Differences in Teachers’ Professional Action Competence in Education for Sustainable Development: The Importance of Teacher Co-Learning

This study builds on a research-practitioner partnership embedded within an education for sustainable development (ESD) project and aims to explore the major potential challenges (i.e., disciplinary boundaries set by subject specialization, especially in secondary education) and success factors (i.e., teacher co-learning experiences in ESD) associated with differences in teachers’ professional action competence (PACesd) in a sample of 557 in-service teachers in primary and secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium. The study employed a recently validated PACesd measurement instrument and involved quantitative data analysis in a structural equation modelling framework. The results show that primary education teachers tend to report higher PACesd levels compared to their peers in secondary education. Moreover, regardless of educational level, gender and teaching experience, all teachers participating in a working group or a learning community in ESD are more likely to show higher levels of PACesd. Implications of the findings, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Involvement and Multi-Sectoral Collaboration: Applying Principles of Health Promotion during the Implementation of Local Policies and Measures—A Case Study

Five principles for health promotion (HP) stand out in various forms, providing guidance for HP measures and policy implementation: (1) a broad and positive health concept, (2) participation and involvement of key stakeholders, (3) build action and action competence by involving and empowering target groups, (4) a setting perspective, and (5) equity in health. The purpose of this study is to describe, and critically discuss, how the five HP principles can be applied to structure collaboration processes for implementing HP measures in local communities. A case study methodology was applied when investigating how the HP principles guided actions and focus-of-attention throughout the process of implementing a local community HP measure. Of special importance was the broad involvement of stakeholders and the anchoring of overarching, as well as specific, HP goals in the municipal strategic documents to ensure political commitment, ownership, and adequate resources. Direction on how to apply or achieve the HP principles should be further explored, described, and brought into systematic day-to-day work for a better society-development.

Examining the Enviroschools programme within the greater Wellington region: A mixed methods approach

<p>This study focused on the Enviroschools organisation, a provider of education for sustainability in Aotearoa New Zealand. This research used a mixed-methods approach, involving seven schools in the Wellington region. Study one incorporated qualitative methods and gained insight into how the Enviroschools programme works in schools through interviewing teachers. Specifically, this study examined: 1) How the Enviroschools programme is implemented in different schools, 2) How action competence (a key component of the Enviroschools programme) is encouraged in students, and 3) Identified the challenges and benefits that teachers faced when implementing the programme. The second study used a quantitative approach and aimed to identify if variables from the Theory of Planned Behaviour could predict children’s behaviour intentions. Study two: 1) Explored whether the Theory of Planned Behaviour could predict children’s gardening and waste behaviour intentions, 2) Investigated whether environmental concern could explain behaviour intentions, and 3) Explored whether socio-demographic variables helped explain behaviour intentions. The results of study one highlighted the different ways in which teachers implemented the Enviroschools programme; this varied from being fully integrated throughout their teaching to offering extra-curricular environmental activities. The challenges and benefits included a lack of support, positive impacts on the community, and the influence of school culture. The quantitative survey (n=155) found that the Theory of Planned Behaviour variables could predict both Living Landscapes and Zero Waste behaviour intentions. However, environmental concern or socio-demographics did not add to explaining behaviour intentions. These study findings may benefit the Enviroschools organisation and policy makers who want to improve education for sustainability in New Zealand and know which variables to target to increase children’s engagement in waste and gardening behaviours.</p>

Examining the Enviroschools programme within the greater Wellington region: A mixed methods approach

<p>This study focused on the Enviroschools organisation, a provider of education for sustainability in Aotearoa New Zealand. This research used a mixed-methods approach, involving seven schools in the Wellington region. Study one incorporated qualitative methods and gained insight into how the Enviroschools programme works in schools through interviewing teachers. Specifically, this study examined: 1) How the Enviroschools programme is implemented in different schools, 2) How action competence (a key component of the Enviroschools programme) is encouraged in students, and 3) Identified the challenges and benefits that teachers faced when implementing the programme. The second study used a quantitative approach and aimed to identify if variables from the Theory of Planned Behaviour could predict children’s behaviour intentions. Study two: 1) Explored whether the Theory of Planned Behaviour could predict children’s gardening and waste behaviour intentions, 2) Investigated whether environmental concern could explain behaviour intentions, and 3) Explored whether socio-demographic variables helped explain behaviour intentions. The results of study one highlighted the different ways in which teachers implemented the Enviroschools programme; this varied from being fully integrated throughout their teaching to offering extra-curricular environmental activities. The challenges and benefits included a lack of support, positive impacts on the community, and the influence of school culture. The quantitative survey (n=155) found that the Theory of Planned Behaviour variables could predict both Living Landscapes and Zero Waste behaviour intentions. However, environmental concern or socio-demographics did not add to explaining behaviour intentions. These study findings may benefit the Enviroschools organisation and policy makers who want to improve education for sustainability in New Zealand and know which variables to target to increase children’s engagement in waste and gardening behaviours.</p>

Teachers’ Professional Action Competence in Education for Sustainable Development: A Systematic Review from the Perspective of Physical Education

In order to implement education for sustainable development (ESD), teachers from all subjects need to be equipped with ESD-specific professional action competence, including physical education (PE) teachers. However, the current state of research on approaches to defining ESD-specific teacher competence is complex and there is little debate on what competences PE teachers in particular need in order to implement ESD. The purpose of this study is to make a theoretical contribution to clarifying the central concepts of ESD-specific teacher competences and to link this discussion to the subject of PE. We conducted a systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines with a focus on normative and theoretical work about ESD-specific teacher competences. Twenty-two articles from 2008 onwards met the inclusion criteria. Subsequently, we applied a qualitative content analysis based on theoretically derived main categories. The literature review revealed a more nuanced examination of the categories of ESD-specific professional knowledge and beliefs. The categories of motivational orientation and self-regulation were found to have received less attention in the analyzed papers. PE-specific aspects were not reflected in the reviewed literature. A refined model of ESD-specific professional action competence is suggested and it is demonstrated how this model might be applied to subject-specific discourses from the perspective of PE.

Promoting Environmental Citizenship in Education: The Potential of the Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire to Measure Impact of Interventions

Policy documents across the globe call for citizen engagement to fight climate change emergencies and build more sustainable societies. They also recognize the key role of formal and non-formal education in preparing citizens to address those challenges. However, there is a need to identify appropriate instruments to evaluate the impact of educational interventions on people’s knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, which are essential components of the action competence required to become environmental citizens and agents of change. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential of the Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ) to evaluate different educational interventions aimed at increasing environmental citizenship. It presents three sub-studies from Spain, Belgium, and Sweden using the SCQ with varying contexts, duration, and target groups yet sharing common pedagogical features in the interventions. Pre-intervention scores indicate a common pattern of high sustainability knowingness, moderate sustainability attitudes, and lower sustainability behaviors in the three dimensions (environmental, social and economic) of sustainability consciousness, and a positive impact on sustainability behavior after the intervention. These findings are especially significant when compared to previous studies. We therefore conclude that the SCQ is useful for detecting the effects of learning interventions of varying designs and contexts that address environmental citizenship. The results are discussed in terms of key pedagogical features of the educational interventions, and the appropriateness and sensitivity of the instrument in detecting changes in the intended direction. It concludes with implications for research and practice and suggestions for future lines of work.

Education for Social Change: The Case of Teacher Education in Wales

Entrepreneurial education offers valuable opportunities for teachers to foster and enhance creativity and action competence, which are also important for sustainability education. The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) is a leader in the development of entrepreneurial education in teacher education both in Wales and internationally. The objective of this article is to shed light on how an entrepreneurial education approach can help foster social change. The aim of this study is to learn from teacher educators at UWTSD about how they support creativity, innovation, and an enterprising mindset in their learners. A case study approach is applied. By analysing documentary evidence such as module and assignment handbooks, we explore how teacher educators at UWTSD deliver entrepreneurial education for social change. Our findings indicate that UWTSD’s development of entrepreneurial education in teacher training has enabled constructive learning, cultivating creativity and action competence. We provide examples that display how the intentions of the Curriculum for Wales and entrepreneurial education approaches of the UWTSD emerge in practice. These examples show outcomes of the entrepreneurial projects that evince the enactment of social change. The findings also show that the educational policy of Wales supports entrepreneurial education throughout all levels of the educational system.

Investigating the Competencies Required for Sustainable Entrepreneurship Development in Agricultural Higher Education

The need for entrepreneurial sustainability is as important as the entrepreneurship category itself. By transferring competencies in a sustainable entrepreneurship framework, entrepreneurship education can make a significant contribution to the effectiveness of businesses, especially for start-up entrepreneurs. This study analyzes the essential competencies of students in the development of sustainable entrepreneurship. The main purpose of this research project is to study and explain the dimensions of sustainability entrepreneurship competencies among agricultural students. The results showed that seven key dimensions play a role in shaping sustainable entrepreneurial development competencies: systems thinking competence (STC), embracing diversity and interdisciplinary (EDI), foresighted thinking (FTC), normative competence (NC), action competence (AC), interpersonal competence (IC), and strategic management competence (SMC). While increasing, it was also found that STC plays an important role in explaining the relationship between sustainability and entrepreneurship.