Looking Beyond, Looking Together, Looking Collaborately, Facing the Future

Abstract

The collection of papers of this volume has a focus on diverse aspects of sustainable development. The authors appearing in this volume represent quite a wide geographical area ranging from Sweden, Norway, Canada, South Africa, Turkey, Latvia to the United Kingdom and Jamaica. The articles are focusing on sustainability in higher education, by integrating sustainability in university programs; by highlighting processes of greening Universities and schools; by reimagining the ways of building lifelong learning; and by increasing teachersí self-efficacy and more sustainable career pathways in a post pandemic life. Several studies elucidate discursive representations of education for sustainable education in policy documents, education, and learning activities for sustainable development.The paper by Beatrix Algurén offers the literature review about education and learning activities for sustainable development (SD) in higher education revealing participatory teaching methods that are frequently used. Working together with real-life problems across different disciplines including stakeholders outside academia could enhance learning outcomes like collaboration competencies, critical and system thinking. Although behavioural learning objectives are recognized as especially important for SD, the review discovered that education and learning activities have not as yet been targeted at behaviour change. There is a need to further develop this educational field.Salem Amamou, François Vandercleyen, and Jean-François Desbiens in their paper refer to one of the goals of teacher education programs which would cultivate a high sense of competence among students. For this purpose, they chose a scale to measure the perception of self-efficacy (PSE) among Quebec physical and health education trainees during teaching which has been developed and empirically validated. Teacher trainees (n = 232) enrolled in 3 rd and 4 th year in the Bachelor of Education in Physical and Health Education (PHE) in four different university programs in Quebec participated in the study. Subsequent exploratory and quasi-confirmatory factor analyses led to the development of an instrument with 19 items divided into three factors, explaining 66.10 % of the total variance. The convergent and divergent measures of validity are satisfactory, as are those of the reliability of the three scales.The paper by Shuti Steph Khumalo examines the leadership practices of primary school principals in contributing towards the maintenance of sustainability in primary schools. The author views maintaining sustainability in primary schools as apposite because primary schools are the building blocks in any education system. In its examination, the study provides insights into the role of primary school principals in promoting sustainable education through inspiring teachers. Teacher motivation is a very critical focus research area, particularly in the present depressing times and particularly in promoting sustainability. The author identifies a number of factors that const...

Dealing With Cruelty Without Emotions? Sustainable Holocaust Education as a Constructive Coping With Emotions

“…Holocaust education, thus, can facilitate open and honest conversations about cultural and religious diversity, tolerance, non-violence, human rights, and democracy for all students (Laine, 2016;Shechter and Salomon, 2005;Heasly et al, 2021;Iliko, 2021).…”

“…Consequently, students begin to cope with stereotypes by appreciating and evaluating individual and biographical aspects of a message, and also by contextualizing isolated information. Such an educational attitude facilitates a sustainable remembrance culture of inter-and trans-culturality on the micro-, meso-and macro-level (Franzenburg, Ilisko, & Verkest, 2018;Laine, 2016;Heasly et al, 2021;Iliko, 2021).…”

Edu-Tensegrity: An Expanded Integration of 21st Century Education

“…It is therefore possible to posit that the Heasly Thinking Skills System builds at least one channel from Thinking Skills to personal decisions to personal responsibility for each self today. The four integrated Steps in the Heasly Thinking Skills System need to be shaped into the concepts of Sustainability and Securitability for 21 st century use (Heasly et al, 2021).…”

“…Lived experience is a valuable component especially when shaped with discipline into auto-ethnography, and research into the theories of knowledge from different disciplinary domains has been a helpful tool in this journey. The next step in researching the usefulness of the Heasly Thinking Skills System will necessarily be to shape a pilot research project and paper that tests out the development of skills, knowledge and inquiry to accommodate todayís post-pandemic, expanding digital conditions as our paradigms change and become settled and balanced in a legacy for coming generations (Heasly et al, 2021).…”

Indonesian Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education

“…This goal can be achieved by changing behavior, especially in the school environment. According to Alguren (2021), Heasly et al (2021) and SalÓte et al (2020) schoolsí educational and learning activities have great complexity and transformational potential. The review of inclusive education in line with Education for sustainable development is critical so that creating a positive learning atmosphere can be built with trust, social responsibility and without reducing Indonesian Teachersí Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education the freedom of others (Harmoinen, Koivu, & Paasky, 2020).…”