Continuing Professional Development in Sustainability Education for K-12 Teachers: Principles,Programme,Applications,Outlook

Abstract

The next generation will be better prepared to cope with the daunting sustainability challenges if education for sustainable development is being taught and learned across educational sectors. K-12 school education will play a pivotal role in this process, most prominently, the teachers serving at these schools. While pre-service teachers’ education will contribute to this transition, success will depend on effective professional development in sustainability education to teachers currently in service. Arizona State University has pioneered the development and delivery of such a programme. We present the design principles, the programme, and insights from its initial applications that involved 246 K-12 in-service teachers from across the USA. The evaluation results indicate that due to participation in the programme, sustainability knowledge, perception of self-efficacy, inclusion of sustainability in the classroom, modelling of sustainable behaviours, and linking action to content all increased. We conclude with recommendations for the widespread adopting of the programme.

Keywords

Education for sustainable development sustainability education teachers continuing professional development in-service training

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Avalos

(2011). Teacher professional development in teaching and teacher education over ten years. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(1), 10–20. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.007

Barth

Godemann

Rieckmann

& Stoltenberg

(2007). Developing key competencies for sustainable development in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8(4), 416–430. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1108/14676370710823582

Bertschy

Künzli

& Lehmann

(2013). Teachers’ competencies for the implementation of educational offers in the field of education for sustainable development. Sustainability (Switzerland), 5(12), 5067–5080. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.3390/su5125067

Boone

(2015). On hope and agency in sustainability: Lessons from Arizona State University. Journal of Sustainability Education, 10, 1–10.

Brundiers

& Wiek

(2011). Educating students in real-world sustainability research: Vision and implementation. Innovative Higher Education, 36(2), 107–124. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-010-9161-9

Brundiers

Wiek

& Redman

(2010). Real-world learning opportunities in sustainability: From classroom into the real world. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(4), 308–324. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1108/14676371011077540

Darling-Hammond

Wei

R. C.

Andree

Richardson

& Orphanos

(2009). State of the profession: Study measures status of professional development. Journal of Staff Development, 30(2), 42.

Desimone

L. M.

Porter

A. C.

Garet

M. S.

Yoon

K. S.

& Birman

B. F.

(2002). Effects of professional development on teachers’ instruction: Results from a three-year longitudinal study. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(2), 81–112. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.3102/01623737024002081

Duerden

M. D.

& Witt

P. A.

(2010). The impact of direct and indirect experiences on the development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(4), 379–392. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.03.007

10.

Freeman

Eddy

S. L.

McDonough

Smith

M. K.

Okoroafor

Jordt

, (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410–8415. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111

11.

Frisk

& Larson

(2011). Educating for sustainability: Competencies & practices for transformative action. Journal of Sustainability Education, 2, 1–20.

12.

Garet

M. S.

Porter

A. C.

Desimone

Birman

B. F.

& Yoon

K. S.

(2001). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers, 38(4), 915–945. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.3102/00028312038004915

13.

Guskey

T. R.

(2002). Does it make a difference ? Educational Leadership, 59(6), 45–51.

14.

Guskey

T. R.

& Yoon

K. S.

(2009). What works in professional development? Phi Delta Kappan, 19(7), 495–500. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.2307/20446159

15.

Hicks

(2002). Lessons for the future: The missing dimension in education. London: Psychology Press.

16.

Higgs

A. L.

& McMillan

V. M.

(2006). Teaching through modeling: Four schools’ experiences in sustainability education. The Journal of Environmental Education, 38(1), 39–53. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.3200/joee.38.1.39-53

17.

Hmelo-Silver

(2004). Problem-based learning: What and how do students learn? Educational Psychology Review, 16(3), 235–266. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1023/B:EDPR.0000034022.16470.f3

18.

Kagawa

(2007). Dissonance in students’ perceptions of sustainable development and sustainability: Implications for curriculum change. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8(3), 317–338.

19.

Kennedy

M. M.

(2016). How does professional development improve teaching? Review of Educational Research, 1–36. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315626800

20.

Kollmuss

& Agyeman

(2002). Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239–260. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1080/13504620220145401

21.

McKenzie-Mohr

(2000). New ways to promote proenvironmental behavior: Promoting sustainable behavior: An introduction to community-based social marketing. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 543–554. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00183

22.

McKenzie-Mohr

(2011). Fostering sustainable behavior: An introduction to community-based social marketing. Canada: New Society Publishers.

23.

Milkoreit

(2016). The promise of climate fiction-imagination, storytelling and the politics of the future. In Wapner

& Elver

(Eds), Reimagining climate change (pp. 185–205). New York: Routledge Publishing.

24.

Murphy

Smith

Varley

Razı

Ö.

& Boylan

(2015). Changing practice: An evaluation of the impact of a nature of science inquiry-based professional development programme on primary teachers. Cogent Education, 2(1), 1077692. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2015.1077692

25.

Nolet

(2009). Preparing sustainability-literate teachers. Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Educations, 111(2), 409–442.

26.

Obenchain

& Ives

(2006). Experiential education in the classroom and academic outcomes: For those who want it all. Journal of Experiential Education, 29(1), 61–77. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1177/105382590602900106

27.

Pepper

& Wildy

(2008). Leading for sustainability: Is surface understanding enough? Journal of Educational Administration, 46(5), 613–629. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1108/09578230810895528

28.

Popova

Evans

D. K.

& Arancibia

(2016). Training teachers on the job what works and how to measure it (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper). Washington, DC: The World Bank.

29.

Redman

(2013a). Advancing educational pedagogy for sustainability: Developing and implementing programs to transform behaviors. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 8(1), 1–34.

30.

Redman

(2013b). Opportunities and challenges for integrating sustainability education into k-12 schools: Case study Phoenix, AZ. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 15(2), 5–24. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2013-0008

31.

Redman

& Redman

(2014). Transforming sustainable food and waste behaviors by realigning domains of knowledge in our education system. Journal of Cleaner Production, 64, 147–157. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.09.016

32.

Redman

& Redman

(2017). Is subjective knowledge the key to fostering sustainable behavior? Mixed evidence from an education intervention in Mexico. Education Sciences. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.3390/educsci7010004

33.

Rogers

(2003). Diffusion of innovations. New York: Simon and Schuster.

34.

Scott

(2002). Sustainability and learning: What role for the curriculum? Reading, MA: Council for Environmental Education.

35.

Segalàs

Ferrer-Balas

& Mulder

K. F.

(2010). What do engineering students learn in sustainability courses? The effect of the pedagogical approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 18(3), 275–284. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2009.09.012

36.

Silge

& Robinson

(2016). Tidytext: Text mining and analysis using tidy data principles in R. Journal of Open Source Software, 1(3), 37.

37.

Sipos

Battisti

& Grimm

(2008). Achieving transformative sustainability learning: Engaging head, hands and heart. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(1), 68–86.

38.

Stein

M. K.

& Wang

M. C.

(1988). Teacher development and school improvement: The process of teacher change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 4(2), 171–187. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1016/0742-051X(88)90016-9

39.

Sterling

S. R.

(2001). Sustainable education: Re-visioning learning and change. Great Barrington, MA: Green Books for the Schumacher Society.

40.

Sterling

S. R.

(2004). Whole systems thinking as a basis for paradigm change in education: Explorations in the context of sustainability. Bath, UK: University of Bath.

41.

Stir

(2006). Restructuring teacher education for sustainability: Student involvement through a ‘strengths model’. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(9–11), 830–836. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2005.11.051

42.

Timperly

(2008). Teacher professional learning and development. Educational Practices, 18, 1–32.

43.

Uitto

& Saloranta

(2017). Subject teachers as educators for sustainability: A survey study. Education Sciences, 7(1), 8. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.3390/educsci7010008

44.

Valente

T. W.

& Pumpuang

(2006). Identifying opinion leaders to promote behavior change. Health Education & Behavior, 34(6), 881–896. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1177/1090198106297855

45.

Wiek

& Kay

(2015). Learning while transforming: Solution-oriented learning for urban sustainability in Phoenix, Arizona. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 16, 29–36.

46.

Wiek

Withycombe

& Redman

(2011). Key competencies in sustainability: A reference framework for academic program development. Sustainability Science, 6(2), 203–218. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-011-0132-6

47.

Wiek

Bernstein

Foley

Cohen

Forrest

Kuzdas

Kay

& Withycombe Keeler

(2015). Operationalising competencies in higher education for sustainable development. In Barth

Michelsen

Rieckmann

and Thomas

(Eds), Handbook of Higher Education for Sustainable Development (pp. 241–260). London: Routledge.

48.

Yoon

K. S.

Duncan

Lee

S. W.-Y.

Scarloss

& Shapley

K. L.

(2007). Reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement (Issues & Answers. REL 2007-No. 033). Washington, DC: Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest (NJ1).