<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Transforming our educational systems to support sustainable development is a challenge that involves all levels of education – policy, curriculum and pedagogical practice. One critical dimension to look at is a teacher’s identity as it influences a teacher’s decision-making, behaviour and action. The ecological self is the concept that is used in the context of sustainability. This paper discusses the emerging ecological self of one student teacher during her initial teacher education programme. The concepts of the teacher’s self and the ecological self form a lens through which the story of this student teacher is examined. The paper focuses on one part of a broader, longitudinal study of student teachers and their understanding of pedagogy and connectedness with nature in the context of the need for reorienting teacher education towards sustainability. Sterling’s (2001) conceptual framework of ecological view on education is taken as a tool to analyse the collected data. The results indicate that deep connectedness to nature and empathy are framing the holistic view on learning, teaching and a teacher’s self.</p></abstract>

Transforming our educational systems to support sustainable development is a challenge that involves all levels of education – policy, curriculum and pedagogical practice. One critical dimension to look at is a teacher’s identity as it influences a teacher’s decision-making, behaviour and action. The ecological self is the concept that is used in the context of sustainability. This paper discusses the emerging ecological self of one student teacher during her initial teacher education programme. The concepts of the teacher’s self and the ecological self form a lens through which the story of this student teacher is examined. The paper focuses on one part of a broader, longitudinal study of student teachers and their understanding of pedagogy and connectedness with nature in the context of the need for reorienting teacher education towards sustainability. Sterling’s (2001) conceptual framework of ecological view on education is taken as a tool to analyse the collected data. The results indicate that deep connectedness to nature and empathy are framing the holistic view on learning, teaching and a teacher’s self.

The Journey towards a Teacher’s Ecological Self: A Case Study of a Student Teacher

Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Transforming our educational systems to support sustainable development is a challenge that involves all levels of education – policy, curriculum and...

The Journey towards a Teacher’s Ecological Self: A Case Study of a Student Teacher

Published Online: Mar 11, 2015

Page range: 103 - 114

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2014-0014

Keywords
teacher education, student teacher’s identity, ecological self, sustainability, worldviews

© Rea Raus, Thomas Falkenberg

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Journey towards a Teacher’s Ecological Self: A Case Study of a Student Teacher

Published Online: Mar 11, 2015

Page range: 103 - 114

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2014-0014

Keywordsteacher education, student teacher’s identity, ecological self, sustainability, worldviews

© Rea Raus, Thomas Falkenberg

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
teacher education, student teacher’s identity, ecological self, sustainability, worldviews