Socio-Environmental Problematic, End-Purposes, and Strategies Relating to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the Perspectives of Spanish Secondary Education Trainee Teachers

Delfín Ortega-Sánchez, Almudena Alonso-Centeno and Miguel Corbí
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Delfín Ortega-Sánchez: Department of Specific Didactics, Faculty of Education, University of Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
Almudena Alonso-Centeno: Department of Specific Didactics, Faculty of Education, University of Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain
Miguel Corbí: Department of Specific Didactics, Faculty of Education, University of Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 14, 1-10

Abstract: In this paper, representations of Spanish Secondary Education trainee teachers ( n = 163) are analyzed with regard to the socio-environmental problematic, end-purposes, and strategies of education for sustainable development (ESD). Likewise, the study seeks to identify the potential influence of sociodemographic variables on those representations and, in particular, possible differences between either the perceptions or the beliefs of trainee teachers of Geography and History and those from other disciplines. The study can be classified as a non-experimental ex post facto investigation based on a questionnaire, yielding results that reflected the commitment of the students towards teaching through the implementation of strategies directed at conflict resolution for social transformation, and towards teaching the development of critical and creative thinking skills for social interventions. Likewise, the study reports the promotion of specific socio-educational actions leading to sustainable development. These results show the absence of differences in terms of the sex, age, institutional affiliation, background discipline or specialism, or previous training in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the students. Despite the identification of greater tendencies towards the conceptualized development of social awareness and active citizenship among trainee teachers of Geography and History, these results reflected the pertinence and the educational need for ESD in higher education from a holistic and transversal perspective.

Keywords: education for sustainable development; social representations; trainee teachers; secondary education; geography and history (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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