The Local Community as a Means for Promoting Education for Sustainable Development

Zachariou, Aravella; Symeou, Loizos

doi:10.1080/15330150902744152

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In common with many other studies 'place' underpins our theorisation of sustainability (Comber, Nixon, and Reid 2007;McInerney, Smyth, and Down 2011;Reid 2007;Zachariou and Symeou 2009). This study seeks to understand how teachers conceive sustainability through the lens of place, including the social and environmental interactions between students, teachers and the wider community in shared local places (Malone 2008;Rafferty 2012;Ross and Mannion 2012;Waite and Pratt 2011).…”

Section: Place and Practicesupporting

confidence: 53%

Sustainability education: researching practice in primary schools

Green

Somerville

2014

Environmental Education Research

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Many teachers are keen to implement sustainability education in primary schools but are lacking the confidence, skills and knowledge to do so. Teachers report that they do not understand the concept and cannot integrate sustainability into an already overcrowded curriculum. Identifying how teachers successfully integrate sustainability education into their teaching practice can offer important insights into how these perceived problems can be overcome. The paper is based on data from the third year of a longitudinal study about teacher education and teacher professional learning for sustainability in primary education. The third year of the study investigated teachers' understandings of sustainability and how sustainability education is manifested in eight rural and regional primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Data included photographs of school grounds and sustainability projects, audio recordings of focus groups with teachers and principals, and field notes of meetings with school staff. Sustainability education was found to be an emergent practice necessarily constituted in the relation between teachers, students and community members and the materialities of local places. Partnerships were found to be an essential part of integrated sustainability programmes which extended into communities and places beyond the schools. The processes of learning involved pedagogies of creative problem-solving and inquiry learning that enabled children to lead the way. BackgroundThis paper analyses data from the third year of a longitudinal participatory action research study designed to investigate teacher professional learning and teacher education for sustainability in Victorian primary schools. In the first year of the study, two teacher educators researched the practice of integrating sustainability into teacher education (Power and Green, forthcoming). In the second year, the two authors partnered with the deputy principal, a lead teacher and two Grade 3/4 teachers from an exemplary school in the Latrobe Valley region of Victoria, to trial a process for the integration of sustainability into teacher education and teacher professional learning (Somerville and Green 2012). In the second year of the study, we had observed that the pre-service teachers often experienced resistance to their new learning during placement, reinforcing their own anxieties in relation to sustainability education. In response to this observation, we sought schools that were practising sustainability education for the placement of teacher education students in the third year of the project.

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Section: Place and Practicesupporting

confidence: 53%

Sustainability education: researching practice in primary schools

Green

Somerville

2014

Environmental Education Research

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“…Different authors agree that ESD, starting from ECE, needs to involve and impact local communities [7,12,39,40]. The degree and kind of involvement with communities may vary according to the context.…”

Section: Community-basedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Review of Education for Sustainable Development at an Early Stage: Cornerstones and Pedagogical Approaches for Teacher Professional Development

2019

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During recent decades, education for sustainable development (ESD) has been under the scope of the international community, but research in ESD for early childhood education (ECE) is still scarce. This article proposes a procedural framework for the implementation of teacher professional development opportunities in the area. During the first phase, we undertook a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles on ESD for ECE (n = 30). After an expert committee revision of the articles reviewed, three cornerstones (scientific action-integrated, community-based and value-oriented scopes) and three sets of suitable pedagogical approaches (art-based, outdoor-based and project-problem-based) were identified. The review was enhanced by an unsystematic review of articles (n = 26) that specifically referred to the cornerstones and approaches. Finally, a double-blind expert coding and categorization of the articles (n = 56) was performed in order to validate the results. Focusing on guidelines and approaches, different examples found in the literature are presented. This review offers a useful framework to understand and practice ESD in ECE. Unlike previous reviews, it has a practical scope to foster innovative teacher professional development opportunities, inspire teachers and inform policy makers. We conclude with some common challenges and the needs for educational systems to foster science-based citizenship education towards sustainable development in a practical way, fostering agency from an early stage to transform local context, creating global awareness of the environmental, social and economic challenges of the 21st century.

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“…Another aspect using PBE for personal relationships is community involvement. Zachariou and Symeou (2009) researched the outcomes of a program designed to involve teachers in their local community. They found that the activities empowered students to get involved and addressed many of the needs of education for sustainable development.…”

Section: Examples Of Using Pbe and Local Environments As Teaching Resmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turkish teachers’ use of the outdoors as a teaching resource: Perceived facilitators and obstacles

Lane

Ateşkan

Dulun

2017

Applied Environmental Education & Communication

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The Local Community as a Means for Promoting Education for Sustainable Development

Cited by 25 publications

References 22 publications

Sustainability education: researching practice in primary schools

Sustainability education: researching practice in primary schools

Systematic Review of Education for Sustainable Development at an Early Stage: Cornerstones and Pedagogical Approaches for Teacher Professional Development

Turkish teachers’ use of the outdoors as a teaching resource: Perceived facilitators and obstacles

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