Constructing education for sustainable development: the secondary school geography curriculum and initial teacher training

If education is a solution in working toward a sustainable future then initial teacher training (ITT) provides a strategic opportunity for ensuring that all teachers are able to teach for sustainability when they begin their teaching careers. This paper reports on a study of how four Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) student teachers planned and taught education for sustainable development (ESD) through geography during a school placement. It was carried out to provide exemplification of the nature of student teachers' planning and teaching about ESD in secondary schools in England and to identify ways of improving their PGCE course. The findings are based on interviews with student teachers after the school placement, as well documentary evidence. Policy‐driven changes in the provision of both ITT and school curricula and pedagogy in England are an important context for the study. The paper concludes by arguing that ITT faces considerable challenges if it is to be reoriented towards sustainability.     

Student teachers' learning about subject matter and pedagogy in education for sustainable development

This article reports on an investigation of student teachers’ learning about education for sustainable development (ESD). Phenomenographic data were collected using open proformas and interviews from student geography teachers taking the University of Oxford Post‐Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in 2003–2004. The data analysis focuses on what the cohort of student teachers perceived as their learning about ESD and the sources that contribute to it. Extracts from the data illustrate their conceptions of subject matter, regarding the relevance of sustainable development for school students, its complex and contested meanings, and the challenges it presents for learning and learners. Data on conceptions of pedagogy illustrate their depth of learning about the relationship between ESD subject matter and approaches and strategies in teaching and learning, and features of pedagogy that illustrate interactive teaching strategies. Various school and university‐based sources were identified by the student teachers as leading to specific aspects of learning about ESD, although many of the accounts illustrate a combination of sources. Implications of the findings for teacher education and research in ESD are also discussed.     

To Challenge or Not To Challenge: The Mentor's Dilemma

This paper focuses upon open and distance learning initial teacher education in both primary and secondary sectors and explores the ways in which mentors challenge PGCE students in their professional thinking and classroom practice. It draws upon ethnographic research on mentors and student teachers during one presentation of the course. The data are based on observations of mentors working with students on final student placement, conversations with specialist subject mentor trainers as well as questionnaire and other source material. An analysis of how mentors articulate their knowledge base; the dialogue between mentor and student and the challenge of moving from novice to expert for the student teacher are all considered. Our conclusions have implications for all ITT and will also be a source of valuable practical help for student teachers and mentors.     

New Forms of Partnership Between Schools and Teacher Education Institutes in The Netherlands

Teacher educators are not satisfied with their relations with the schools. In Holland, student teachers go to schools for their teaching practice and obtain the topics of their research projects from their practical experiences. Cooperating teachers are trained to supervise the student teachers during their practice periods. In this paper three attempts to improve the relationship between schools and teacher education institutes are described, analysed and the advantages given for the different partners (student teachers, teacher education, schools). The conclusion is that for the professional development of prospective teachers well organised and complete partnerships between schools and teacher education institutes are crucial.     

Teaching contributions from secondary school subject areas to education for sustainable development – a comparative study of science,social science and language teachers

Abstract

In many countries’ policy documents and curricula, teachers in the subject areas of science, social science and language are encouraged to collaborate on cross-curricular issues such as sustainable development (SD). This study is conducted in secondary schools (compulsory years 7-9) in Sweden and investigates the similarities and differences in the responses of ten teacher groups (forty-three teachers in total) to questions about their teaching contributions in their own subject areas to education for sustainable development (ESD). The overall aim is to understand how teachers of these three subject areas can contribute to cross-curricular teaching in teacher teams in the context of ESD. This is done by analysing the group responses from data collected in group discussions concerning the teaching dimensions what (content), how (methods) and why (purposes) in relation to ESD. We first analyse the teacher group responses and arguments regarding their contribution to ESD teaching from each subject area separately. Thereafter, we comparatively analyse how the different subject areas’ contributions overlap or complement each other in a potential collaborative ESD teaching. The results show that teachers from different subject areas stress different yet complimentary dimensions of teaching and perspectives of ESD. The implications for cross-curricular teaching in ESD are also discussed.     

The influence of teacher education on mentor teachers’ role perception in professional development schools

Apprenticeship and professional development schools (PDSs) are two models for teacher education. The mentors that are the focus for this research completed their initial teacher training through one of these models and now mentor in PDSs. The paper reports on how the way in which they were trained as student teachers influenced their role perceptions. The findings suggest that mentor teachers who were trained via the PDSs model have a broader conceptual understanding of their role perception.     

Ethical behaviours of student teachers’ mentors in forced same-gender and cross-gender matches in a Malawian Initial Primary Teacher Education programme: implications for mentor selection and development

The popularity of assigned or forced same-gender and cross-gender matches between school mentors and student teachers has heightened concerns regarding the ethical and/or unethical behaviours of mentors. In this article the authors present the findings of a crosssectional survey study on the prevalence of ethical and/or unethical behaviours of school mentors in forced same-gender and cross-gender matches from the perspective of their student teachers in Malawi’s Initial Primary teacher education mentoring programme. The study was grounded in a positivist paradigm and a quantitative approach was followed. A structured questionnaire was dropped to and picked up from a census sample of 616 student teachers who were attached to 92 school mentors in 92 primary schools by one of the Primary teacher training colleges in Malawi. Univariate and bivariate analysis using SPSS version 20.0 was employed to analyse the quantitative data. The results revealed that school mentors in forced same-gender as well as in cross-gender matches exhibited more unethical than ethical behaviours to their student teachers; and that their unethical behaviours were graver in demonstrating deontological responsibility such as using their power and authority to expose student teachers to risky conditions. The study also found no significant difference in ethical and/or unethical behaviours of mentors in forced same-gender and cross-gender matches. Overall, the results supported the need for careful mentor selection; regular mentor development opportunities; and regular monitoring of the mentoring processes.     

Helping Primary Student Teachers Understand Pupils' Learning: Exploring the student‐mentor interaction

The school-based task is firmly established in teacher education in the UK. In the study reported, primary student teachers carried out tasks exploring children's learning in science and were told to discuss the outcomes with their classteacher-mentors. The tasks and their university-based training followed a "constructivist" approach to learning science. The mentors' role in debriefing school-based tasks has been assumed to be one of "reflective practitioner" able to unpack issues of pedagogy with the student teacher. The research reported here shows that discussions often lacked depth or reflected a superficial or different understanding of constructivism by mentors that conflicted with the student teachers' aspirations. The implications of the research for future practice in teacher education and specifically for the training of mentors in science are discussed.     

Knowledge about Education for Sustainable Development: four case studies of student teachers in English secondary schools

Considerable activity has occurred in the recent past regarding policy‐making around Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the school curriculum. Teaching about sustainable development involves complex and contested ethical and political issues. This case study research investigates how four student teachers taking part in a one‐year teacher education programme in a university in England (Post Graduate Certificate in Education or PGCE) translate their knowledge, experiences and beliefs about ESD into classroom practice in the context of the Geography National Curriculum and ESD policies in secondary schools. The researchers critically analyse curriculum materials used by three student teachers to explore the potential for ethical and political engagement with ESD knowledge. The research reveals some of the ethical and political dilemmas faced by student teachers who, as committed environmentalists, struggle to resolve the tensions between the constraints of policy, school culture, school teaching materials and their own values and enthusiasms.     

Making sense of education ‘responsibly’: findings from a study of student teachers' understanding(s) of education,sustainable development and Education for Sustainable Development

This article discusses findings from a tri‐country study of student teachers' understandings of the purposes of education, their conceptions of sustainable development and the task of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). At its heart are case studies of 30 student teachers from Initial Teacher Education Programmes in England, Denmark and Germany (10 from each country). While they are diverse in their personal, professional and subject disciplinary backgrounds, and they work in a variety of school subject areas, all the students share the objective of becoming members of the teaching profession in the primary or lower secondary schools of their countries, and thus each one currently faces the additional challenge of understanding and responding to national, cross‐cutting policy initiatives on sustainable development and ESD. As interpretative research, the study catalogued and mapped similarities and differences in student teacher understandings, and identified those notions, thoughts and ideas that were meaningful to a beginning teacher's interpretations and sense‐making of key ESD concepts and tasks. The findings highlight the widespread importance of ‘taking responsibility’ and ‘having responsibility’ as key notions in interpreting their professional role and student learning in relation to ESD. An explorative framework developed during the data analysis suggests that in making sense of ESD, student teachers have recourse to one or more of at least four identifiable rationalities for ascribing responsibility to oneself or others, where each rationality articulates a different set of responses to questions about the prioritized locus of agency and the nature of the decision‐making process. The framework offers a critical and generative tool for stimulating debate in the field about policy and professional preparation and development and, in particular, the nature, processes and qualities of learning that are understood to ‘generate a sense of responsibility’, within the broader—and in the case of ESD—related quests of education and sustainable development.     

Subject knowledge development by science student teachers: the role of university tutors and school‐based subject mentors

Following the introduction of a National Curriculum for Science, all secondary science teachers in England need to be prepared to teach all aspects of a broad and balanced science curriculum. This is the second paper in which we explore science student teachers’ subject knowledge development during a one‐year postgraduate teacher preparation course. In this qualitative study we explore the role of university tutors and school‐based subject mentors in science student teachers’ subject knowledge development as perceived by student teachers, school‐based subject mentors and university tutors. The findings reveal that student teachers are reluctant to use university tutors and school mentors for subject knowledge development because they are aware of their assessment roles. The role of the university tutor in subject knowledge development is perceived as one of facilitation and of developing student teachers’ sense of professionalism. School mentors perceive that they do provide support for subject knowledge development and they are largely unaware of any potential conflict arising from their assessment role. The findings of the study are discussed in terms of the nature of student teachers’ professional learning in communities of practice. The implications for mentor training programmes are considered.     

Science teacher education for sustainable development: a case study of a residential field course in a Norwegian pre-service teacher education programme

In this paper, we explore how a Norwegian teacher education institution promotes education for sustainable development (ESD) through a residential field course. The residential field course was located in a mountain area and data were collected through participant observation. The data included—together with instructional artefacts—evaluation schemes and assignments written by the student teachers, and the analysis was based on categories for science ESD. Through exemplary teaching experiences in an outdoor environment and pupil-active teaching methods, such as inquiry learning and phenomenon-based teaching, the student teachers gained experience in outdoor education and of stepping into the unknown in a safe learning environment. This was further connected to ESD pedagogy.     

Interdisciplinary primary school curriculum units for sustainable development

Abstract

Education for sustainable development (ESD) provides crucial opportunities for young people to be involved in complex sustainability issues. This study contributes to existing knowledge about primary school teachers’ approaches to ESD across a range of subjects. Norwegian schools can join the Sustainable Backpack programme (SBP), which supports teachers to develop projects that promote a holistic understanding of sustainable development across school subjects. The present study set out to examines teachers’ interdisciplinary approach to ESD and the SBP teachers’ perceptions of how their curriculum units promote environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. The study is a multi-case study, with curriculum units designed for students aged 10-13?years from 14 Norwegian schools. Content analysis suggest that the units used several subjects to ESD, but the teachers could have challenged the students’ reflection to a greater extent in terms of argumentation and critical thinking. The units succeeded to some extent in pursuing a holistic approach.     

An interdisciplinary approach to environmental and sustainability education: developing geography students’ understandings of sustainable development using poetry

Education for sustainable development (ESD) persists as an important concept within international policy and yet, despite considerable debate, there remains a lack of consensus as to a pedagogy for ESD in schools. This paper presents findings from a study investigating how an interdisciplinary approach to ESD in England developed one class of 16- and 17-year-old geography students’ understandings of sustainability. The research used students’ drawings of sustainable cities alongside questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to explore their understanding of sustainable development within a constructivist, case study framework. The study found that the use of poetry within a geography lesson developed students’ appreciation of the social and economic dimensions of sustainability, although their focus persisted around the environmental. As such, it is argued that an interdisciplinary approach to ESD encourages students to engage more critically and affectively with the concept of sustainable development, thereby developing a more holistic appreciation of it.     

Student teachers’ views of practicums (teacher training placements) in Turkish and English contexts: a comparative study

How student teachers experience their transformation into serving teachers in the liminal social spaces of the school-based practicum (teaching practice) is of key importance to them, their future students and their educators. The practicum is a challenging experience for student teachers, even with help from university and school-based mentors, as their knowledge of practice, power and culture in schools lacks sophistication. The practicum, an under-researched but important aspect of education, was investigated by this study by asking 480 student teachers in three universities in Turkey and England in 2010–2011 about how well their universities prepared them for the practicum, what made practicums successful and how practicums fostered their professional development. Participants generally thought the practicum helped them to develop skills in student and classroom management, in meeting students’ diverse learning needs, in recognising multiple students’ perspectives and in grounding their understanding of what it meant to be a teacher ‘for real’.     

What Do Teacher Mentors Tell Student Teachers About Pupil Learning in Infant Schools?

Abstract

Recent emphases on experiential classroom learning in the induction into expertise of student teachers may over‐estimate the learning support that class based practitioners offer students. Current understandings of teachers' thinking and planning suggest that expert practitioners may not be best placed to provide student teachers with frameworks for understanding what Shulman (1987) categorises as general pedagogical knowledge. Data from a sample of 11 UK infant school teacher mentors in the form of 5 hours of taped planning and evaluatory conversations with 20 students have been content analysed. Teacher‐talk related to explanations of how pupils learn forms the focus of the paper. Implications for mentor training and school‐university partnerships are drawn from the analysis of the data. Finally the need to confront the language difference that obtains between schools and universities in order to develop the theoretical base of teacher education is asserted.     

The school-based work experiences of student teachers

The increased responsibility now given to schools for initial teacher training (ITT) in partnership with training institutions has led to questions about how prepared and confident teachers are to assume their new role, and the support they provide for students to teach the arts. This research enquires into the situation and found the development of students' subject knowledge in the arts to be a matter of concern. As time on ITT courses is cut and teachers acknowledge the need to enhance their own knowledge-base in the arts, there is uncertainty about the quality and adequacy of training for student teachers in the arts.     

Neuroscience in middle schools: a professional development and resource program that models inquiry-based strategies and engages teachers in classroom implementation

The Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota and the Science Museum of Minnesota have developed and implemented a successful program for middle school (grades 5-8) science teachers and their students, called Brain Science on the Move. The overall goals have been to bring neuroscience education to underserved schools, excite students about science, improve their understanding of neuroscience, and foster partnerships between scientists and educators. The program includes BrainU, a teacher professional development institute; Explain Your Brain Assembly and Exhibit Stations, multimedia large-group presentation and hands-on activities designed to stimulate student thinking about the brain; Class Activities, in-depth inquiry-based investigations; and Brain Trunks, materials and resources related to class activities. Formal evaluation of the program indicated that teacher neuroscience knowledge, self-confidence, and use of inquiry-based strategies and neuroscience in their classrooms have increased. Participating teachers increased the time spent teaching neuroscience and devoted more time to "inquiry-based" teaching versus "lecture-based teaching." Teachers appreciated in-depth discussions of pedagogy and science and opportunities for collegial interactions with world-class researchers. Student interest in the brain and in science increased. Since attending BrainU, participating teachers have reported increased enthusiasm about teaching and have become local neuroscience experts within their school communities.     

Support and Challenge in Learning to Teach: the role of the mentor

The increased emphasis on school‐based programmes as part of initial teacher education has resulted in renewed efforts to forge more effective partnerships between higher education institutions and schools. The University of Bath has established a mentor development programme to ensure that subject mentors have an opportunity to examine ways to engage novice teachers in critical reflection about their practice while providing the support and challenge necessary to help them develop as teachers. This study is based on experienced mentors’ and their perspective on their work with novice teachers and it is a follow‐up to earlier research based on Daloz’ model (1986, Effective Teaching and Mentoring, San Francisco, Jossey Bass) of support and challenge. It examines an emerging mentoring pedagogy through which experienced mentors attempt to engage novice teachers in shaping their own vision of teaching. Three mentor profiles are discussed—the laissez‐faire, the collaborative and the imperial mentor.