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Feature Papers in Sustainable Education and Approaches

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 26603

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Lili-Ann Wolff

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Guest Editor

Associate Professor, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Pb 9, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Interests: environmental and sustainability education; transdisciplinary and phenomenon-based learning; transformative approaches; sustainable leadership; education in the Anhropocene
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a new Special Issue entitled “Feature Papers in Sustainability Education”. This is an important collection of high-quality reviews and original papers. The topic covers fresh theories and reflections as well as current empirical studies related to sustainability teaching, learning and educational policy in present and future prospects. Only contributions from the Editorial Board and papers from distinguished scholars in the field invited by Editorial Board Members, Guest Editors, or the Editorial Office will be accepted in this Special Issue. Researchers are welcome to contact the Editorial Office to be invited.

Prof. Dr. Lili-Ann Wolff
Guest Editor

References:

Wolff, L.-A.; Ehrström, P. Social Sustainability and Transformation in Higher Educational Settings: A Utopia or Possibility? Sustainability 2020, 12, 4176.
Wolff, L.-A.; Skarstein, T.H. Species Learning and Biodiversity in Early Childhood Teacher Education. Sustainability 2020, 12, 3698.
Wolff, L.-A.; Skarstein, T.H.; Skarstein, F. The Mission of Early Childhood Education in the Anthropocene. Educ. Sci. 2020, 10, 27.
Wolff, L.-A.; Sjöblom, P.; Hofman-Bergholm, M.; Palmberg, I. High Performance Education Fails in Sustainability? —A Reflection on Finnish Primary Teacher Education. Educ. Sci. 2017, 7, 32.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

6 pages, 224 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Sustainability Education in Risks and Crises: Lessons from Covid-19

by Lili-Ann Wolff

Sustainability 2020, 12(12), 5205; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12125205 - 26 Jun 2020

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5865

Abstract

Humans have always lived in eras of more or less obvious crises and risks. When Ulrich Beck wrote about the risk society in 1986, he talked about risks as invisibility lacking spatial and temporal boundaries. The environmental risks of the modern society may often appear diffuse, even if, for example, the climate change dilemma has progressively become noticeable. However, this year, people on Earth have had to face a most obvious risk. The effects of Covid-19 have reached such proportions that the human world probably will never be the same again. However, the extent of jeopardies is not similar for all world inhabitants, neither are the tools to handle the risks. To face the threat and learn from it, humans need to change manners on many levels and in many social and physical areas. Some of the main questions to reflect on and discuss in this feature issue of Sustainability are: What will the most urgent role of sustainability education be now and in the future? What kind of teaching, learning and educational policies are most relevant? What issues are most crucial in sustainability education research? Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Sustainable Education and Approaches)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

23 pages, 1338 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Levels of Transformation in Sustainable Curricula: The Case of Geography Education

by Jesús Granados-Sánchez

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4481; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084481 - 09 Apr 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2097

Abstract

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 have created renewed interest in sustainability in education. Geography education is a discipline that studies most of the issues related to the SDGs and has a significant role to play in the Anthropocene. Current debates on curricular sustainability and geography education suggest that geography educators are integrating sustainability in different ways but not all approaches have the same transformative impact. The aim of this study is to provide a theoretical model that determines different levels of transformation that could be helpful for advancing in curricular sustainability in geography education. The proposed model is called The Transformative Sustainable Curricula (TSC) model. Its development has relied on two processes that have involved, at the same time, two different methodologies: the creation of the model through documentary analysis, and its validation from interviews with experts in education for sustainability and geography education. The model is structured in three levels or stages: adaptation, reform and transformation. Each level has been characterized according to the following elements: the perspectives of sustainable development; the type of sustainable education; transformative learning; ecology of knowledge; institutional integration; context, change and community. The proposal makes teachers aware of where their teaching practice is located and how to move forward. It is also useful to determine what elements constitute a prop for sustainability and how these can guide educators and scholars in scaling vertically and horizontally their contribution towards a geographic education that is more sustainable and transformative, should they wish to do so. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Sustainable Education and Approaches)

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21 pages, 322 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Challenges and Opportunities for Telecommuting in the School System: Building a Sustainable Online Education in the Context of the SARS-Cov-2 Pandemic

by Corneliu C. Simuț, Laurențiu Petrila, Felix-Angel Popescu and Ionuț Mihai Oprea

Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10296; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810296 - 15 Sep 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2650

Abstract

The main idea of this investigation is to identify a series of challenges and opportunities presented by telecommuting within the school system as a result of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. The objective of the paper is to identify key elements which are able to provide concrete assistance in building a sustainable online education system, with particular reference to Romania, as a system that can be used beyond the timeframe of the current pandemic. The methodology used for our scientific investigation is quantitative, based on an eight-item data collection instrument/questionnaire with 459 respondents (bachelor, masters, doctoral, and postdoctoral students—which makes this research a study from the perspective of the students’ perceptions) with ages ranging from 18 to 53. In terms of results, the eight items were evaluated on a Likert Scale from 1 to 5, leading to the formulation of seven hypotheses (H1 to H6), of which six were accepted and one was rejected (H7) (the questionnaire has a margin error/confidence interval of ±4.5% and a confidence level of P = 95%). We concluded from the six validated hypotheses, coupled with the one which was invalidated, that telecommuting to online education was not only successful but also garnered a system characterized by sustainability. Despite the swiftness of telecommuting to online education and the perceptions of the student population, online learning can be efficient and sustainable, in which case further government policies can only improve a system that has already been proven to work. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Sustainable Education and Approaches)

15 pages, 5992 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability Education for the Future? Challenges and Implications for Education and Pedagogy in the 21st Century

by Christina Marouli

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2901; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052901 - 08 Mar 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 6190

Abstract

The crises societies face today contribute to a rather challenging life setting that demands in-depth reflection, daring new thinking, and change urgently. Transformative education for a sustainable future is needed today more than ever before; the aim of this paper is an exploration of its goal and pedagogy. By drawing on diverse bodies of knowledge, including the structure-agency debate and the theory of critical pedagogy, this paper critically discusses Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and its goal of sustainable development. It identifies areas where ESD needs enhancement given the present socio-economic and cultural context and ultimately proposes the transformation of ESD to Education for Eco-communities—which highlights the need for community-centered approaches, knowledge, and observation of natural laws, sociological imagination, and political acumen—to render it better suited for the challenges of the 21st century. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Sustainable Education and Approaches)

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15 pages, 1051 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Embedding Chemistry Education into Environmental and Sustainability Education: Development of a Didaktik Model Based on an Eco-Reflexive Approach

by Jaana Herranen, Merve Yavuzkaya and Jesper Sjöström

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1746; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041746 - 06 Feb 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3538

Abstract

The aim of this theoretical paper is to develop and present a didaktik model that embeds chemistry education into Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) using an eco-reflexive approach. A didaktik model is a tool to help educators make decisions and reflect on why, what, how, and/or when to teach. The model presented here is a revised version of the Jegstad and Sinnes model from 2015. It was systematically developed based on a critical analysis of the previous ESD (Education for Sustainable Development)-based model. This process is part of what is called didactic modeling. The revised model consists of the following six categories: (i) socio-philosophical framing; (ii) sustainable schooling and living; (iii) critical views on chemistry’s distinctiveness and methodological character; (iv) powerful chemical content knowledge; (v) critical views of chemistry in society; and (vi) eco-reflexivity through environmental and sustainability education. As in the model by Jegstad and Sinnes, the eco-reflexive didaktik model seeks to support chemistry educators in their sustainability-oriented educational planning and analysis, but from a more critical perspective. Based on an eco-reflexive Bildung approach, one additional category—socio-philosophical framing—was added to the revised model. This is because the previous model does not take sufficient account of worldview perspectives, cultural values, and educational philosophy. The eco-reflexive didaktik model is illustrated with boxes, and it is suggested that all categories in these boxes should be considered in holistic and eco-reflexive chemistry education. The purpose of such education is to develop students’ ChemoKnowings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Sustainable Education and Approaches)

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19 pages, 2532 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Challenge of Global Environmental Change: Attitudinal Trends in Teachers-In-Training

by Mercedes Varela-Losada, Pedro Vega-Marcote, María Lorenzo-Rial and Uxío Pérez-Rodríguez

Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 493; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020493 - 06 Jan 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2350

Abstract

The aim of our research was to study attitudinal trends in Spanish trainee teachers regarding Global Environmental Change (GEC), in order to identify elements that should be enhanced in their education. The Scale of Global Environmental Change (SGEC) was used as a measurement instrument to explore attitudes on how to deal with GEC. A cluster analysis of the scores of the four SGEC factors (N = 950) was carried out in order to segment the cases into groups of similar response profiles. Two solutions are proposed: one made up of two clusters (Concerned and Disengaged) and the other of four clusters (Egocentric, Indifferent, Sceptical and Committed). Furthermore, we have analysed whether some of the students’ characteristics significantly influence their inclusion in one cluster or another. The results of this study show that among trainee teachers there are sceptical, self-centered and indifferent trends, which do not correspond to people capable of promoting the transformation needed to deal with GEC. Therefore, it is necessary to improve their training with new educational models that favour the recognition of the real origin of socio-environmental problems and provide them with skills to promote individual and social responsibility. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Sustainable Education and Approaches)

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Review

Jump to: Editorial, Research

17 pages, 1744 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Initial Training of Science Teachers in African Countries: A Systematic Literature Review

by Diana Soares, Betina Lopes, Isabel Abrantes and Mike Watts

Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5459; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105459 - 13 May 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1859

Abstract

This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) on the initial training of science teachers in Africa based on selected research articles, in the period 2000–2020, that emphasize the importance of surveying knowledge that goes beyond those that historically have a longer path in the building of scientific knowledge, such as that of European or North American countries. The analysis included a total of 31 articles from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. The findings indicate a lack of knowledge, or at least visibility, considering the initial training of African teachers, particularly in developing countries. South Africa leads the number of publications. Within the five African countries implied in the SLR the following outputs were identified: (i) a division between teacher education research that is ‘place-based’ and one that uses (only) ‘universal theories’ (such as Vygotsky and Bandura); (ii) a tension between the application of student-centered learning and teaching models and more traditional classroom practices. Finally, the majority of articles highlight the importance of investing in further research around teacher education. Based on these outputs the importance of international cooperation in teacher education research articulating theory and practice to ensure a global and local perspective towards sustainable development is reinforced. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers in Sustainable Education and Approaches)

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