Keywords
global citizenship education
pedagogical practices for transforming education
SDGs
How to Cite
Abstract
Environmental and sustainability education is critical to the world we live in today. Our World, Our Futures, a small-scale, cross-cultural participatory study, explored what transformative environmental and global citizenship education might look like in primary schools across two contexts. The study aimed to explore how teachers innovate curriculum through a flexible, cross-curricular approach within the constraints of the existing formal school curriculum. Informed by a culturally situated, responsive approach to researching with students and teachers, the research team supported the teachers in developing learning activities that forefronted the students’ situated knowledge, ideas and concerns about the environment. The students were invited to create and share art and other texts reflecting their perspectives on local environmental issues, their aspirations for their future spaces and their active roles as global citizens. Teachers were invited to reflect on how, and the extent to which, ideas of global citizenship, environmental and sustainability education can be incorporated into the curriculum, exploring how the project supported teachers’ pedagogical praxis, autonomy and professional learning. Through these activities, data such as teacher interviews, classroom observations and artefacts of student work were gathered. The data were analysed to identify ways in which students’ cross-cultural dialogue developed along with teachers’ pedagogical development in integrating transformative and contextually relevant pedagogical approaches for delivery of environmental and sustainability education. The findings demonstrate the
complexities and challenges of collaborating across distances, cultures and time zones, and of using virtual platforms. Finally, the findings present curriculum development as a lived, dynamic and experimental process that develops teacher autonomy and professional learning.
References
Agbedahin, A. V. (2019). Sustainable development, education for sustainable development, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Emergence, efficacy, eminence, and future. Sustainable Development, 27(4), 669–680. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1931
Alam, A. (2022). Mapping a sustainable future through conceptualization of transformative learning framework, education for sustainable development, critical reflection, and responsible citizenship: An exploration of pedagogies for twenty-first century learning. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 9827–9840. https://doi.org/10.1149/10701.9827ecst
Andreotti, V. D. O. (2014). Critical and transnational literacies in international development and global citizenship education. SISYPHUS Journal of Education, 2(3), 33–50.
Ardoin, N. M., Bowers, A. W., & Gaillard, E. (2020). Environmental education outcomes for conservation: A systematic review. Biological Conservation, 241(July 2019), 108224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108224 Biesta, G. (2022). World-centred education. A view for the present. London: Routledge.
Bourn, D., Hunt, F., Blum, N., & Lawson, H. (2016). Primary Education for Global Learning and Sustainability: A report for the Cambridge Primary Review Trust (Vol. 5). http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1475170/7/Blum__N_Bournreport-160311-final.pdf
Burnard, P., Apelgren, B. M., & Cabaroglu, N. (2015). Researching teachers: Teachers researching as teaching practice. In P. Burnard, B. Apelgren, & N. Cabaroglu (Eds). Transformative Teacher Research: Theory and Practice for the C21st. (pp. 101-111). Brill.
Check, J., & Schutt, R. K. (2011). Research methods in education. Sage.Christensen, P., & Prout, A. (2002). Working with ethical symmetry in social research with children. Childhood, 9(4), 477–497. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568202009004007
Cloonan, A. (2019). Collaborative teacher research: integrating professional learning and university study. The Australian Educational Researcher, 46(3), 385–403. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-018-0290-y
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (1990). Research on teaching and teacher research: The issues that divide. Educational Researcher,19(2), 2–11.
Duan, H., & Fortner, R. (2010). A cross-cultural study on environmental risk perception and educational strategies: Implications for environmental education in China. International Electronic Journal of Environmental Education, 1(1), 1–19.
Education Scotland. (2015). Annual review: Education Scotland.Elmas, R., Öztürk, N., Irmak, M., & Cobern, W. W. (2014). An investigation of teacher response to national science curriculum reforms in Turkey. Eurasian Journal of Physics & Chemistry Education, 6(1), 2–33.
Government of Maldives (2019). Strategic Action Plan, Male’ Maldives.Grow, L. P. (2011). The identity development of preservice teachers of literacy in field experiences considering their prior knowledge. University of Kentucky.
Haleem, A., Javaid, M., Qadri, M. A., & Suman, R. (2022). Understanding the role of digital technologies in education: A review. Sustainable Operations andComputers, 3, 275–285.
Jones, L. (2021). The ‘Teacher Research Group’ as a collaborative model of professional learning. Educational Action Research, 00(00), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2021.1960577
Kimaryo, L. A. (2011). Integrating Environmental Education in Primary School Education in Tanzania Teachers’ Perceptions and Teaching Practices. PhD Thesis: Åbo Akademi University Press.
Kitchenham, A. (2008). The evolution of John Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Journal of Transformative Education, 6(2), 104–123.https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344608322678
Kopnina, H. (2012). Education for sustainable development (ESD): The turn away from “environment” in environmental education? Environmental Education Research, 18(5), 699–717. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2012.658028
Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice’is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British educational research journal, 33(6), 927-942.
Marsh, C. J., & Willis, G. (1999). Curriculum: Alternative approaches, ongoing issues (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall.
Mezirow, J. (1997). Transformative learning: Theory to practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. 1997(74). (pp. 5–12). https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230358485.0015
Mezirow, J. (2003). Epistemology of transformative learning. Unpublished Manuscript. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.116.8014&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Milfont, T., & Sibley, C. (2012). The big five personality traits and environmental engagement: Associations at the individual and societal level, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32(2), (pp.187–195). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2011.12.006
Mitchell, I. (2002). Learning from teacher research for teacher research. In J. Loughran, I. Mitchell, & J. Mitchell (Eds.), Learning from teacher research (pp. 249–266). Allen & Unwin.
Morin, O., Tytler, R., Barraza, L., Simonneaux, L., & Simonneaux, J. (2013). Cross cultural exchange to support reasoning about socio-scientific sustainability issues. Teaching Science, 59(1), 16–22.
Mohr, M. M., Rogers, C., Sanford, B., Nocerino, M. A., & Clawson, S. (2004). Teacher research for better schools. Teachers College Press and Berkeley, CA: National Writing Project.
Murphy, C., Smith, G., Mallon, B., & Redman, E. (2020). Teaching about sustainability through inquiry-based science in Irish primary classrooms: The impact of a professional development programme on teacher self-efficacy,competence and pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 26(8), 1112–1136. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1776843
NIE. (2011). The National Curriculum Framework. National Institute of Education, Ministry of Education, Maldives.
OECD. (2018). Preparing our youth for an inclusive and sustainable world: The OECD PISA global competence framework. OECD. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/Handbook-PISA-2018-Global-Competence.pdf
OECD. (2022). Are Students Ready to Take on Environmental Challenges? PISA, OECD, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/8abe655c-en
Pais, A., & Costa, M. (2020). An ideology critique of global citizenship education. Critical Studies in Education, 61(1), 1–6.
Patton, K., Parker, M., & Tannehill, D. (2015). Helping teachers help themselves: Professional development that makes a difference. NASSP Bulletin, 99(1), 26–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192636515576040
Peng, N., & Chen, X. (2023). Model-based learning towards environment in crosscultural communication: A mediating role oftechnology innovation acceptance in culture congruence and English language teaching for environmental education. Economic ResearchEkonomska Istraživanja, 36(3) (pp. 1-22). https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2022.2162946
Rodríguez, Aboytes, J. G., & Barth, M. (2020). Transformative learning in the field of sustainability: A systematic literature review (1999–2019). International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(5), 993–1013. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-05-2019-0168
Scoffham, S. (2018). Global learning: A catalyst for curriculum change. International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 10(2), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.18546/ijdegl.10.2.03
Scheunpflug, A. (2010). Global education and cross-cultural learning: A challenge for a research-based approach to international teacher education. International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 3(1), 29-44. https://doi.org/10.18546/IJDEGL.03.3.03
Shiyama, A. (2020). Primary teacher professional learning in the Maldives: An explorative study of science process skills pedagogies. University of Bristol.
Smith, G. (2014). An innovative model of professional development to enhance the teaching and learning of primary science in Irish schools. Professional Development in Education, 40(3), 467–487. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2013.830274
Sobel, D. (2007). Review of Place-based education: Connecting classrooms and communities. The Journal of Environmental Education, 39(1), 62–64.
Stevenson, R. B., Wals, A. E., Dillon, J., & Brody, M. (2013). An orientation to environmental education and the Handbook. In R. B. Stevenson, M. Brody,J. Dillon, & A. E. J. Wals (Eds.), International Handbook of Research on Environmental Education (pp. 1–6). Routledge.
Sukma, E., Ramadhan, S., & Indriyani, V. (2020). Integration of environmental education in elementary schools. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1481(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1481/1/012136
Sunassee, A., Bokhoree, C., Patrizio, A., (2021). Students’ empathy for the environment through eco-art place-based education: A review. Ecologies, 2021(2), 214–247. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecologies2020013
Sureda-Negre, J., Oliver-Trobat, M., Catalan-Fernández, A., & Comas-Forgas, R. (2014). Environmental education for sustainability in the curriculum of primary teacher training in Spain. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 23(4), 281–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2014.946322
Tambling, P., & Bacon, S. (2023). The Arts in Schools Foundations for the Future: Purposes, principles and Practice. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, UK.
Tikly, L. (2019). Education for sustainable development in the postcolonial world: Towards a transformative agenda for Africa. Routledge.
Tilbury, D. (1995). Environmental education for sustainability: Defining the new focus of environmental. Environmental Education Research, 1(2), 195–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350462950010206
Uhlenwinkel, A. (2017). Enabling educators to teach and understand intercultural communication: The example of “young people on the global stage: their education and influence”. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 26(1), 3–16.
UNESCO. (2021). Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education. United Nations. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379707
Voogt, J., Westbroek, H., Handelzalts, A., Walraven, A., McKenney, S., Pieters, J., & de Vries, B. (2011). Teacher learning in collaborative curriculum design. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(8), 1235–1244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.07.003