The impact of an Education for Sustainability (EfS) course for science and technology junior high school teachers on the intentional and actual environmental behaviour of participants was studied by researching the EfS implementation of 13 science and technology teachers within their family, community, and work environment. The research was qualitative in nature, where science and technology teachers’ insights on the EfS course were determined by means of an open-ended questionnaire and intensive interviews. Results indicated that the course clearly influenced the vast majority of the participants, who claimed that their environmental awareness had increased and they were capable of acting responsibly. All participants acted in favour of the environment among family, community, and at work. Yet, 2 years later, implementation seemed to be undermined by various internal and external barriers, such as the unavailability of convenient resources, or resistance on the part of family. The study suggests that course designers must include reference to potential difficulties and barriers in order to circumvent future obstacles. In addition, the implementation of post-course support would encourage overcoming the gap between willingness to act and actual practice.

This study examines the process of educational change as demonstrated in three elementary schools implementing education for sustainability (EfS). Actions and stages in the change process were characterized. Data included interviews with the school principals and teachers involved, in-school observations, and documentation (schools' vision statements, websites, and reports). Our findings indicate that important factors for a successful implementation include motives for change, persons involved, actions carried out, and follow-up activity. While all three schools showed evidence of changes implementing EfS as a regular part of the school's philosophy, only one school demonstrated changes deemed permanent and significant. This was the only school that implemented a gradual and structured process of change, that executed many actions at each stage, and where the principal and staff were well-qualified and fully committed. This study contributes to understanding how changes may be implemented in educational systems and emphasizes the importance of each stage.

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A three-stage professional development (TSPD) model for training experienced teachers to become teachers" leaders is presented here, along with a study assessing its value. The three stages of the model are: a "basic training" stage, a "master-teacher" stage, and an "independent implementation" stage. This qualitative study included open questionnaires and interviews of participants and course leader after the various stages. Statements were classified accordingly to three main themes: "teachers as pedagogues", "teachers" involvement in environmental science (ES) community", and "teachers" as leaders". Results show that participating in the TSPD course enabled teachers to unify into one coherent community with similar goals, increased their self-confidence, empowered them as teachers by improving classroom function, and intensified their abilities to act as teachers" leaders. This model, although tested on environmental science teachers, is applicable to any teacher community.