What Teachers Think and Know about Education for Sustainable Development and How They Implement it in Class

Eva-Maria Waltner, Katja Scharenberg, Christian Hörsch and Werner Rieß
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Eva-Maria Waltner: Department of Biology and Pedagogy of Biology, University of Education Freiburg, Kunzenweg 21, 79117 Freiburg, Germany
Katja Scharenberg: Department of Sociology, University of Education Freiburg, Kunzenweg 21, 79117 Freiburg, Germany
Christian Hörsch: Department of Biology and Pedagogy of Biology, University of Education Freiburg, Kunzenweg 21, 79117 Freiburg, Germany
Werner Rieß: Department of Biology and Pedagogy of Biology, University of Education Freiburg, Kunzenweg 21, 79117 Freiburg, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: After the end of the first Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development , coinciding with ongoing international evaluation processes, questions about the implementation of the Education for Sustainable Development programs and assessments continue to be raised. The present study examined Education for Sustainable Development implementation at the local (teachers’) level, assessing what teachers think and know about Education for Sustainable Development and how they implement it in secondary school classes in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. By providing novel data from a teacher survey in 2019, this study revealed that Education for Sustainable Development in some aspects still lacks concrete structural implementation in educational contexts. Using a longitudinal approach, we additionally compared data from an earlier representative assessment in 2007 to the data from 2019. In reference to the preceding evaluation report, the present study showed, for example, that teachers’ attitudes towards Sustainable Development Goals were significantly higher in 2019 compared to 2007. This study provides clarification of the needs and achievements of the Education for Sustainable Development implementation process. In sum, our analysis found that from the teachers’ perspective, more abstract policies are not needed, but instead teachers ask for very concrete support that is close to teaching and the schools’ objectives. The results of our study help, in a larger sense, to navigate society towards a more sustainable direction and towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by highlighting the remaining challenges of these broad objectives.

Keywords: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD); UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN DESD); Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development (GAP); schools; street-level; implementation; teachers; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); educational policy; environmental education (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 (14)

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