Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T17:28:36.221Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sustainability Education and Teacher Education: Finding a Natural Habitat?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2013

John Buchanan
John Buchanan*
Affiliation:
University of Technology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: John Buchanan, PO Box 222, Lindfield NSW 2070, Australia. Email: John.Buchanan@uts.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sustainability education competes for curricular space, both in schools and in teacher education. Opportunities and barriers for the inclusion of sustainability education in an Australian university primary teacher education program are examined in this article. The study focused on the roles, practices and perceptions of teacher educators in promoting sustainability education. Three focus groups were conducted with members of faculty staff from each of the K–6 Key Learning Areas to gather data, which were analysed according to three frameworks: espoused/aspirational and actual practices of staff members; barriers to and affordances for teaching sustainability education; and the nature of initiatives, in terms of teaching/learning activities, assessment tasks, and resources. Beyond the Social Sciences, and Science and Technology, we found that inclusion of sustainability education is somewhat sporadic. The article proposes some ways forward to promote and abet sustainability education in a tertiary context.

Keywords

sustainability educationenvironmental educationreflective practiceteacher education
Type
Feature Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , December 2012 , pp. 108 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2013

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

ACARA. (2012). Cross-curriculum priorities: Sustainability. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/sustainability.htmlGoogle Scholar
Adams, W. (2006). The future of sustainability: Re-thinking environment and development in the twenty-first century (Report of the IUCN Renowned Thinkers Meeting). Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature.Google Scholar
Boyatzis, R. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J. (2011). Embedding education for sustainable development in curriculum: Chalks walking the talk? The Social Educator, 29 (1), 26–35.Google Scholar
Bliss, S. (2008). Geography: The world is its laboratory. In Marsh, C. (Ed.), Studies of society and environment: Exploring the possibilities (pp. 291–32). Sydney, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.Google Scholar
Cheong, I. (2005). Educating pre-service teachers for a sustainable environment. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 33 (1), 97–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia. (2010). Mainstreaming education for sustainability in pre-service education in Australia. Canberra, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Dale, A., & Newman, L. (2005). Sustainable development, education and literacy. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 6 (4), 351–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, K. (2011). Reporting systems for sustainability. What are they measuring? Social Indicators Research, 100 (2), 351–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Education and Training (DET). (2001). Environmental Education Policy for schools 2001. Sydney, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Department of the Environment and Heritage. (2007). Caring for our future: Australian Government strategy for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005–2014. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Dillon, J., Osborne, J., Fairbrother, B., & Kurina, I. (2000). A study into the professional views and needs of science teachers in primary and secondary schools in England. London: King's College London.Google Scholar
Falkner, R. (2009). Getting a deal on climate change: Obama's flexible multilateralism. Retrieved from http://personal.lse.ac.uk/Falkner/_private/Falkner%20-%202010%20-%20Obama%20climate%20policy.pdfGoogle Scholar
Ferreira, J., Ryan, L., & Tilbury, D. (2006). Whole-school approaches to sustainability: a review of models for professional development in pre-service teacher education. North Ryde: ARIES.Google Scholar
Ferreira, J., Ryan, L., & Tilbury, D. (2007). Mainstreaming education for sustainable development in initial teacher education in Australia: A review of existing professional development models. Journal of Education for Teaching, 33 (2), 225–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fien, J., & Maclean, R. (2000). Teacher education for sustainability. II. Two teacher education projects from Asia and the Pacific. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 9 (1), 37–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flannery, T. (2008). Now or never: A sustainable future for Australia? Quarterly Essay, 31, 1–66.Google Scholar
Foster, J. (2011). Sustainability and the learning virtues. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 43 (3), 383–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. (2006). Opinions, sustainability policy and the spontaneous order. Environmental Education Research, 11 (1), 115–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fullan, M. (2001). The new meaning of educational change.(3rd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fullan, M. (1993). Why teachers must become change agents. The Professional Teacher, 50 (6), 12–17.Google Scholar
Gooch, M., Rigano, D, Hickey, R., & Fien, J. (2008). How do primary pre-service teachers in a regional Australian university plan for teaching, learning and acting in environmentally responsible ways? Environmental Education Research, 14 (2), 175–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodrum, D., Hackling, M., & Rennie, L. (2001). The status and quality of teaching and learning of science in Australian schools: A research report. Canberra, Australia: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.Google Scholar
Hargreaves, A., & Fink, D. (2006). Sustainable leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Hart, P. (2003). Teachers’ thinking in environmental education: Consciousness and responsibility. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.Google Scholar
Hélot, C., & O'Laoire, M. (2011). Language policy for the multilingual classroom: Pedagogy of the possible. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, K., & Tilbury, D. (2004). Whole-school approaches to sustainability: An international review of sustainable school programs. Report prepared by the Australian Research Institute for Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.Google Scholar
Hill, S. (2005). Shared — dare I call it — wisdom. Retrieved from http://www.stuartbhill.com/Google Scholar
Hill, S., Wilson, S., & Watson, K. (2004). Learning ecology: A new approach to learning and transforming ecological consciousness: experiences from social ecology in Australia. In Sullivan, E. & Taylor, M. (Eds.), Learning toward an ecological consciousness: Selected transformative practices (pp. 47–64). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunting, S., & Tilbury, D. (2006). Shifting towards sustainability: Six insights into successful organisational change for sustainability. Sydney, Australia: Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES), for the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage.Google Scholar
Ingersoll, R., & Strong, M. (2011). The impact of induction and mentoring programs for beginning teachers: A critical review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 81 (2), 201–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jickling, B. (2009). Environmental education research: To what ends? Environmental Education Research, 15 (2), 209–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jickling, B., & Wals, A. (2008). Globalizaion and environmental education: Looking beyond sustainable development. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 41 (1), 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, P., Selby, D., & Sterling, S. (Eds.). (2010). Sustainability education: Perspectives and practice across higher education. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Katayama, J., & Gough, S. (2008). Developing sustainable development within the higher education curriculum: Observations from the HEFCE strategic review. Environmental Education Research, 14 (4), 413–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemmis, S., & Grootenboer, P. (2008) Situating praxis in practice: Practice architectures and the cultural, social and material conditions for practice. In Kemmis, S. & Smith, T. (Eds), Enabling praxis: Challenges for education (pp. 37–62). Rotterdam: Sense.CrossRefGoogle 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
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Canberra, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Mezirow, J., & Taylor, E. (Eds.). (2009). Transformative learning in practice: Insights from community, workplace and higher education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
Miles, R., Harrison, L., & Cutter-MacKenzie, A. (2006). Teacher education: A diluted environmental education experience. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 21 (1), 49–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, J. (2005). Barriers and pathways to creating sustainability education programs: Policy, rhetoric and reality. Environmental Education Research, 11 (5), 537–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgensen, F., & Schnack, K. (2010). The Action Competence Approach and the ‘new’ discourses of education for sustainable development, competence and quality criteria. Environmental Education Research, 16 (1), 59–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murder under the microscope. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.microscope.edu.au/Google Scholar
Paige, K., Lloyd, D., & Chartres, M. (2008). Moving towards transdisciplinarity: An ecological sustainable focus for science and mathematics pre-service education in the primary/middle years. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 36 (1), 19–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, S., Honeywood, S., & O'Toole, M. (2005). Not yet learning for sustainability: The challenge of environmental education in a university. International Research in Geography and Environmental Education, 14 (3), 173–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pietsch, M., & Williamson, J. (2010). ‘Getting the pieces together’: Negotiating the transition from pre-service to in-service teacher. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 38 (4), 331–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plowman, D., Solansky, S., Beck, T., Baker, L., Kulkarni, M., & Travis, D. (2007). The role of leadership in emergent, self-organization. The Leadership Quarterly, 18, 341–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to teach in higher education. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Reynolds, R. (2009). Teaching Studies of Society and Environment in the primary school. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ritchey, T. (1991). Analysis and synthesis. Systems Research, 8 (4), 21–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, A., Tilbury, D., Corcoran, P., Abe, O., & Nomura, K. (2010). Sustainability in higher education in the Asia-Pacific: Developments, challenges, and prospects. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11 (2), 106–119.CrossRefGoogle 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.Google Scholar
Scott, W. (2009). Environmental education research: 30 years on from Tbilisi. Environmental Education Research, 15 (2), 155–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Servage, L. (2008). Critical and transformative practices in professional learning communities. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35 (1), 63–77.Google Scholar
Steketee, M. (2011). Rudd reveals he's a phony on climate change. The Australian. Retrieved February 18, 2011, from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/rudd-reveals-hes-a-phony-on-climate-change/story-e6frg6zo-1225860504756Google Scholar
Sterling, S. (2004). Thinking systemically. In Tilbury, D. & Wortman, D. (Eds.), Engaging people in sustainability (pp. 77–93). Cambridge, UK: IUCN Publications Services Unit.Google Scholar
Stringer, E. (1996). Action research: A handbook for practitioners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Summers, M., Childs, A., & Corney, G. (2005). Education for sustainable development in initial teacher training: Issues for interdisciplinary collaboration. Environmental Education Research, 11 (5), 623–647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, N., Littledyke, M., & Eames, C. (2009). Why do we need to teach Education for Sustainability at the primary level? In Littledyke, M., Taylor, N., & Eames, C. (Eds.), Education for Sustainability in the Primary Curriculum: A guide for teachers (pp. 1–7). Melbourne, Australia: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Tytler, R. (2007). Re-imagining science education: Engaging students in science for Australia's future (Australian Education Review No. 51). Melbourne, Australia: ACER Press.Google Scholar
ULSF. (2012). University leaders for a sustainable future. Retrieved from http://www.ulsf.org/programs_talloires.htmlGoogle Scholar
UN/Agenda 21. (2012). Report of the United Nations Conference on environment and development. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htmGoogle Scholar
UNESCO. (2005). United Nations decade of education for a sustainable future: draft international implementation scheme. Paris: Author.Google Scholar
UNESCO-UNEP. (1990). Environmentally educated teachers: The priority of priorities. Connect, XV, 1–3.Google Scholar
UTS. (2012). University sustainability policy document. Retrieved from http://www.gsu.uts.edu.au/policies/environmentalsustainability.htmlGoogle Scholar
Velazquez, L., Munguia, N., & Sanchez, M. (2005). Deterring sustainability in higher education institutions: An appraisal of the factors which influence sustainability in higher education institutions. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 6 (4), 383–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wesselink, R., & Wals, A. (2011). Developing competence profiles for educators in environmental education organisations in the Netherlands. Environmental Education Research, 17 (1), 69–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/42/ares42-187.htmGoogle Scholar