Teacher Educators’ and Teacher Trainees’ Perspective on Teacher Training for Sustainable Development

Abstract

In accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), countries across the globe are striving to ensure equitable access to inclusive, quality and lifelong educational opportunities for all children, youth and adults by 2030. Teacher education has been identified as one of the key factors in the achievement of the SDG 4 targets. As part of the effort to ensure sustainable teacher education for the achievement of SDG 4 in Ghana, this study applied the four key concepts in the SDG 4: quality, equity, inclusion and lifelong learning, to determine the progress with regards to SDG 4 in the context of teacher education in Ghana. The specific objectives of this study were to determine the inclusive pedagogical practices, values, and knowledge that trainees acquire from the Diploma in Basic Education’s Special Education Needs (SEN) course, the adequacy of the course for preparing teachers to create inclusive classrooms and the challenges associated with the delivery of the SEN course. In this study, 167 final-year trainees and 13 teacher educators from Diploma in Basic Education Program in three colleges of education in Ghana were surveyed about their views on the SEN teacher preparation course. The study found out that the SEN course placed much emphasis on medical model view of SEN and only a minority of trainees acquired the requisite inclusive knowledge, values and pedagogical practices. The paper discusses key barriers to the development of inclusive knowledge, pedagogical practices and values among trainees as well as factors that can promote the effective training of inclusive teachers.

What do We Know About Teacher Educators’ Perceptions of Education for Sustainable Development? A Systematic Literature Review

“…Values such as patience, tolerance, empathy and equal treatment (Nketsia et al, 2020) are recognized as important elements. However, working with values is also con-sidered ìpotentially embarrassingî (Summers, 2013, p. 214) because it can make lecturers feel exposed.…”

Narratives as a Didactic Resource in the Social Sciences to Teach Sustainable Development: A Study with Primary Education Students

“…This topic was chosen due to the fact that, in recent years, the SDGs have become increasingly present in our daily lives given the urgent need to strive for their achievement. Hence, they should also be present in classrooms so that, acting as a catalyst, they become a way for students to understand the world in which they live, thus enabling them to build a more plural, just and egalitarian society [7,14,15].…”

From Mutual Creation to Mutual Benefit: China’s National Teacher Training Program between Higher Teacher Education and K-12 Teachers

“…Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) advocates that all children, youngsters, and adults have access to an educational opportunity characterized by inclusiveness, equitable, caliber quality, and lifelong learning. Teacher education has been universally identified as one of the key factors [1,2] in the development of educational course. Research shows that teacher education plays an important role in achieving SDG4.…”

“…This concept has set off an upsurge of research on teacher training worldwide. Based on data access, the four characteristics of teacher training are as follows: (1) The government places teacher training as an important position; (2) The active exploration and creation of new teaching models that integrate forefront educational theories with teaching practice; (3) It emphasizes the practicability of teacher training contents, which conveys certain practical significance; and (4) It is the application of various multimedia teaching tools in the information-based teaching environment that is valued.…”