Anita Pipere

Doing Research on Education for Sustainable Development.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the research preferences and differences of education for sustainable development (ESD) researchers. A model with the continuums assimilation‐accommodation and adaptation‐agency was applied resulting in quantitative, qualitative, theoretic and participative research orientations.Design/methodology/approach – Reunamos general model of agentive perception was used to design the 32‐item questionnaire, Research for ESD so as to reveal the degree to which the researchers are accommodating their thoughts and actions to real phenomenon, and considering their research as having theoretical or practical agency. The questionnaire was administered to 83 ESD researchers, mainly from European countries.Findings – The most valuable discovery was the desire of ESD researchers to contribute to societal development. The results describe the first continuum of research activity with the need for opening up to the requisites and possibilities of environmental change while ...

Developing Research in Teacher Education for Sustainability: UN DESD via the Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability

Abstract This study marks the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development that coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Baltic and Black Sea Circle Consortium on Educational Research (BBCC), and aims to analyse the research output performance of BBCC members and other scholars published in the Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability (JTEFS) during this last decade. Using the methodology of bibliometric study and literature review, the authors describe the main bibliographic indicators of JTEFS and provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the research paradigms and their developmental changes in the papers published by JTEFS (2005ñ2014). The results of the study show that in general the journal has evolved in line with the advanced trends in educational research, research in teacher education, research in sustainability education and sustainability studies in higher education. The analysis of published papers indicates both the progress and issues of research in teacher education for sustainability. The authors conclude with some visionary insights into the further development of JTEFS and this research field in general.

Envisioning Complexity: Towards a New Conceptualization of Educational Research for Sustainability

Abstract This paper aims to present some conceptual insights into the research paradigm of complexity that deals with such problems like sustainability, education, and, more specifically – sustainability education. The transdisciplinary perspective and cognitive approaches of a hermeneutical cycle and semantic waves used in argumentation assist in grasping the essence of complexity and the main principles of complex dynamic systems. The comparison of simple, complicated and complex systems in a field of sustainability education provides an example of using complexity thinking with social systems. Then the complexity in an epistemological context, as the research paradigm, could be used for dealing with the challenging problems of sustainability, education and sustainability education from the point of view of post-normal science. The concept of transdisciplinarity has been developed as a research framework starting from the general approaches to its application for sustainability, education and sustainability education. The specific types of collaboration in educational research for sustainability and the modes of knowledge produced by transdisciplinary research in this field will be described, ending with reflections and suggestions for further analysis.

Mathematical Identity for a Sustainable Future: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Abstract Individual in-depth, semi-structured interviews with three mathematics teachers were conducted to investigate the dynamics of their life-long relationships with mathematics, synthesised as mathematical identity from different identity positions in the context of dialogical self. The qualitative data were scrutinised employing interpretive phenomenological analysis that displayed mostly positive instrumental relationships with mathematics and explicit connections between the teachersí life experiences and their disctinct identity voices that surfaced in interviews. Similarly, teachers appeared to be experts in different professional spheres: pedagogy, subject or didactics. The teachersí accounts contain various models of relationships between the other-motive and the self-motive as reflected in their pedagogical approaches. Emergent patterns resulting from the interaction of the teachersí mathematical identity and their perception of studentsí mathematical philia/phobia included the humanistic approach with an instrumental interpretation of mathematics and its teaching methods, self-actualisation in achieving success in mathematics through hard work and the issue of attribution of failure in mathematics either to external or internal factors. Moreover, these dialogical models and interactive patterns show alignement with one of the core competences for educators in education for sustainable development, that is, achieving transformation in what it means to be an educator, in teaching and learning, as well as in the entire education system. Practical implementation of findings and limitations of the study are outlined along with venues for future research.

Perceptions of Research in Education for Sustainable Development: An International Perspective.

Abstract This paper reports on a study undertaken to investigate international perspectives of what constitutes research in education for sustainable development (ESD). By employing inductive thematic content analysis, the authors sought to examine the perceptions of 66 ESD researchers from 19 countries. The findings reveal a concern with the methodological aspects of research and an emergent need for synergy between the methodology of educational research and specific themes relevant to ESD research. The significant overlap of themes and aspects of ESD research apparent across the different contexts within which the researchers were embedded indicates a unified core of ESD research, although there is also evidence of contextual factors influencing the research agenda. Based on the findings of this study, the paper concludes that there is an overlap between educational research and ESD research, but that the latter has its own specific aims, themes and political supporters. In an endeavour to develop a shared understanding about ESD research across disciplines and research context, a common language has to be developed to facilitate a constructive dialogue and research capacity building in this novel field.

Education for Sustainable Development Research from the Researchers’ Point of View

Research is not just a simple application of research methods. It is undertaken by human beings who hold personal views on the environment. The way in which the researcher sees environmental changes may have an impact on the research questions and the choice of research practices. The researcher may be a contributor to cultural development either through influential research results, powerful theories or models, or through the choices of research orientations or personal preferences. These contributions are especially important in the research for education for sustainable development (ESD), where it is hard to avoid a stance on environmental change. In this article, the researchers of ESD describe their preferences for research. The descriptions are evaluated in reference to four research orientations to get a full-bodied perspective on research preferences and practices. The article gives a glimpse of the researchers’ own ideas about their work and its relation to environmental change.

PERSONAL MEANING OF ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE: A COMPARISON OF INTRINSICALLY AND EXTRINSICALLY MOTIVATED GRADUATE STUDENTS

To analyse the similarities and differences in personal meaning of academic experience associated with intrinsic and extrinsic academic motivation, the conceptual ideas of Self-Determination theory were blended with methodological elaborations based on the Dialogical Self Theory. The Academic Motivation Scale to identify intrinsically and extrinsically motivated graduate students and the Self Confrontation Method to disclose the important experiences in past, present and future related to the graduate studies were administered to 128 graduate students at the Daugavpils University. Both the quantitative and qualitative data analysis contributed to the understanding of relationships between the types of academic motivation and personal meaning of academic experience. The main differences in students’ personal meaning of academic experience, expressed in narrative themes were following: self-development, ideas about the further studies and factors inhibiting graduate studies were more frequent for intrinsically motivated students, while external support from influential persons, work/career, and past experience influencing current academic life were mentioned more often by extrinsically motivated students. The obtained results may help to develop more effective teaching strategies and institutional support of graduate students.

SUSTAINABILITY AND UNSUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS OF INTEGRATION OF NOVICE TEACHERS IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL SETTING

Teachers are being identified as key actors for ensuring quality education, therefore they need to receive a proper professional support during their first years of work in overcoming initial challenges. As the preliminary research indicates, support that they gain is systemic and fragmentary. The aim of the study is to explore the sustainability and unsustainability aspects of integration of novice teachers in the secondary school system. The research methods employ are semi-structured interviews with fourteen teachers on their adaptation experience in the school system, considering both obstacles and factors of success. Research indicates that novice teachers leave their work within the first three years of teaching by finding demands too high and workload sometimes unmanageable. The authors offer suggestions for a more efficient and coherent process of mentoring and professional development of novice teachers.

Gender Identity of Students and Teachers: Implications for a Sustainable Future

Abstract Considering the gender identity as a crucial aspect of the culture that shapes our daily life and recognising the research gap on this topic in the context of sustainable education, the paper describes the quantitative cross-sectional study on gender identity of students and teachers comparing the respondents by their age and sex. Three age groups (106 female and 62 male) participated in the study: 18-19-years-old pupils from comprehensive and vocational schools (n=59), 20-15-years-old university students (n=52) and 24-64- years-old teachers working at respective schools and universities (n=57). The original Bem Sex Role Inventory was administered to measure the individual gender identity types of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny. The majority of respondents from all age and sex groups described themselves as androgynous. Male and university students featured the scattering of scores more toward masculinity, while the scores of female, pupils, and teachers were more inclined toward femininity. No statistically significant differences were found among the three age groups, while sex appeared to be more influential factor causing significant differences between male and female in terms of gender identity with male’s inclination toward masculinity and female’s inclination toward femininity. Dominance of androgynous individuals challenges the current approaches to the gender education in the context of sustainable development.

Measurement of Cross-Cultural Differences in Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs in Russia, Latvia and Estonia

Globalization has led to a large number of cross-cultural studies in different areas, especially in education and psychology. Researchers have to use multiple-language versions of tests and questionnaires and to involve individuals from different languages and cultures. The question of measurement of cross-cultural differences comes to the fore. This paper aims to measure lower secondary school mathematics teachers’ beliefs in Estonia, Latvia and Russia. It will consider thier perspectives on teaching in general and teaching of mathematics and to analyse the structure of these beliefs. About 25% of school students in Latvia and 19% in Estonia attend Russian-language schools. The paper presents results from a cross-cultural comparison of beliefs teachers from Russian-language schools in Latvia and Estonia and Russian teachers. For this purpose, data acquired within the framework of the project “Nordic-Baltic comparative research in mathematics education” (NorBa) were analyzed. Additionally, semi-structural interviews were conducted to verify the answers of Russian teachers. The results indicate that differences between the teachers of mathematics in Russia, Latvia and Estonia were statistically significant on all the scales analyzed. Moreover, the teachers from the Russian-language schools in Estonia and Latvia were in most dimensions somewhere between the Russian teachers and the teachers from Estonian and Latvian-language schools