Strengthening Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Through Organizational and Structural Approaches to Continuous Professional Development: Insights from Initiatives of the District Government of Arnsberg

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article employs a case-based analytical approach grounded in programme documentation and evaluation data from two initiatives coordinated by the Teacher Training Department of the District Government of Arnsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: EFFORT-A and WIRkstatt Zukunft.

The study concludes that the effective implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) necessitates continuing professional development (CPD) systems that integrate international perspectives with regionally embedded support structures, while simultaneously aligning individual professional learning trajectories with broader institutional development strategies. The authors further offer policy-relevant recommendations for educational leaders and decision-makers.

Please provide direct links to access detailed information regarding the EFFORT-A and WIRkstatt Zukunft initiatives.

1.The international perspective constitutes a central concept of this article. The EFFORT-A consortium, coordinated by the District Government of Arnsberg, aims to institutionalize international mobility and European cooperation. However, further elaboration is required to clarify how this international perspective is conceptualized and operationalized within the programme.

2.For instance, lines 203–205 refer to “networks and partnerships: the forms of cooperation through which schools engage in local, regional, and international networks to exchange knowledge and develop professional communities of practice.” It would be beneficial to specify the types of regional and international networks that have been established and to provide concrete examples of these collaborative structures.

3.The article emphasizes policy alignment and resource allocation (line 207), defined as the extent to which educational policies, administrative frameworks, and funding mechanisms ensure continuity and coherence in sustainability-oriented CPD. Additional information regarding the funding mechanisms supporting EFFORT-A and WIRkstatt Zukunft would enhance readers’ understanding of the structural and financial foundations underpinning these initiatives.

4.The EFFORT-A consortium seeks to embed international mobility and European cooperation as systematic drivers of school development across six priority areas, with ESD emerging as the most frequently selected focus among participating schools. It would be informative to indicate the frequency and duration of schools’ participation in consortium activities in order to better assess the intensity and sustainability of their engagement.

5.With regard to feedback and programme effectiveness, the following descriptions appear somewhat ambiguous. It would enhance clarity and analytical rigor to present the relevant empirical data in the form of a chart or table, thereby providing a more transparent and concrete representation of the findings.

Line305:The significance is limited by the small sample size, which comprises approximately 60% of all regular participants, and retrospective self-assessment; statistical representativeness is lacking.

Line335:Evaluation data from the first cohort (N=72) indicate strong acceptance of this format. Contracting discussions received an average rating of 1.6 on the German  school grading scale. School development consultancy achieved scores between 3.7 and 4.0 on a four-point-Likert scale.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

thank you so much for your thourough review of our article. We appreciate the comments and the time. Please see the attachment for the revised version of our article. Don't hesitate to contact us if more questions come up. Many thanks and best regards, 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors,

Thank you for submitting this manuscript. The topic is highly relevant and timely, and the article has several clear strengths: a solid theoretical foundation, coherent integration of the Whole School Approach concept, a multi-level governance perspective, and a useful comparative structuring of the two initiatives. The contribution is pertinent to the fields of ESD and organisational CPD.

However, the manuscript requires major revisions. The main comments are as follows:

1. Template and formatting

2. Clarification of the research design
   Please explicitly specify the type of study (case study? programme evaluation?).

3. Methodology

• Provide a clearer description of the sample and response rate.

• Specify the method used for qualitative data analysis.

• Reduce evaluative language and adopt a more analytical tone.

• Eliminate the ambiguity between the statement that no primary empirical data are presented and the inclusion of quantitative results.

The article has potential, but it requires methodological clarification and structural adjustments in order to meet the academic standards of the journal.

Recommendation: revisions.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

thank you so much for your thourough review of our article. We appreciate the comments and the time. Please see attachment for the revised version of our article. Don't hesitate to contact us if more questions come up. Many thanks and best regards,

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf