Tom 24 (2022): Zeszyt 1 (June 2022)

The article demonstrates an action research approach for constructing Transformative Sustainability Pedagogy (TSP) to empower teachers for a sustainable future. The starting point for the TSP was a Transformative Education for Gross National Happiness (GNH) teacher action research project in Bhutan (2010–2013) – a collaboration between the author, co-researcher and the Royal Education Council. Two Leadership Training Courses (LTC) were developed for teachers from seven schools based on critical/transformative pedagogy. The aim of the courses was to empower the teachers to carry out action research to infuse their schools with GNH principles and practices. The project concluded in 2013, and the results showed that the LTC transformative pedagogy and action research approach had successfully empowered teachers to act and promote GNH in their schools. Nine years on, the author re-analyzed the project data to identify the empowering pedagogical principles and construct TSP grounded in ecological principles and values.

Teacher educators prepare prospective teachers to deliver Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in schools. Lecturers’ personal perceptions of ESD guide them in this work. While there has been some research into lecturers’ perceptions of ESD in general, teacher educators as a group have been given scarcely any consideration. As groundwork for further research in this area, the research question that is the focus of this paper is: What do we know about teacher educators’ perceptions (understanding, attitudes, ideas about implementation) of ESD? We carried out a systematic literature review, including bibliographic analysis and qualitative content analysis of all the papers identified (N = 12). We found both broad and relatively limited understanding and mainly positive but also some negative attitudes. Common perceptions and/or experiences of barriers and drivers are set out below, as are reports on implementation. We conclude that further research is needed in this important field in order to develop measures to bring about systemic change in teacher education.

The article presents and discusses a study that focuses upon discursive representations of sustainability in English Language Teaching (ELT) that are found on the official web-site of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The study involved a corpus of texts related to sustainability in ELT that were collected on the website of the University of Oxford. The corpus was analyzed qualitatively to identify and classify the types of discursive representations of sustainability in ELT. After that, it was investigated quantitatively to calculate the most frequent types of discursive representations of sustainability. The results of the corpus analysis revealed that the most frequent types of discursive representation of sustainability in ELT at the University of Oxford involved “lifelong learning” and “digital sustainability”, respectively. It was found that the aforementioned discursive representations did not reflect the main sustainability goals that were set by the University of Oxford, inter alia, zero carbon emissions and biodiversity. It is suggested in the article that the discursive representations of sustainability “lifelong learning” and “digital sustainability” are indicative of an ELT-specific aspect of the discourse of sustainability that is communicated online by the University of Oxford.

The world’s cultural heritage (customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions, and values that signify a legacy of the history of humanity) provides identity to communities. In Mexico, the case of the World Heritage City of Xochimilco involves a sustainable agroecological system designed by its ancient inhabitants more than 500 years ago. Currently, the biodiversity and the chinampas (floating agricultural gardens) are at risk due to inconsistent government oversight and the lack of incentives for communities to carry on with the culture of agricultural production on Lake Xochimilco. Through a Challenge-Based Learning, a culturally relevant academic experience for university students was designed to involve them in preserving biodiversity while developing research and problem-solving skills. Satisfaction surveys and course evaluations indicated that this didactic methodology encouraged students to consider their connection to social justice issues and prompted them to expand their knowledge in their different disciplines. Socially-oriented experiential learning is an effective pedagogy that fosters a sense of social responsibility in students.

This research aims to answer the following question: How to advance in the development of competences aimed at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in business administration education? An exploratory literature review was conducted to discuss human competences for the SDGs and to propose advances for their conception and development in undergraduate courses in Business Management. The discussion was based on the guidelines established by the main body engaged in the cause, UNESCO. Education for sustainable development (ESD) guided the proposal of this study for the operationalization of competences for the SDGs, organized into: i) information used in the development of competences for the SDGs; ii) how competences should be defined; iii) competency based ESD content; iv) expected results from the operationalization of competences and v) who is involved in the process.

The research investigated the role of social justice in the relationship between cultural intelligence and attitude toward teaching profession. For a sustainable education, social justice and cultural intelligence are seen crucial in teaching profession. The data of the study were collected from 404 prospective teachers studying at a state university in Turkey by using a paper-based survey. For collecting the data, “Cultural Intelligence Scale (CIS)” developed by Ang et al. (2007) and adapted into Turkish by Ilhan and Cetin (2014); “Social Justice Scale (SJS)” developed by Torres-Harding et al. (2012) and adapted into Turkish by Cirik (2015); and “Attitude Scale of Teaching Profession” developed by Üstüner (2006) were used. A structural model was established and conducted to hypothesize the research questions. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate the measurement and structural model. The SEM-based mediating analysis using SPSS AMOS was employed to test the hypothesized relationships. According to the results, cultural intelligence predicted the attitude towards the teaching profession and also social justice. Moreover, social justice was found to be in the full mediating role in the relationship between cultural intelligence and attitude towards the teaching profession. The research concluded that social justice was an important factor in increasing cultural intelligence competencies of teacher candidates to enhance their positive attitude towards teaching profession.

In this article, the author analyzes environmental pedagogy in the Norwegian curricula for environmental and sustainability education from 1997 to 2020. The author investigates how climate-striking youth evaluate the outgoing curricula through a survey in which 88 respondents participated. The survey reveals that young climate activists demand a more action-oriented education that emphasizes political change. The author discusses the findings against the background of radical eco-pedagogy and the works of Richard Kahn, Chet Bower, and David Orr and concludes that the youth striking against climate change is practicing the curriculum they are asking for and that schools should welcome the strikes.

It is important to be able to make better informed decisions about issues such as sustainability and climate change that have both personal and global impact as early as possible in life. Primary teachers have a significant role in supporting students’ learning and understanding of these concepts. One important teaching skill that needs to be improved for understand sustainable development is the creation of meaningful generalizations, including models. Therefore, the learning experiences of pre-service primary teachers (N = 28) in regard to modelling was our focus. The results of our case study indicated concrete and visual modes as most common in student teachers’ experiences and understandings of modelling. The symbolic mode is less in evidence and an understanding of gestural and verbal models is rather unambiguous. Thus, we see a need and the potential to improve teaching and learning experiences in teacher education about the modelling of complex concepts.

The present study aimed at exploring the challenges faced by Jordanian parents and ways of support they provided to their children during online classes at the time of COVID-19 pandemic. It also aimed at investigating the difference between parental engagement in online education and two variables (i.e., school type and level of education). The researcher designed a questionnaire to collect the data from 181 Jordanian parents who were engaged in online education during the pandemic. The questionnaire consisted of 22 items, 15 items asked about challenges, and 7 items were related to parents’ support to their children. The results of this study revealed that parents reported pedagogical, personal, technical, and financial challenges during the pandemic. They also reported some ways of support to their children such as providing additional digital devices, explaining and completing new worksheets and assignments, and checking new required worksheets and assignments. The study provided some implications based on the obtained results.

The article presents small-scale qualitative research that reveals the views of teacher education (TE) experts from different geographical regions of Europe on teacher education admission criteria (TEA) today and in the future world. This exploration would open the international debate on the future need to reinvent the TE, TEA, and rethink the qualities of the TE candidates in a sustainable TE framework for the wide diversity of European countries. Data were collected from ten experts using a qualitative questionnaire with eight open questions, including one multiple choice question. Inductive and deductive qualitative content analysis was performed on the qualitative data collected. This study gives voice to professionals in TE and TEA, allowing them to express concerns, perspectives, and visions of current and future TE and TEA. In light of the cultural, social, political, and educational context in several European countries, the findings illustrate the scope of similar and unique discourses that are considered crucial in educational politics and decision making on the national, regional and pan-European scale.