scholarly journals Environmental Education and Sustainable Consumption

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-65
Author(s):  
Hérica Maria Saraiva Melo ◽  
Denis Barros de Carvalho ◽  
Dayanne Batista Sampaio

The present study aimed to characterize teachers' environmental education practices and the possibilities of applying the theme "consumption" in several subjects. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 teachers from a technical school linked to the University Federal of Piauí. The results, interpreted through qualitative content analysis, show that the environmental education insertion (subjects with environmental contents or interdisciplinarity) or absence of such practices (overvaluation of subject contents or insufficient knowledge). It is verified that “consumption” in the teaching practice as a transversal theme occurs with emphasis on economic aspects or aiming to reduce environmental impacts. The absence of the theme in teaching practice occurs due to ignorance of means to apply it or due to the lack of knowledge in the extent of the environmental issue. It was highlighted the need for continuing teacher education and public policies that invest in teacher education.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-121
Author(s):  
Beatrice Sinyama Sichombe

Namibia’s classroom compositions are diverse. Its policies on diversity reflect international practices of achieving Education for All. It advocates for teacher education that is responsive to the country’s needs.  What is unknown is what a socio-cultural curriculum means in Namibian teacher education. This article focuses on the nature of the UNAM’s B.Ed. curriculum and how students learn its contents.  I argue that teacher education for diversity should go beyond traditional teacher education programmes. Its curricula should adopt a socio-cultural view. Coursework and teaching practice should reflect the needs of learners and society.  Data collection consisted of documents, and interviews.  Content analysis was used. Findings revealed that teaching practice lacked dedication in regard to diversity teaching. Consequently, the B.Ed. Programme partially equipped students with competencies to teach diverse learners because coursework alone cannot suffice. The study contributes to knowledge of what a socio-cultural curriculum means in Namibian teacher education.    


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 11887
Author(s):  
Eveliina Asikainen ◽  
Annukka Tapani

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Entrepreneurial Education (EE) are quite abstract and demanding concepts for teacher students. Yet, Key Sustainability Competences and Entrepreneurial Competences entail important qualities of future citizens and workers, and teacher students should become prepared to accommodate education for these competencies in their teaching practice. This paper explores teacher students’ process of sense-making of sustainable development and how becoming a teacher who practices ESD connects with entrepreneurship. EE serves as a good mirroring surface to ESD as they both have their roots in Transformative Learning (TL) but pursue transformation towards different goals. The case study follows the vocational teacher education (VTE) students’ sensemaking of Sustainable Development as a part of teacher’s work during one semester which included integrated Thematic Studies of Sustainable Development. The qualitative content analysis of students’ texts focused on signs of transformative learning and was guided by the dimensions of sustainable development and learning goals set for teacher’s sustainability competences in the VTE curriculum. The results indicate that transformative learning is possible. Furthermore, they address the importance of certain entrepreneurial capabilities in the actualization of change agency.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Keck Frei ◽  
Mirjam Kocher ◽  
Christine Bieri Buschor

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine career-change student teachers’ practice-based learning in teacher training, with a special focus on the support they received. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a qualitative content analysis of 15 group interviews, including 58 career-change student teachers and focuses on their learning at university and the workplace. Findings This paper indicates that career-change student teachers’ learning is task-related and based on interactions. It benefits from the support provided by actors at the university and workplace. Their learning is highly self-regulated and built on skills from prior professional and life experience. However, behaviourist learning and trial-and-error learning strategies are more often mentioned than constructionist learning and goal-oriented learning. Practical implications The findings underline the fact that universities and schools can enhance career-change student teachers’ learning by providing professional support, helping them to form links between experience from their prior profession, as well as their knowledge acquired at the university and experience from the workplace. Originality/value Until now, few studies have addressed workplace learning in teacher education. The present study aims to address this lack. Moreover, the study shows how career-change student teachers deal with the challenge of bridging the gap between theoretical and practical knowledge acquired during practice-based teacher education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-140
Author(s):  
Elena Kovacikova ◽  
Tomas Pechociak

The paper sheds light on the university preparation of future English teachers in Slovakia. Since the requirements for becoming an English teacher differ around the world, the first part of the paper describes and explains the requirements and career development of English teachers in Slovakia. Twelve Slovak faculties provide university preparation of future English teachers, and this research analyses their curricular offer. The courses offered to future English teachers are firstly categorized into linguistic, intercultural, methodological, and literary groups. As teaching practice becomes an essential part of the teacher preparation, the hours devoted to the teaching practice were counted at each institution. The tables and graphs show the sums of the courses and allocated hours. Thus, this paper brings an overview, comparison, and differences in the university preparation of future English teachers in Slovakia. Even though this survey shows only a quantitative point, this research results can be considered as one of the quality indicators in the university preparation of future English teachers in Slovakia


Author(s):  
S. Main ◽  
M. Byrne ◽  
J. J. Scott ◽  
K. Sullivan ◽  
A. Paolino ◽  
...  

AbstractIn 2014, the Australian Government established the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) to advise on how teacher education programmes could ensure new teachers were adequately prepared for the classroom. Following this, the Australian Government endorsed a key recommendation of the TEMAG Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers report, the inclusion of specialisations in primary Initial Teacher Education (ITE). This research was conducted at an Australian public university that, in 2016, had embedded specialisations in a revised primary teacher programme structure and was one of the first ITE institutions in Australia to graduate primary teachers with a specialisation. Using a mixed-methods case study design with convenience sampling, this study sought to investigate these primary graduates’ perceptions of undertaking a specialisation in relation to the development of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in the specialist area, as well as perceived employment advantages. This research took place over 4 years with participants having completed a Bachelor of Education (Primary) at least three months prior to participating. The participants reported benefits to having completed a primary specialisation but expressed concerns about their preparedness to teach their specialisation and whether it would result in any advantages for employment. Recommendations from the participants included teaching practice in their area of specialisation, consideration of specialist skills and changing the timetabling of the specialisation in the programme. Ultimately, there is a need for ongoing research in this area to determine the extent to which primary specialisations deliver the intended outcomes and impacts at both the policy driver level and the university level.


2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-125
Author(s):  
Joana Paulin Romanowski ◽  
Pura Oliver Martins ◽  
Simone Manosso Cartaxo

The research focuses on the reformulation of undergraduate courses in universities in the state of Parana, Brazil. The research problem arises in the context of reformulations in the courses of teacher formation, the undergraduate courses encouraged by the demands of current educational policies for these courses, with the following questions: What changes to current policies of teacher education were produced in the organization of undergraduate courses? The overall objective was to analyze the reformulations of the undergraduate courses in relation to established priorities and the implications to the professional development of teachers indicating the tensions caused in this process and to indicate alternatives that contribute to the improvement of basic teacher education. The methodology of the study considers the assumptions of the theory as practice of expression, performs the analysis of educational legislation, organization of curriculum matrices of undergraduate courses at universities in the State of Parana and includes interviews with coordinators and teachers from the course. Results show that the courses differ in the composition of the curriculum matrices in each of the institutions examined, as for example: the organization of the curriculum regarding the disciplines that are part of it; sorting the disciplines; the number of hours of each discipline; the design of the training process; the apprenticeship supervision processes. This means that the tensions and priorities generated at each university in the constitution of the identity of the undergraduate courses are disparate from the proceedings in which these courses are instituted because of the institutional clashes priorities. The performed reformulations extend the amount of teaching time for teaching practice, starting from the first year of the course, in the form of professional practice and in the final years the completion of supervised practice. However, the university remains far removed from the elementary school, the academic disciplines do not articulate these practices. It is noteworthy that the undergraduate courses in Brazil have been the subject of debates and proposals, since the 1.980s. Key words: teacher education, undergraduate courses, professional development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-348
Author(s):  
José Victor Pronievicz Barreto ◽  
Luiz Fernando Coelho da Cunha Filho ◽  
Fabíola Cristine de Almeida Rego

ResumoEste trabalho aborda a formação docente no Ensino Superior e objetiva, através de pesquisa bibliográfica, abordar sobre a formação do professor universitário, seus principais aspectos e relevâncias, como a trajetória de formação, as concepções de docência, o conhecimento pedagógico e a legislação brasileira e a docência. O professor desempenha função primordial na formação de outros profissionais, sendo assim, sua própria formação reflete diretamente em seus alunos e, por conseguinte, no desenvolvimento e estruturação dos futuros profissionais. Na trajetória de formação do docente é necessário compreender as relações existentes e mútuas entre o domínio do saber (conhecimento científico) e do saber fazer (conhecimento prático), uma vez que o acúmulo de títulos e conhecimentos não compõe um professor universitário de excelência, a prática docente deve objetivar a formação de saberes, a capacitação, o desenvolvimento de habilidades e competência dos alunos, e por fim, a formação de profissionais. Construída ao longo da carreira profissional, a formação do professor universitário vai além dos programas de graduação e pós-graduação convencionais, extrapolando-se para um contexto de aprendizagem que envolve conhecimentos teóricos e práticos obtidos na vivência diária dentro da Instituição de Ensino, englobando os alunos, demais professores e a sociedade como um todo. Palavras-chave: Docência. Educação Superior. Professor Universitário. AbstractThis work deals with teacher education in higher education and aims, through bibliographic research, to address the formation of the university professor, its main aspects and relevance, such as the formation trajectory, teaching conceptions, pedagogical knowledge and Brazilian legislation and teaching. The teacher plays a fundamental role in the training of other professionals, and thus, their own formation reflects directly on their students, and therefore on the development and structuring of future professionals. In the teacher education trajectory, it is necessary to understand the existing and mutual relations between the knowledge domain (scientific knowledge) and know-how (practical knowledge), since the titles and knowledge accumulation does not make up a university professor of excellence, teaching practice should aim at the knowledge formation, training, students’ skills and competence development, and, finally, the professionals fromation. Built throughout the professional career, the university professor training goes beyond conventional graduate and postgraduate programs, extrapolating to a learning context that involves theoretical and practical knowledge obtained in daily experience within the educational institution, encompassing the students, other teachers and the society. Keywords: Teaching. College education. College professor.


Author(s):  
Olga Aleksandrowska ◽  
Joanna Gilis-Siek

The aim of the present paper is to explore the value of general pedagogy practice in educating pre-service teachers of English. In the first part of the paper, the discussion begins with a brief overview of some key concepts related to the teaching profession, teacher education and teaching practice. The major functions of teaching practice, with specific focus on general pedagogy practice, are examined in the light of the Regulation by the Minister of Science and Higher Education of 17 January 2012 on Educational Standards in Preparation for the Teaching Profession (2012). Furthermore, selected models and concepts of organising teaching practice at different Polish teacher training institutions are outlined. The second part of the paper is devoted to presenting an organisational framework of the general pedagogy practice at the Institute of English and American Studies, Gdańsk University. A proposal of a series of teaching practice tasks is put forward along with suggested content of the portfolio documenting trainees’ field experience. The paper closes with some recommendations for improving the quality of the university practicum programmes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Fletcher ◽  
Ashley Casey

There are two purposes of this study. The first is to examine our experiences as beginning teacher educators who taught using models-based practice (using the example of Cooperative Learning). The second is to consider the benefits of using collaborative self-study to foster deep understandings of teacher education practice. The findings highlight the challenges in adapting school teaching practices to the university setting, and the different types of knowledge required to teach about the “hows” and “whys” of a models-based approach. We conclude by acknowledging the benefits of systematic study of practice in helping to unpack the complexities and challenges of teaching about teaching. Our collaborative self-study enabled us to develop insights into the intertwined nature of self and practice, and the personal and professional value of our research leads us to encourage teacher educators to examine and share their challenges and understandings of teaching practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12808
Author(s):  
Jaana Seikkula-Leino ◽  
Svanborg R. Jónsdóttir ◽  
Marcia Håkansson-Lindqvist ◽  
Mats Westerberg ◽  
Sofia Eriksson-Bergström

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the European Union’s strategies both set goals for solving environmental challenges faced by societies and communities. As part of solving these challenges, both the UN and the EU stress the development of entrepreneurial and innovative education. Teacher education plays a crucial role in these efforts, since teachers and teacher educators have a significant impact on educating citizens far into the future. In this research, we studied how Nordic (Finnish, Swedish, and Icelandic) primary teacher education curricula involve entrepreneurial, sustainable, and pro-environmental education. For this study, the authors analyzed the B.Ed. curricula of three academic teacher education institutions in Spring 2021. We used qualitative content analysis as our research method. According to the results, all three curricula incorporated both entrepreneurship education and sustainable development to some extent, although often not very explicitly. Given the urgency of problems such as global climate change, the educational goals and contents in these curricula related to entrepreneurial education and sustainable development are very limited. The idea of integrating environmental/sustainable and entrepreneurship education could be promoted in the future more explicitly, with these interdisciplinary educational themes emphasised more strongly in the curricula and education policies.


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