Sustainable development: Exploring gender differences in the Swedish national test in geography for grade 9

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of how Swedish 15-year-olds perform on the high-stakes national assessments in geography. It explicitly addresses which item characteristics produce differential item functioning (DIF) in favor of boys and girls respectively. The findings show that DIF occurs in favor of girls in items with constructed response and primarily with content on the social dimension of sustainable development (SD), while boys are more favored by content outside the field of SD. The conclusions drawn are that content that reaches higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy favors girls, especially when the subject content concerns SD. This is important when analyzing the teaching and examination of sustainability issues in school.

Sustainability Education in China: Lessons Learnt from the Teaching of Geography

“…Without the basic concept, it would be difficult to understand the importance of sustainability. These criteria somewhat coincide with the traditions in Sweden, where there are choices for geography teaching with SD: (1) the fact-oriented tradition, in which the basic geographical knowledge building on scientific facts are taught, (2) the normative tradition, in which students learn environmentally-friendly values and behaviors and (3) the pluralistic tradition, in which students are trained in creative and critical thinking toward sustainability issues [5].…”

“…Yet, SE is argued to be a complex and controversial approach, and therefore it is a challenge for subject teachers [7]. SE serves as a multi-faceted form of education that will train students in different ways for addressing different sustainability issues [5]. Clearly, there are different approaches that can be used to teach sustainability [23].…”

“…In order to comply with the UN's goals for SD, socio-cultural sustainability contents of geography may consider such topics as human rights and gender equality [5]. For example, the teacher may discuss the interests and rights of peasant families in rural areas.…”

“…Another related term is sustainable development (SD), which refers to a development that achieves sustainability [4]. It is understood that SD involves a process that helps create a world of global social equality, where the natural system that supports human existence can be maintained [5]. As it is good for the planet, sustainability has been incorporated in education with the aim of raising students' awareness of their "responsibility for the environment, well-being and a sustainable future" and the importance of developing their "future-oriented thinking and the building of the future upon ecologically, economically, socially and culturally sustainable premises" ( [6] (p. 39) cited from [7]).…”

“…For example, in Australia, sustainability has been one of the three crosscurricular priorities in the school curriculum [12]. SD has also been a focal point in the Swedish geography curriculum [5]. In China, a sustainability-oriented and problem-based pedagogy of geography has been adopted for dealing with SD issues; however, this SDoriented curriculum is considered to be led by government consultancy and policy tasks, so it lacks theoretical and philosophical in essence [10].…”