Environmental Education in Pre-Service Teacher Training: A Literature Review of Existing Evidence

Abstract

The importance of pre-service teacher training regarding environmental education (EE) has been vastly demonstrated. This systematic review examined the existing evidence from studies evaluating and analysing the relationship between EE, including environmental competences and pre-service primary school teacher training. The literature review performed included 24 documents (22 peer reviewed journal articles and two doctoral theses). The strategy followed consisted in locating documents by a reliable search strategy; establishing the criteria for the selection of documents to analyse from the documents located and rigorously analysing the documents selected based on clear and precise criteria and dimensions. In general terms, the literature review analysis has emphasised the lack of environmental competences amongst pre-service teacher students and the gaps in the teacher training curriculums regarding EE. The overall scarcity of research in this area, jointly with certain gaps and methodological limitations, affirms the need for strengthening the evidence base.

Systems Thinking for Understanding Sustainability? Nordic Student Teachers’ Views on the Relationship between Species Identification, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

“…This indicates that their systems thinking could be more a result of life experiences than that of education. On the other hand, there are several reports of teacher education programmes that totally lack, or have only few, sustainability subjects [12][13][14]87,88]. The student teachers' low level of systems thinking in ecological sustainability also reflects minor volumes of nature studies and ecological aspects among the more extensive pedagogical and other subject studies in teacher education [37,44,70,72].…”

“…Despite all good plans and policy documents, sustainability education has not yet reached the goals for schools and higher education, according to recent research [5][6][7][8][9][10]. One reason can be the scarcity of sustainability education in teacher education worldwide [11][12][13][14]. If teachers have not had any opportunity to think, practise and develop their own understanding of sustainability during their education, they are not expected to do so in their future teaching either [14][15][16].…”

The Interdependences between Sustainability and Their Lifestyle That Pre-Service Teachers Establish When Addressing Socio-Ecological Problems

“…Education for sustainable development (ESD) is widely included in school curricula around the world [1] and, therefore, it should be considered an essential feature of pre-service teacher education programmes [2]. Because of its potential multiplying effect, teacher education has a key function in fostering ESD [3].…”

“…Nevertheless, different authors recognise as insufficient the support for this approach from public institutions [8,9]. Despite all the plans and policies in recent decades, some goals set for schools and higher education have not yet been reached [2,10]. According to [11] (p. 2), if teachers have not had an 2 of 18 'opportunity to think, practise and develop their own understanding of sustainability during their education, they are not expected to do so in their future teaching either'.…”

Exploring the Contributions of an Immersive, Environmental Education Workshop on Pre-Service Teachers’ Environmental Education Preparedness

“…To deepen PSTs' exposure to environmental content, experiences, and resources, university and aquarium faculty teamed up to provide an intensive training experience to PSTs in their preparation program. Through our research of these efforts, we intend to contribute to the body of literature related to pre-service teacher training in environmental education that is lacking in size and rigor [8].…”