In the context of higher education, over 100 universities have signed international declarations and have committed to embed sustainability within their operations, outreach, education and research. However, despite the declaration of good intentions and policy developments at the national, regional and international level, little has been achieved in terms of embedding education for sustainable development holistically in the curriculum. To date, a number of research studies have focused on the perceptions and views of university students in relation to sustainable development knowledge, skills and competencies; however, few studies have focused on student teachers’ perceptions of education for sustainable development. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and views of a group of thirty-two student teachers in relation to education for sustainable development competencies. The research instrument used was a questionnaire. This study provides evidence on the education for sustainable development (ESD) competencies that student teachers would prioritize in a school project related to ESD: acquisition of knowledge and practical skills related to nature and natural sciences, to the detriment of other types of learning, such as the promotion of ethical values, positive attitudes towards sustainability and the management of emotions among their future primary school students. Existing ESD theoretical frameworks need to become more alive and integrated within the existing teacher education curriculum to promote the awareness and development of ESD competencies amongst student teachers.

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Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring the Student Teachers’ Views

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development clearly reflects the urgency to embed the principles of education for sustainable development (ESD) into all levels of education. ESD, understood as an integral part of quality education and all educational institutions, from preschool to higher education and in nonformal and informal education, can and should foster the development of sustainability competencies. This Special Issue entitled “Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development” responds to this urgency and the papers presented deliver recent developments in the field of ESD competencies. They focus on various perspectives: systematic literature reviews; curriculum developments; meta-analysis of the interrelation between sustainability content, competencies developed and pedagogical approaches used; testing and validation of evaluation tools and processes for sustainability competencies; and the development of conceptual models focused on different subject areas and educational levels (higher education, primary education, rural schools, external support services to schools, and extracurricular activities). The contributions indicate how the field of ESD competencies in the area of sustainability has become a major focus in recent years. Further research efforts need to be put into operationalizing sustainability competencies and developing tools to measure and evaluate students’ and educators’ competencies development.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/579/pdf

Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development: Emerging Teaching and Research Developments

Globalisation has brought about change not only in the economic, social and technological order, but also in people’s mentality and the ways they interact with the world around them. There has been...

After cultural literacy: new models of intercultural competency for life and work in a VUCA world

The contents of Education for Sustainable Development should be included in teachers’ initial and advanced training programs. A sustainable consciousness is one of the main foundations for determining the key competences for sustainability. However, there are not many empirical studies that deal with consciousness from education. In this context, the e-portfolio appears as a tool that promotes reflection and critical thinking, which are key competences for consciousness development. This work intends to propose a categorization system to extract types of consciousness and identify the levels of consciousness of teachers in training. For this research work, which is of an eminently qualitative nature, we have selected 25 e-portfolios of students (teachers in pre-service training) in the last year of the School of Education at the University of Macerata (Italy). The qualitative methodological procedure that was followed enabled deducing three bases that shape the consciousness of teachers in training: thinking, representation of reality, and type of consciousness. We concluded that the attainment of a sustainable consciousness in teachers requires activating and developing higher levels of thinking, as well as a projective and macrostructural representation of reality.

Identification of levels of sustainable consciousness of teachers in training through an e-portfolio

The development of a literate society is a pre-requisite for the emergence of a knowledge economy. The thesis advanced in this paper is that, without massive investment and promotion of literacy education, development that is targeted at the 17-point sustainable development goals (SDGs) will be bereft of citizen’s empowerment, engagement, experiential values and evidential consequences in social change. Therefore, using a qualitative approach conceptual), this study explored the causal correlation that subsists between literacy education, emergence of knowledge economy and sustainable development. The study established that, literacy is basic in andragogical context for facilitating citizens’ values re-orientation   attitudinal change for the acquisition of vocational or functional skills and operational knowledge that is beneficial to individual as well as the collective drive for a literate society for the reduction of vulnerability and increase in sustainability in development respectively as expected in the SDGs. Consequently, the resultant outcomes will be a knowledge driven economy which is essential for the attainment of the sustainable development goals as envisaged by the United Nations declaration of 25th of September, 2015.

/pdf/literacy-education-and-sustainable-development-in-developing-ssjdvnrh56.pdf

Literacy Education and Sustainable Development in Developing Societies

Thank you for downloading the handbook of sustainability literacy skills for a changing world. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their favorite readings like this the handbook of sustainability literacy skills for a changing world, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some harmful virus inside their computer.

Lena Osterhagen

Papers

The Handbook Of Sustainability Literacy Skills For A Changing World