Developing and Assessing Sustainability Competences in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development

Rieckmann, Marco

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-09112-4_14

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Quality Education is explicit in SDG 4 (Target 4.7) and is reflected in other goals and targets, such as the decent work SDG8 and the equality SDG5 ( Shulla et al, 2020 ). Education for sustainability (ES) is therefore considered key to attaining these goals by promoting lifelong learning and the ability to make informed choices and take responsible action regarding environmental integrity, economic viability, and social justice for present and future generations while respecting cultural diversity ( UNESCO, 2016 ; Rieckmann, 2018 ; Agbedahin, 2019 ; English and Carlsen, 2019 ; Evans, 2019 ). This research aimed to explore this framework by analyzing specifically what sustainability-related topics the teaching staff of UPV/EHU introduce in their courses and the competences they believe are consequently acquired by their future graduates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenge of education for sustainability in higher education: key themes and competences within the University of the Basque Country

Idoiaga Mondragon,

Yarritu,

Saez de Cámara

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

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IntroductionOne of the major challenges for higher education institutions in the last decade has been (and will continue to be) the integration of sustainability into their curricula and the development of sustainability competences in students. Education for Sustainability (ES) can help prepare students to meet the challenges of making societies more sustainable. However, as a first step toward this goal, teachers need to incorporate ES into their teaching. In this regard, this research aimed to analyze if members of the teaching staff have started this integration and, if so, which sustainability-related topics have been introduced and which skills do they consider contribute to the development of future graduates.MethodsA questionnaire was administered to teaching staff at the University of the Basque Country in 2022. A total of 403 teachers completed the questionnaire, expressing their perceptions through open-ended questions.ResultsIn general terms teachers incorporate ES into their teaching (71.22%). However, they do this mainly within the framework of two general themes: “Environmental awareness and energy” – most used by teachers of experimental sciences and engineering – and “Social commitment,” most used by teachers of social sciences and those who are familiar with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Regarding the key competences that ES provides for future graduates, those most frequently mentioned were “training of professionals committed to society” and “critical thinking and ethics.” These competences were particularly notable in the discourse of teachers who were aware of the 2030 Agenda and who use active methodologies in their classrooms. Finally, the opinion that sustainability has little to do with their teaching (28.78%) was notably expressed by teachers less familiar with the 2030 Agenda.DiscussionThus, it can be concluded that, aside from knowledge of the 2030 Agenda, factors such as the sustainability policy of the institution, area of teaching expertise, and the use of active methodologies all play a significant role in determining whether competences for sustainable development are integrated into higher education teaching.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenge of education for sustainability in higher education: key themes and competences within the University of the Basque Country

Idoiaga Mondragon,

Yarritu,

Saez de Cámara

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

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“…Through the act of empowerment, adults are indeed transforming children. In other words, education should have, as its overarching goal, the transformation of children into environmentally sustainable thinkers and actors (Rieckmann, 2018), capable of responding to the global environmental challenges facing them (Jickling et al, 2018). Crucially, critical theorists also assert that education can empower children to become environmental actors, capable of influencing the environmental attitudes and behaviours of adults (Andersen, 2016).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of a Community-Based Playgroup in Inspiring Positive Changes in the Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours of Children and their Parents: A Qualitative Case Study

Mintoff,

Andersen,

Warren

et al. 2023

Aust. J. environ. educ.

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The ideal period for implementing environmental education or education for sustainability is during the early childhood years. The educational context of playgroups can be a platform for both children and their parents to learn together and together engage in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS), however there is a paucity of literature examining ECEfS within Australian playgroup contexts. The Little Explorers Playgroup (LEP) is a facilitated playgroup located in a sustainable living centre in Sydney, Australia, and provides opportunities for children and their parents to engage in ECEfS. The study purpose was to evaluate the effect of the LEP on the participating children and parents’ environmental attitudes and behaviours. This qualitative study was designed as a single critical case study employing semi-structured telephone interviews conducted with twenty-three participants, including three LEP playgroup facilitators and 20 parents. The data generated by the interviews was analysed thematically and the findings indicated that the LEP empowered and positively transformed both the children and parents’ environmental attitudes and behaviours. This was evident through the children and parents’ adoption of more environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviours. The findings demonstrate that playgroups may be an untapped opportunity for facilitating community change towards sustainable living.

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“…Another reason for why we need to be concerned over if our teachers are globally competent is the significance that sustainable development carries. Teachers need to have a critical understanding, knowledge of pedagogy for global competence and education for sustainable development and ability to practice action-oriented transformative pedagogy (see Rieckmann, 2023). With all these in mind, teacher education plays a key role in the arrangement of opportunities to develop and test future teachers' global competences both in local contexts such as teaching practice in local schools and mobility programs in international contexts (see Parmigiani et al, 2022a).…”

Section: Limitations Implications and Suggestions For Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For this reason, Parmigiani et al (2022a, p. 1) regard "cooperation, inclusion, social engagement, and multicultural dialogue" as indicators of GC in teaching. Moreover, recent research on sustainability and UNESCO's sustainable development goals put paramount emphasis on the need for teacher education for a more sustainable world (see Fischer et al, 2022;Rieckmann, 2023). English language teachers as those who are more likely to work with culturally and linguistically diverse student groups play a pivotal role in a broad range of issues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global competence scale: An adaptation to measure pre-service English teachers’ global competences

KÖŞ,

ÇELİK

2023

International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education

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Global competence is a comprehensive term referring to the interconnectedness of various constructs ranging from knowledge to values required to communicate, cooperate, and work towards the well-being of not only the local but also the global community. Teacher education has an important role in preparing teachers equipped with global competences. Therefore, having tools which can validly and reliably measure if and to what extent pre-service teachers are globally competent is a requisite. Hence, this study aimed at adapting and validating the Global Competence scale developed by Liu et al. (2020) to Turkish to measure pre-service English language teachers’ global competences and to obtain evidence regarding the psychometric properties of the scale to measure global competences in teaching and teacher education. The data collected from pre-service English language teachers (N=351) studying at various universities in Türkiye was divided into two equal halves. The first part of it was used to perform exploratory factor analysis which revealed an eight-factor 29-item structure. The second half which was used for confirmatory factor analysis yielded a good fit of a 25-item, eight-factor structure scale. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient (α= .88) and McDonald’s Omega (ω = .89) which indicated good internal consistency in the CFA dataset revealed excellent internal consistency (α= .90, ω = .91) in another independent dataset. Thus, the study revealed that the Global Competence scale has a good level of psychometric properties and reliability to measure pre-service English language teachers’ global competences in the Turkish context.

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Developing and Assessing Sustainability Competences in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development

Cited by 6 publications

References 50 publications

The challenge of education for sustainability in higher education: key themes and competences within the University of the Basque Country

The challenge of education for sustainability in higher education: key themes and competences within the University of the Basque Country

The Effectiveness of a Community-Based Playgroup in Inspiring Positive Changes in the Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours of Children and their Parents: A Qualitative Case Study

Global competence scale: An adaptation to measure pre-service English teachers’ global competences

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