematic review (2013-2022)

Teacher education is accountable for ensuring that all students acquire the knowledge and skills required to promote sustainable development, primarily via education for sustainable development (ESD). However, most of the research on ESD in teacher education focuses on specific education courses and countries. Thus, this review systematically explores global trends in ESD research within teacher education. Based on two databases, Web of Science and Scopus, 27 publications were retrieved from 2013 to 2022 using the SLR methodology and further analysed using the PRISMA method to obtain the main themes. First, the significant findings portrayed that ESD integration does not have any boundaries between fields. Second, the evidence demonstrates that ESD is integrated using various expanding strategies and methods into teacher education across nations and programmes. Third, by understanding the existence of various variables, actions and measurements may be performed before or after the incorporation of ESD into teacher education curricula in connection to the availability of external factors that may impact ESD implementation. These three findings indicated that there are still research gaps concerning ESD in teacher education to be explored. In conclusion, this study is beneficial for practitioners in evaluating which ESD approach is currently being used and in identifying ESD-related research needs in teacher education. In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the enhancement of ESD in teacher training institutions might lead to a new vision of education. Keywords: Education for sustainable development, pre-service teacher, sustainability, sustainable development goals, systematic literature review, teacher education

ICT tools and citizen science: a pathway to promote science learning and Education for Sustainable Development in schools

ABSTRACT The sustainability challenges facing humankind make necessary the convergence of Science Education (SE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Science learning and ESD requires the adoption of student-centred transformative teaching methods that promote values and critical thinking. This article explores the role of citizen science (CS) as an educational tool that could contribute in such transformative teaching. Innovative ICT tools that enable teachers to more easily engage their pupils in CS-based activities tailored to their local environment and teaching objectives have been developed and implemented in eight case studies, involving 214 students and seven teachers from three schools in Greece, the United Kingdom, and Spain. The results showed that: a) the CS-based educational initiatives contributed to improving natural science learning and represented progress in the development and integration of students’ competencies for sustainability; b) the developed ICT tools increased students’ interest and motivation; c) versatile ICT tools and platforms for teachers’ co-working can contribute to the inclusion of CS in the curriculum and thereby to the inclusion of ESD in schools. We conclude that such educational initiatives can contribute to the convergence of SE and ESD and help students develop global skills, preparing them for 21st century sustainability challenges.

How Important Is Future Teachers’ “Connectedness to Nature”? Adaptation and Validation of the Connectedness to Nature Scale

The teacher plays a key role in fostering sustainability and implementing Education for Sustainable Development at school. This paper presents a study aimed at adapting and validating a shorter version of the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) to measure student future teachers’ connectedness to nature. The scale has been translated into Croatian in an abbreviated form and applied to a specific sample of students from the Faculty of Teacher Education in Rijeka, Croatia (N = 138). One of the tasks was to examine whether there are statistically significant differences among students regarding their membership in eco-associations and previous participation in an Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development (EE/ESD) course. A special research objective was to determine the extent to which the current education and membership in an eco-association explain the connectedness to nature. In addition to the indicated research limitations, the results confirmed the significant measured characteristics of the scale. Education has so far proved to be a predictor of connectedness to nature. Additionally, the results showed that membership in an eco-association is a predictor of connectedness to nature. Based on the obtained results, it is possible to conclude that the connectedness to nature must be further explored, especially in the context of the initial education of future teachers, as a possible prerequisite for a successful practice of Education for Sustainable Development in schools.

The Use of Media in the Field of Individual Responsibility for Sustainable Development in Schools: A Proposal for an Approach to Learning about Sustainable Development

Emphasis on the balance between human needs and the carrying capacity of these needs in the context of sustainable development (SD) is present in interdisciplinary study programs and the content of higher education in Slovakia. In the theoretical part of this paper, we present the media as a tool that expands the possibilities of schools in the field of education about SD. It is proven to help school activities draw attention to the situation and problems of SD and to spread the reported problems outside the school space. We examine the practical dimension of the issue of individual responsibility for the world and SD through our own research. The aim is to analyze the individual tasks of sustainable human behavior from the perspective of university students. The research findings provide the current view of young respondents on the roles and individual responsibilities that exist for SD. They also answered in which of the four dimensions defined by the “National strategy for SD of the Slovak republic” the researched students see the greatest need for individual responsibility.

The Differences across Future Teachers Regarding Attitudes on Social Responsibility for Sustainable Development.

In the search for sustainable development, in which the ecological footprint is carefully considered by consumers and companies, teachers play an important role within a social and economic framework. This role relates to aspects of social responsibility. It should involve knowledge about education for responsible consumption in order to care for the environment both individually and socially. Considering this, the aim of this study is to find out whether there are differences in the level of awareness and the habits of future teachers of Early Childhood and Primary Education regarding sustainable social responsibility. A non-probabilistic sample of 30 Early Childhood Education degree students and 22 Primary Education degree students was used. Semi-structured interviews and an inductive process were conducted to examine the importance of Sustainable Development in society, the relevance of Social Responsibility for Sustainable Development (individual versus corporate), the attitudes and habits relative to Sustainable Development and the education on Sustainable Development in schools: knowledge, attitudes, and proposals. Students agree that they consume excessively. This is everyone’s individual responsibility (as regarded by all participants), although changes could be supported by institutions and companies (Early Childhood education students argue in favour of corporate responsibility). Knowledge deficits were identified in relation to production, distribution, and sale processes. They consider education to be the main factor for sustainability, while society is ranked as the least important, observing an evident disagreement in relation to environmental and economic factors (perception of collective responsibility; Early Childhood versus Primary Education students). Finally, they also outline teaching proposals (active and participatory) to foster education for sustainable development at schools.

Empirical Research on Education for Sustainable Development in Sufficiency-Based Schools

Education for sustainable development becomes a mantra for scholars worldwide. Yet, empirical research in the field of education for sustainable development is underdeveloped, especially in an emerging Asian economy of Thailand. Thailand has progressed toward education for sustainable development with its sufficiency-based school movement to advance sustainability in education. It aims to develop and promote a whole-of-school approach to apply sufficiency thinking for sustainable development to all school activities from management and student activities to community partnerships. Sufficiency thinking is based on a framework of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy” (SEP)—an alternative approach to sustainable development, as advocated by UNDP and resonated with UN SDG Goals. To advance the limited knowledge in the field, this research paper empirically investigates what school management practices/factors, based on the SEP theoretical framework, can significantly predict enhanced education for sustainable development in schools. Survey data stem from 240 schools in Thailand. Based on results of factor analysis, a research model for educational sustainability was emerged and proposed. Findings from multiple regression analysis suggest that SEP principles, namely virtues, prudence, stakeholder focus and enabling culture, are significant predictors of enhanced education for sustainable development in Thailand, possibly applicable in other countries. Keywords: Education, sustainable development, sustainability, SDG, sufficiency economy, Asia, Thailand.

Education for Sustainable Development and Multidimensional Implementation. A Study of Implementations of Sustainable Development in Education with the Curriculum of Upper Secondary School in Sweden as an Example

Abstract This article discusses different interpretations of sustainable development in education and if different interpretations of the concept are implemented in Curriculum, with the Swedish Curriculum of Upper Secondary School as an example. According to Agenda 21 sustainable development should be implemented in a multidimensional way. In 2011, a new school reform of upper secondary school was implemented in Sweden which further strengthened the position of sustainable development in school by inserting the term into more syllabuses. However, the multiple instances of the concept do not necessarily mean that a multidimensional interpretation of the concept is implemented in accordance with the objectives of Agenda 21. By using Laclau and Mouffe’s (2008) idea of discursive struggle as a theoretical framework it is possible to discern how descriptions of sustainable development essentially give rise to one discursive formation in the curriculum. The articulations of sustainable development in the curriculum rests on an idea of the ecosystem that seem to enforce the natural scientific rationality instead of letting different rationalities contribute to the meaning. The descriptions of sustainable development in the curriculum can be interpreted as a hegemonic expropriation of elements of other discourses, such as the social and economic, into the environmental (ecological) dimension. These results are consistent with other international studies, and emphasises the importance of taking a critical stance to the writings of Curriculum when putting them into practice.

Sustainable Environmental Management Indicators in South African Primary Schools

This research explores sustainable environmental management indicators in South African primary schools. Of key interest is the comparison of a township, farm and urban primary school that identify indicators that promote education for sustainable development in schools that implement an environmental management system. Data are drawn from one-on-one interviews, focus group interviews, observations and document analysis from 35 participants in three schools. A comparison of the three schools was done by content and thematic analysis of a within-case analysis. Data from the township school revealed that socioeconomic factors and organisational structure promote education for sustainable development. The farm school data revealed that health promotion can be managed within an environmental management system within a hierarchical school structure. The urban school data revealed that an economic inducement brings a school to realise that it can reduce its carbon footprint, gain financially and utilize its resources with innovation. A case is made that the four pillars of sustainable development (environment, society, economy, and governance) endorse education for sustainable development. Furthermore, the objectives of environmental education ought to remain nested in an environmental management system to ensure that the global goal of quality education is achieved.

Becoming critical: A challenge for the Global Learning Programme?

The Global Learning Programme in England employs a new form of networked governance to deliver education for sustainable development in schools. This article focuses on Biccum's claim that such programmes serve to sustain the prevailing neo-liberal hegemony by further marginalizing critical voices such as those drawing on Marxist and post-structuralist theories. After introducing the GLP, Biccum's argument, and indicators of the neo-liberalization of education for sustainable development, it examines the potential of these two theories to inform critical pedagogy. It then evaluates the GLP's core guidance, assessing the extent to which it reflects the indicators and whether it is likely to promote such pedagogy. It concludes by outlining some research questions.

Involvement of heads of departments in strategic planning in schools in the Pinetown District

ABSTRACTStrategic planning is crucial in facilitating sustainable development of schools. It enables schools to survive and cope with changes and challenges from government policies and market forces. There is broad agreement that all stakeholders need to be part of school strategic planning. In response to the lack of evidence suggesting stakeholders’ involvement – specifically that of Heads of Department (HOD) – in strategic planning in schools, and its value in ensuring that all stakeholders execute their duties, HODs’ experiences regarding their involvement in strategic planning were explored. Qualitative research was undertaken and semi-structured interviews were employed to generate data. The study reveals that the HODs were involved in some form of planning but there is no evidence suggesting their participation in substantive issues on strategic planning. Further, the study reveals that transparency-driven leadership and collaboration are key factors to ensure HODs’ participation in strategic planning. The findings suggest that the involvement of HODs is crucial towards improving teaching and learning.

Mentoring as a strategy for empowering Education for Sustainable Development in schools

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a demanding new field in terms of content and context and requires whole-school approaches and changes in educational structures. The field’s implementation constitutes a great challenge for teachers, novice in the field of ESD. Teacher education for ESD needs to effectively transfer knowledge and skills related to the concepts of sustainable development and reflect the relation of ESD to values education, systemic thinking and an interdisciplinary approach. The teaching methods employed by teacher education need to be in accordance with ESD methods and to empower teachers for integrating ESD in the teaching–learning process. For this purpose, we used a mentoring system to introduce experienced and newly appointed teachers, all novice in the field of ESD, to planning and implementing ESD and evaluated the potential of mentoring as a form of education for empowering teachers for ESD. Results highlight the value of mentoring since it encompasses all of the attributes that ESD teacher education requires in an experiential and practical form, it promotes teacher interaction and the formation of professional learning communities for ESD and it increases teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of the subject.

Implementing Education for Sustainable Development in schools: learning from teachers’ reflections

In recent years, in the UK, there has been a significant focus on research in Education for Sustainable Development/Global Citizenship Education (ESD/GCE) in initial teacher education and on projects and initiatives used with pupils in schools. However, there has been less specific focus on the ‘voices’ of teachers who have undertaken such projects: the documentation of their perceptions of effective pedagogy for the development of their pupils’ learning and, importantly, the development of their own concepts and values in relation to sustainability education as a result of implementing ESD/GCE-related topics. This paper aims to provide data from this relatively under-reported area. It examines what the teachers learned about effective pedagogy from undertaking a systematic study of their own practice in ESD/GCE-based topics, and it highlights the development of their own understanding of, and values about the place of ESD/GCE in the curriculum. The paper presents an analysis of the reflective journals kept by 10 teachers during the planning and implementation of ESD/GCE projects within their own classrooms. Findings emerging from the study were that critical reflection on their work gave the teachers the confidence to adopt the more learner-centred pedagogy of ESD/GCE, and that teachers, too, were able to benefit from the participation in ESD/GCE activities.