Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T02:31:12.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Drivers and Blockers: Embedding Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Primary Teacher Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2012

Sue Wilson
Sue Wilson*
Affiliation:
Australian Catholic University, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Sue Wilson, Australian Catholic University, 223 Antill Street, Watson ACT 2602, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The growing emphasis on sustainability in school curricula in Australia reflects international trends in education. Teacher education is a vital strategy for the incorporation of Education for Sustainability (EfS) in school curricula. Research to identify drivers and barriers to embedding EfS across a primary teacher education program in an Australian university is the focus of this article. Using a mixed methods approach, data were gathered through document and unit outline audits, a self-efficacy pre-service teacher (PST) survey, and staff and PST focus group interviews. The audits identified a foundation of EfS principles and content across units. Lecturers identified societal and personal drivers and blockers to embedding EfS across the course, with lack of time considered the biggest blocker, which is also consistent with existing school-based research on the nature of teachers' work. PST responses described successful learning outcomes; however, confidence towards teaching sustainability varied. PST reported that the incorporation of community networks in their course provided enriching experiences. Embedding EfS involves values, sustainability concerns and appropriate knowledge and skills. Successful implementation will depend on the development of appropriate understandings of teacher educators.

Keywords

education for sustainabilitypreservice teacher educationdrivers
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , July 2012 , pp. 42 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2012). Australian Curriculum: Science v3. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Science/Curriculum/F-10#level=6Google Scholar
ACT Department of Education and Training. (2007). Every chance to learn: Curriculum framework for ACT schools. Canberra, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee. (2006). AVCC Policy on Education for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from http://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/documents/publications/policy/statements/Policy-on-Education-for-Sustainable-Development-Aug2006.pdfGoogle Scholar
Bandura, A. (1994). Self efficacy. In Ramachaudran, V.S. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of human behaviour (Vol. 4, pp. 71–81). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cross, R.T. (1998). Teachers' views about what to do about sustainable development. Environmental Education Research, 4 (1), 41–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutter, A., & Smith, R. (2001). Gauging primary school teachers' environmental literacy: An issue of ‘priority’. Asia Pacific Education Review, 2 (2), 45–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Smith, R. (2003). Ecological literacy: The ‘missing paradigm’ in environmental education (part one). Environmental Education Research, 9 (4), 497–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of the Environment and Heritage. (2007). Caring for our future: The Australian Government strategy for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005–2014. Retrieved from http://www.environment.gov.au/education/publications/pubs/caring.pdfGoogle Scholar
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. (2009). Living sustainably: The Australian Government's National Action Plan for Education for Sustainability. Canberra, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Ferreira, J., Ryan, L., Davis, J., Cavanagh, M., & Thomas, J. (2009). Mainstreaming sustainability into pre-service teacher education in Australia. Canberra, Australia: Prepared by the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.Google Scholar
Ferreira, J., Ryan, L., & Tilbury, D. (Eds.) (2006). Whole-school approaches to sustainability: A review of models for professional development in pre-service teacher education. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage and the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES).Google Scholar
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
Higher Education Academy (HEA). (2005). Sustainable development in higher education: current practice and future developments. York, UK: Author. Retrieved from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/ourwork/tla/sustainability/sustdevinHEfinalreport.pdfGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, C., & McKeown, R. (2002). Education for sustainable development: An international perspective. In Tilbury, D., Stevenson, R., Fien, J., & Schreuder, D. (Eds.), Education and sustainability: Responding to the global challenge. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN Commission on Education and Communication.Google Scholar
Holdsworth, S., Wyborn, C., Bekessy, S., & Thomas, I. (2008). Professional development for education for sustainability: How advanced are Australian universities? International Journal for Sustainability in Higher Education, 9 (2), 131–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huckle, J., & Stirling, S. (1996). Education for sustainability. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd.Google Scholar
Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. (2000). Participatory action research In Denzin, N.K. & Lincoln, Y.S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 567–606). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Littledyke, M., Taylor, N., & Eames, C. (2009). Education for sustainability in the primary curriculum: A guide for teachers. Melbourne, Australia: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Miles, R., Harrison, L., & Cutter-Mackenzie, A. (2006). Teacher education: A diluted environmental education experience. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 22 (1), 49–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riggs, I., & Enochs, L. (1990). Toward the development of an elementary teachers' science teaching efficacy belief instrument. Science Education, 74, 625–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennelly, J., Taylor, N., & Maxwell, T. (2008). A student teacher's personal pathway to education for sustainability. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 24, 23–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nias, J. (1989). Primary teachers talking: A study of teaching as work. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Scott, W., & Gough, S. (2007) Universities and sustainable development: The necessity for barriers to change. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 11 (4), 107–115. Retrieved from http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface~content=a782944283~fulltext=713240930Google Scholar
Sia, A. (1992, October). Preservice elementary teachers' perceived efficacy in teaching environmental education: A preliminary study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the ECO-ED North American Association for Environmental Education Toronto, Canada.Google Scholar
Spork, H. (1992). Environmental education: A mismatch between theory and practice. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 8, 147–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steele, F. (2010). Mainstreaming Education for Sustainability in pre-service teacher education: Enablers and constraints. Canberra, Australia: Prepared by the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.Google Scholar
Sterling, S. (2010). Learning for resilience, or the resilient learner? Towards a necessary reconciliation in a paradigm of sustainable education. Environmental Education Research, 16 (5–6), 511–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Summers, M., Corney, G., & Childs, A. (2004) Student teachers' conceptions of sustainable development: the starting points of geographers and scientists. Educational Research, 46 (2), 163–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2004). United Nations decade of education for sustainable development: Draft International implementation scheme 2005–2014. Paris: Author.Google Scholar
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2005). Guidelines and recommendations for reorienting teacher education to address sustainability (UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development in Action, Technical Paper No. 2, prepared by UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair on Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability and the International Network of Teacher-Education Institutions). Paris: Author. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001433/143370e.pdfGoogle Scholar
Wals, A. (2009). Review of contexts and structures for education for sustainable development 2009. Paris: UNESCO. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/education/justpublished_desd2009.pdfGoogle Scholar