Jo-Anne Ferreira

Mainstreaming education for sustainable development in initial teacher education in Australia: a review of existing professional development models

Initial teacher education provides a strategic opportunity for ensuring that all teachers are ready and able to teach for sustainability when they begin their teaching careers. However, it is widely recognized that this strategy has not been used to its full potential. Efforts in education for sustainable development (ESD) at this level have tended to engage with prospective teachers and teacher educators already interested in this area of learning—preaching mostly to the converted. This paper reports on a study undertaken by the Australian Research Institute of Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, which sought to appraise the models of professional development underpinning a range of initial teacher education initiatives. Its intention was to learn from these experiences and identify effective models for mainstreaming ESD in pre‐service teacher education. Three main models of professional development were identified: the Collaborative Resource Development and Adaptation Model, the Action Research Model and the Whole‐of‐System Model. The paper concludes by arguing that a systemic approach that engages the whole of the teacher education system is necessary if ESD is to be successfully mainstreamed in initial teacher education.

Teaching sustainable development in higher education: Building critical, reflective thinkers through an interdisciplinary approach

Purpose This paper aims to argue that substantive changes are required in both curricula and pedagogical practice in higher education institutions to challenge dominant epistemologies and discourses and to unsettle current ways of thinking about, and acting in relation to, the environment. Central to such a shift, it is argued, is the need for higher education curricula to be interdisciplinary and for pedagogical practices to work to build capacities in students for critical and reflective thinking. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a case study of our reflections is offered on a subject designed to promote capacities in students for critical and reflective thinking via an interdisciplinary approach. The paper uses data from student reflective essays and student course evaluations to make an argument for the success of this approach. Findings Genuine transformative learning can occur within a constructivist informed pedagogical approach to teaching for sustainability. Research limitations/implications Research implications are that genuine transformation can occur in students’ thinking processes (which the paper argues is critical for effective education in sustainability) with appropriately designed courses in higher education. Practical implications More effective environmental actors and thinkers, who can critically engage with the complexity of environmental problems. Social implications Social implications include a more effective and socially just higher education for sustainability Originality/value The authors know of no other narrative that addresses attempts to educate for sustainability using this approach.

Creating change for sustainability in universities in Australia, one system at a time

The aim of this paper is to presents an analytical instrument (HAMS, in its Spanish acronym), aimed at the study of teaching methods and the inclusion of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in university classrooms. HAMS is based on a review of studies focused on this field, and the process of developing had revealed methodological strategies in this regard. The focus of HAMS is the study of teaching and decision making in university classrooms, at both planning and intervention levels. Its development is part of a study that analyses the methodological strategies from the perspective of the values of ESD, and on the basis of the principles of complexity. HAMS should be useful for university teachers when analysing and reflecting on their teaching practice. Also, HAMS may be of use to university authorities to detect obstacles in the performance of their instructors, and to plan and design activities that allow for the inclusion of ESD in their centres. This activity has been identified as one of the priority areas for action in higher education because of its direct impact on the formation of future professionals. E. García-González (&) R. Jiménez-Fontana P. Azcárate Goded J.M. Cardeñoso Department of Education, University of Cádiz, Research Group HUM 462 “Teachers’ Professional Development”, Cádiz, Spain e-mail: esther.garcia@uca.es R. Jiménez-Fontana e-mail: rocio.fontana@uca.es P. Azcárate Goded e-mail: pilar.azcarate@uca.es J.M. Cardeñoso e-mail: josemaria.cardenoso@uca.es

Beyond science education: embedding sustainability in teacher education systems

This chapter reports on a study that sought to develop a system-wide approach to embedding education for sustainability (EfS) (the preferred term in Australia) in teacher education. The strategy for a coordinated and coherent systemic approach involved identifying and eliciting the participation of key agents of change within the ‘teacher education system’ in one state in Australia, Queensland. This consisted of one representative from each of the eight Queensland universities offering pre-service teacher education, as well as the teacher registration authority, the key State Government agency responsible for public schools, and two national professional organisations. Part of the approach involved teacher educators at different universities developing an institutional specific approach to embedding sustainability education within their teacher preparation programs. Project participants worked collaboratively to facilitate policy and curriculum change while the project leaders used an action research approach to inform and monitor actions taken and to provide guidance for subsequent actions to effect change simultaneously at the state, institutional and course levels. The state-wide multi-site case study, we argue, has broader applications to state and national systems in other countries.

Higher Education Inc.: The Personal and Professional Dilemmas of Environmental Educators Undertaking Research With/For Private Corporations

We are living in an era of market-driven, globalised economies characterised by reduced public investments in what, until now, have been considered public goods and services. In Australia and elsewhere, education, and higher education in particular, has seen steady declines in government funding. This has prompted universities to become much more entrepreneurial and to seek out new funding opportunities to support their teaching and research activities. This paper reflects on the personal and professional dilemmas and challenges we faced as two early career environmental education researchers who were commissioned to undertake research for a private corporation. As a result of issues raised during this process, we engaged in a critical reflection of our perceptions and feelings about our involvement in the project. In essence, dilemmas and challenges centred around two issues: (1) control/ ownership of the research; and (2) the clash between corporate and university values. This paper explores these issues and suggests that greater mindfulness on the part of individual researchers as well as the development of better university-corporate partnership processes and protocols might provide useful starting points for overcoming such dilemmas and for moving forward with university-corporate research partnerships.

Good CoPs and bad CoPs: facilitating reform in first-year assessment via a Community of Practice

ABSTRACT The idea and implementation of learning communities are gaining favour in higher education institutions. In particular, there are a number of successful examples to emerge of the application of the Community of Practice (CoP) framework proposed by Wenger [(1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press] for fostering a learning environment for academics around their teaching practice. In this paper, we describe and reflect on the efficacy of a CoP process that was implemented within our university. The purpose of this CoP was to provide a space for academics to focus on assessment practices for first-year courses and identify opportunities for professional development in this area. For a variety of reasons detailed in the paper, the efficacy of this CoP was limited, and we conclude that in the current higher education environment in Australia, success with CoP approaches to improve learning and teaching outcomes may prove limited.

Becoming a reflective environmental educator: students’ insights on the benefits of reflective practice

The capacity for reflective practice is considered a key attribute of a successful environmental educator. In this paper we discuss how we used a range of exercises with environmental education students within the Master of Environmental Education for Sustainability program at Griffith University to develop their capacity for reflective practice. Evidence of impact and long-term effects of the experience were obtained using data from samples of student coursework exercises and assessment, along with the results of a post-program survey, Results indicate that the exercises did indeed succeed in empowering students to (a) clearly reflect on their personal and professional intentions, (b) better understand the effect of these on their practice in the field, and (c) continue to reflect on their practice post-Masters program.

Problematizing the Processes of Participation in Networks: Working through the Rhetoric.

Participation in networks, both as a concept and process, is widely supported in environmental education as a democratic and equitable pathway to individual and social change for sustainability. However, the processes of participation in networks are rarely problematized. Rather, it is assumed that we inherently know how to participate in networks. This assumption means that participation is seldom questioned. Underlying support for participation in networks is a belief that it allows individuals to connect in new and meaningful ways, individuals can engage in making decisions and in bringing about change in arenas that affect them and that they will be engaging in new, non-hierarchical and equitable relationships. In this paper, we problematize participation in networks. As an example, we use research into a decentralized network – described as such in its own literature – the Queensland Environmentally Sustainable Schools Initiative Alliance in Australia – to argue that while network participants were engaged and committed to participation in this network, ‘old’ forms of top-down engagement and relationships needed to be unlearnt. This paper thus proposes that for participation in decentralized networks to be meaningful, new learning about how to participate needs to occur.

Annette Cough 1997, Education and the Environment: Policy, Trends and the Problems of Marginalisalion , Australian Educational Review, No. 39, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne, 204pp.,

Includes photos. Includes references. Review(s) of: Education and the Environment: Policy, Trends and the Problems of Marginalisalion, by Annette Cough 1997, Australian Educational Review, No. 39, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne, 204pp.,

34.95, paperback.

34.95, paperback.