Establishing Sustainable Teacher Education with Weekly School Practice - Identifying Teacher Students’ Experiences of Didactic Dilemmas in the Swedish Primary School Classroom

Abstract

Teachers face dilemmas of different kinds in their everyday practice. It is therefore essential that teacher students become aware of the dilemmas they will face in their future profession. By integrating school practice in teacher education programs, students apply theoretical knowledge to classroom situations. In a project at a Swedish university campus, the students worked as teacher candidates one day a week at different primary schools during their first semester. The purposes were to make the teacher education at the campus sustainable by attracting more students, limiting the number of dropouts and improving the quality in the education. In the present study, it is of interest to identify the didactic dilemmas teacher students experience in classrooms with 6 to 12 year-olds. By analysing the students’ written reports, the results indicate that the students’ identified dilemmas relate to classroom management, the lesson content and the establishing of relationships with the children.

Knowledge, Perceptions and Readiness of Nigeria's Beginning Teachers for Sustainability Education

“…The findings indicate that the beginning teachers possessed positive disposition towards handling sustainability issues. This is in line with evidence from previous research that suggests that teachers were mostly interested in learning because their ideas of sustainability typically involved an environmental focus (Birdsall, 2014;Sundh, 2020). However, there is a need for balance with other elements of sustainability (economic and cultural) to fully equip beginning teachers with the knowledge and competencies they need as change agents in sustainability education.…”

“…Sustainability is about mitigating risks and maximizing opportunities for improving peopleís quality of life at the local, regional and global levels. It is widely agreed that the current socio-economic development trends are unsustainable and equipping citizens with requisite knowledge and competences will move society towards sustainability (Goller & Rieckmann, 2022;Sundh, 2020). At the 2015 World Education Forum in Korea, the need for pro-sustainability educators was recognized as critical to actualizing the 2030 Global Agenda for Sustainable Development.…”

“…Teacher education in ESD in Africa, unlike in the Western world, is yet to gain a solid footing, and continuous assessment of pre-service teachersí knowledge, perceptions and preparation of sustainability issues and practices could go a long way in addressing the research and teacher education gaps. Many scholars (e.g., Muthersbaugh & Kern, 2012;Rodrigo-Cano et al, 2019;Sundh, 2020) have argued that prospective teachersí knowledge, attitudes or beliefs do significantly influence what and how they teach during their professional practices. Therefore, their ability to teach sustainability issues could depend on their knowledge and perceptions of sustainability at the point of graduation.…”