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. Sustainable DevelopmentIn pursuing the goals of sustainable development (SD), the United Nations has focused its efforts on improving social conditions, solving environmental problems and reducing

Despite an increased focus on education for sustainable development (ESD), many teachers still report insecurity in how to implement ESD in their practice. This study examined teachers’ reflections from using the local environment as a learning arena in ESD (6th-9th grade). Results from analysis of semi-structured interviews showed that the teachers experience challenges with the complexity of sustainable development, the ambiguities in the curriculum and time spent if the learning arena is some distance from school. However, the teachers strongly argue for using the local environment as a learning arena in ESD, and their arguments were mainly within four categories: 1) exemplification of various perspectives of sustainable development, 2) authentic and concrete learning, 3) opportunity for action, and 4) affective influences. The results from this study, emphasizing the teachers’ perspective, can contribute to a shift in focus from abstract education policy on what ESD should be, to a focus on contextualized practice.

I denne metodologistudien drøftes anvendelse av konstruktivistisk grounded theory på et datamateriale med intervjuer av lærere med erfaring i utdanning for bærekraftig utvikling (UBU). Siden flere studier peker på et gap mellom målene for UBU og hva som foregår i skolene, kan en tilnærming hvor lærernes stemmer vektlegges gi et viktig bidrag inn i forskningsfeltet. Både datainnsamling med semi-strukturerte intervju og den innledende kodingen bidro til å løfte fram lærernes perspektiv, mens den fokuserte kodingen ble tydeligere preget av forskerens valg, og i sterkere grad gjenspeiler forskerens stemme. Samtidig bidrar den konstant komparative analysen mellom rådata, koder og kategorier til å holde tolkningene nær opp til det som kom fram i intervjuene. Det omfattende kvalitative datamaterialet reduseres og kategoriseres gjennom analyseprosess¬ene, og sentrale kategorier ses i sammenheng som et begynnende rammeverk for videre praksisnær forskning og utvikling. I Stortingsmelding 28 om fornyelse av Kunnskapsløftet vektlegges både opplæringssystemets ansvar for å gi elevene kompetanse for en bærekraftig utvikling og et utviklingsorientert lærerkollegium som reflekterer over forskningsbasert kunnskap kombinert med erfaringer fra egen praksis (Meld. St. 28, 2015–2016). Denne artikkelen viser hvordan en forskningstilnærming kan bidra til å framskaffe kunnskap med utgangspunkt i praksis, innenfor et nytt satsingsområde i skolen.Nøkkelord: forskning på praksis, konstruktivistisk grounded theory, utdanning for bærekraftig utviklingEmphasizing the teacher’s voice through a research approach in education for sustainable developmentAbstractThis study of methodology discusses an application of constructivist grounded theory on data from interviews with teachers experienced in education for sustainable development (ESD). Since several studies indicate a gap between the objectives of ESD and its implementation in schools, an approach where the teachers’ voice is emphasized could make an important contribution to this field of research. The data collection with semi-structured interviews and the initial coding both helped maintaining a focus on the teachers’ perspective, while the focused coding was a process clearly marked by the researcher’s choices. At the same time, the constant comparative analysis of the raw data, codes and cate¬gories keeps the interpretations close to the information in the interviews. The comprehensive qualitative data is reduced and systematized through the processes of analysis, in which key categories are seen in context as an initial framework for further research and development of practice. In White Paper no 28 concerning the renewal of the national curriculum, the government emphasizes the educational system’s responsibility to provide students with competences for a sustainable development, together with a development-oriented teacher staff able to reflect on research-based knowledge in combination with experiences from their own practice (Meld. St. 28, 2015–2016). This article indicates ways in which a research approach can contribute to knowledge production based on practice, within a new focus area in school.Keywords: research on practice, constructivist grounded theory, education for sustainable development

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