A Novel Improvement Strategy of Competency for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) of University Teachers Based on Data Mining

Sung-Shun Weng, Yang Liu, Juan Dai and Yen-Ching Chuang
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Sung-Shun Weng: Department of Information and Finance Management, National Taipei University of Technology, No. 1, Sec. 3, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Taipei 10608, Taiwan
Yang Liu: Department of Information and Finance Management, National Taipei University of Technology, No. 1, Sec. 3, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Taipei 10608, Taiwan
Juan Dai: School of Continuing Education, Beijing Institute of Technology, No. 5, South Zhongguancun Street, Haidian Dist., Beijing 100081, China
Yen-Ching Chuang: Graduate Institute of Urban Planning, College of Public Affairs, National Taipei University, No. 151, University Rd., Sanxia Dist., New Taipei City 23741, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: Competency for ESD (education for sustainable development) of university teachers is the key to the sustainable development of higher education. Developing teachers’ competency for ESD poses a new challenge for Chinese universities. Ideally, a new faculty development system should be established. However, this strategy is not feasible because of cost concerns, and improving competency for ESD by using the existing teacher competency training system is preferred. Therefore, this paper employed a specific data mining method to create a relationship model between the existing teacher competency system and the ESD competency according to teacher evaluation data. The developed model was used to analyze the teachers’ core competencies that are critical to ESD competency and derive decision rules for formulating improvement strategies. The teacher competency model was applied to the International Scholarly Exchange Curriculum (ISEC) program implemented at regional universities in China to conduct an empirical case study. The results of this study are anticipated to enable the formulation of an effective and appropriate strategy for improving teachers’ competency for ESD in the existing teacher development system.

Keywords: education for sustainable development (ESD); competency for ESD; teacher training; higher education; strategies for improving teachers’ competency; dominance-based rough set approach (DRSA); data mining (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 (5)

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