Building Teacher Identity in Environmental and Sustainability Education: The Perspectives of Preservice Secondary School Geography Teachers

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Author,

I have found your contribution very interesting. However, it has a limited impact, as it concerns the way of attaining higher education degrees only in Great Britain. On the other hand, You gave some interesting ways how to activate students, which can be a good role model for all geography teachers. Thank you!

I have found only one tiny spelling error.

Author Response

Thank you for your feedback. I have thoroughly checked through the manuscript and corrected errors in spelling and grammar. 

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for the opportunity to review your paper. I found it of interest and the details of the participants’ responses added an air of authenticity that was welcome. As you note, all the participants are people who have deliberately chosen a PGCE course with the ESE emphasis, so it is perhaps not surprising that they come forward with the views that they do. This, combined with the natural enthusiasm of beginning teachers, might help to explain some of the tensions that you note in the relationships with other teachers.

The main problems I had with the paper concern technical issues, and I have made some suggestions in that respect, which I detail below. General points would include paying meticulous attention to phrasing and punctuation, checking the Tables for readability and format, and (in my opinion) showing long quotes more clearly (e.g. indent margins) if that is in keeping with the journal’s house style.

I hope these suggestions will be helpful.

There is a bit of an awkward word break in the title (ge-ography). Is there any way that can be sorted, I wonder?

I would recommend that the personal pronouns are removed from the Abstract as Abstracts are normally written in a neutral way.

p.2, lines 48—51. I found that sentence a little confusing. I think it would be better to write:

“Furthermore, as previous studies have underlined the importance of the training year in developing teachers’ professional identity [4] and while environmental education (in England) is largely restricted to science and geography, it is teachers of these subjects that might usefully be the initial focus of further research.”

p.2, line 75: split infinitive in “teacher identity to more frequently inform teacher education” so may be better to write ‘teacher identity more frequently to inform teacher education’

p.2, line 95: I think “whilst others are not” should be ‘whilst others do not’.

p.3, line 101: a semi-colon is needed after the word outset and before however – or maybe use a full stop and start a new sentence with However

p.3, line 113: delete the comma after the word so

p.3, line 115, I don’t think a comma is needed after teachers

p.3, line 120, comma not needed after and              

p.3, line 131 not sure what is the structure of the bit which says “identity formation, development”. It does not seem to make sense.

p.3, line 122 “this interlinks” should be ‘these interlink’

p.3, line 134: Certification should be Certificate

p.3, line 137: I think there should be a comma after Science

p.3, line 147: not sure we need the reference number [19] given twice here in such close juxtaposition.

p.4, line 168: there seems to be at least one and possibly two unnecessary spaces after (2) and before Help

p.4, lines 166-171: I don’t think the question marks are needed at the end of (1), (2), and (3).

p.4, line 175: the bit that says “(e.g. [27]) looks a bit of an unusual way of giving the reference. Is this acceptable? Another example is on p.5, line 250.

p.4, lines 192-196: is this the correct format for a long quote? (Just check).

See also p.5, lines 208-213, and lines 220-231.

p.6: line 265: semi-colon or full stop needed before the word however

p.6, line 267.: even in the period March-July 2020, most schools (in England) remained open for children of key workers and vulnerable children.

p.6, line 288. Punctuation errors after COVID-19, and correcting this may require some adaptation of the phrase that follows.

p.6, line 296: no comma needed after the word also

p.7 line 316: if a comma is put before (2), then a comma is needed after it as well. See also on p.9.

Table 1: I didn’t like the centre aligning of the text which made it difficult to read. The page break also seems to occur at an awkward place.

p.8: line 335-339: I suggest the ethics information is moved to the start of the section on Materials and Methods or Data Collection. It seems curiously misplaced where it is at the moment. I would suggest that that the date shown as 06/08/2020 is written with the month written in full as conventions about date format are different in different parts of the world.

p.8, Table 2: A horizontal line between Lucy and Paul is missing.

Table 3: Quite tricky to read – lots of detail. Awkward line breaks. Horizontal line between Theme B and Theme C seems to disappear. Probably needs looking at.

p.11, line 414: what does ‘brough’ mean? I don’t think it should be ‘brought’ as that would not make sense. Needs checking.

p.12. More long quotes/extracts/ Check format. P.13 too.

p.14: lines 587-589: where you have written: “year eight lessons, which they found really engaging. But for year nine they start GCSE's and then that's not there, because there's not the space for it.’(Isla, Phase 3 interview)

Seems to be an unnecessary possessive apostrophe for GCSEs and a lack of a space before the opening bracket before Isla.

Similar problems occur elsewhere e.g. p.14, line 564.

p.16, line 672: I think the phrasing of the sentence which starts with the word Firstly could be improved. I think it would be better (taking lines 671-688) as below:

…  I highlight two aspects of the findings from this research that inform my future thinking for the development of the course.

[Then start a new paragraph]

The first of these is implications is for me to explore and reflect upon geography pedagogies from higher education settings that … in a way that aligns with their values and identity.

[Then start another new paragraph]

The second implication this research has raised for me as a teacher educator is to consider how best to nurture and support the development of teachers’ professional identities in general and within the specific context of ESE. Although …

p.17, line 704: does Teacher Education need to have a capital T and a capital E?

p.18, line 804: an unnecessary reference number needs deleting.

Author Response

Thank you to Reviewer 2 for their detailed and meticulous feedback. All changes have been made using the ‘track changes’ function.

There is a bit of an awkward word break in the title (ge-ography). Is there any way that can be sorted, I wonder?

This has been altered with the addition of spaces to ensure geography is all one word on the final line.

I would recommend that the personal pronouns are removed from the Abstract as Abstracts are normally written in a neutral way.

The abstract has been altered to remove personal pronouns, see changes to lines 17, 18 and 19.

p.2, lines 48—51. I found that sentence a little confusing. I think it would be better to write:

“Furthermore, as previous studies have underlined the importance of the training year in developing teachers’ professional identity [4] and while environmental education (in England) is largely restricted to science and geography, it is teachers of these subjects that might usefully be the initial focus of further research.”

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 49 onwards.

p.2, line 75: split infinitive in “teacher identity to more frequently inform teacher education” so may be better to write ‘teacher identity more frequently to inform teacher education’

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 79.

p.2, line 95: I think “whilst others are not” should be ‘whilst others do not’.

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 99.

p.3, line 101: a semi-colon is needed after the word outset and before however – or maybe use a full stop and start a new sentence with However

A full stop and a new sentence has been incorporated in response to this suggestion, see line 105.

p.3, line 113: delete the comma after the word so

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 117.

p.3, line 115, I don’t think a comma is needed after teachers

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 119.

p.3, line 120, comma not needed after and      

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 125.        

p.3, line 131 not sure what is the structure of the bit which says “identity formation, development”. It does not seem to make sense.

            ‘Development’ has been deleted so that this sentence makes sense – line 126.

p.3, line 122 “this interlinks” should be ‘these interlink’

The changes made in the above revision mean that the singular ‘this interlinks’ is now correct -see line 126.

p.3, line 134: Certification should be Certificate

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 138.

p.3, line 137: I think there should be a comma after Science

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 141.

p.3, line 147: not sure we need the reference number [19] given twice here in such close juxtaposition.

            This suggestion has been incorporated into the revision, see line 151 and line 157.

p.4, line 168: there seems to be at least one and possibly two unnecessary spaces after (2) and before Help

            The space has been removed from before Help – see line 172.

p.4, lines 166-171: I don’t think the question marks are needed at the end of (1), (2), and (3).

            These question marks have been removed after (1), (2) and (3).

p.4, line 175: the bit that says “(e.g. [27]) looks a bit of an unusual way of giving the reference. Is this acceptable? Another example is on p.5, line 250.

            This is consistent with house style in my understanding.

p.4, lines 192-196: is this the correct format for a long quote? (Just check).

This quote has been indented and an additional line space provided at the end of the quote so that there is greater clarity in reading the quotes.

See also p.5, lines 208-213, and lines 220-231.

These two quotes have been indented and an additional line space provided at the end of the quote so that there is greater clarity in reading the quotes. Bullet points have been added to the second quote so that this is consistent with the previous set of bullet points.

p.6: line 265: semi-colon or full stop needed before the word however

            A full stop has been added before the word however, see line 271.

p.6, line 267.: even in the period March-July 2020, most schools (in England) remained open for children of key workers and vulnerable children.

            This suggestion has been added, see from line 275.

p.6, line 288. Punctuation errors after COVID-19, and correcting this may require some adaptation of the phrase that follows.

            Full stop added after COVID-19 and capitalisation of For. – see line 297.

p.6, line 296: no comma needed after the word also

            This has been removed, see line 305.

p.7 line 316: if a comma is put before (2), then a comma is needed after it as well. See also on p.9.

            The comma has been removed, see line 325 and line 371 and 372.

Table 1: I didn’t like the centre aligning of the text which made it difficult to read. The page break also seems to occur at an awkward place.

            Please could the Editor give guidance about the formatting of tables.

p.8: line 335-339: I suggest the ethics information is moved to the start of the section on Materials and Methods or Data Collection. It seems curiously misplaced where it is at the moment. I would suggest that that the date shown as 06/08/2020 is written with the month written in full as conventions about date format are different in different parts of the world.

The Ethics text from line 345-346 has been moved to line 322-323 as suggested by the reviewer and the format of the date has been written in full.

p.8, Table 2: A horizontal line between Lucy and Paul is missing.

Tables 1, 2 and 3 have all had borders updated – Editor please advise if this is consistent with House style.

Table 3: Quite tricky to read – lots of detail. Awkward line breaks. Horizontal line between Theme B and Theme C seems to disappear. Probably needs looking at.

Tables 1, 2 and 3 have all had borders updated – Editor please advise if this is consistent with House style.

p.11, line 414: what does ‘brough’ mean? I don’t think it should be ‘brought’ as that would not make sense. Needs checking.

            This has been changed to ‘brought’ as this is the correct word, see line 424.

p.12. More long quotes/extracts/ Check format. P.13 too.

Pages 11-15: quotes have been indented and a line added after each long quote to improve clarity.

p.14: lines 587-589: where you have written: “year eight lessons, which they found really engaging. But for year nine they start GCSE's and then that's not there, because there's not the space for it.’(Isla, Phase 3 interview)

Seems to be an unnecessary possessive apostrophe for GCSEs and a lack of a space before the opening bracket before Isla.

            These suggestions have been added to the revision. See 608 and 609.

Similar problems occur elsewhere e.g. p.14, line 564.

This has been corrected and the quotes across pages 11-15 have been thoroughly checked.

p.16, line 672: I think the phrasing of the sentence which starts with the word Firstly could be improved. I think it would be better (taking lines 671-688) as below:

…  I highlight two aspects of the findings from this research that inform my future thinking for the development of the course.

[Then start a new paragraph]

The first of these is implications is for me to explore and reflect upon geography pedagogies from higher education settings that … in a way that aligns with their values and identity.

[Then start another new paragraph]

The second implication this research has raised for me as a teacher educator is to consider how best to nurture and support the development of teachers’ professional identities in general and within the specific context of ESE. Although …

These changes have been made as suggested, see sections beginning line 694 and line 708.

p.17, line 704: does Teacher Education need to have a capital T and a capital E?

            No, this has been changed, see line 725.

p.18, line 804: an unnecessary reference number needs deleting.

            This has been deleted.