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What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 46266

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Esther García-González

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Guest Editor

Department of Didactics, University of Cádiz, Paseo de Carlos III, 28, 11003 Cádiz, Spain
Interests: environmental education; Education for Sustainability; transformative learning and science teaching-learningaching-learning

Prof. Pilar Azcárate Goded

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Guest Editor

Department of Didactics, University of Cádiz, 11519 Puerto Real, Spain
Interests: teacher training; education for sustainability; environmental education; mathematics education
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Dr. Rocío Jiménez Fontana

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Guest Editor

Department of Didactics, University of Cádiz, 11519 Puerto Real, Spain
Interests: teacher training; education for sustainability; environmental education; science education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 2015 the UN published the 2030 Agenda, aplan ofactionwith 17 goals. These goals are the path to builda more democratic, equitable and sustainable world whichmustbe addressedover the next 15 years, fromthe governments, as well as public institutions and civil society.The University has a key role in this path toward the constructions of new societies. In addition to generating knowledge, it is also responsiblefor trainingfuture professionals within the framework of sustainability. It is essential in order to face the problems and consequences of the profound,current environmental crises. The focus of this Special Issue is to show what has been done in the University to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals over the firstfive years afterthe announcementofthe2030 Agenda. Research centred on innovative educational methods,assessmenttools andthe remaining challenges forthe integrationof SDG in higher educationwill be of particular interest. This special issue hopefully servesan inspirationfor much needed further initiatives in this field.

Dr. Esther García-González
Prof. Pilar Azcárate Goded
Dr. Rocío Jiménez Fontana
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals
Education for Sustainability
Higher Education
Innovative educational methods

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 2943 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Social Interaction: A Crucial Means to Promote Sustainability in Initial Teacher Training

by Enrique Carmona-Medeiro and José María Cardeñoso Domingo

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8666; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158666 - 3 Aug 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3344

Abstract

This study aims to identify the set of elements in the educational process that affect the creation of a teaching profile consistent with the principles of sustainability. In this research, we focus on identifying those sustainability attributes related to understanding social interaction and its role in the learning process of logical-mathematical knowledge. Social interaction is an essential part of the principle of collaboration. The study participants were 133 future teachers, students of the degree in Early Childhood Education at the Universidad de Cádiz (Spain). Qualitative methods and techniques were used to collect data, and mixed methods and techniques were employed for their analysis. The data relating to the student’s perception of the importance of social interaction in learning were gathered through the final reports produced by the students. The data were processed by classifying them into categories and subcategories. The meaning condensation method used enabled identifying 33 sustainability attributes linked to socio-cultural learning. Those attributes identify and describe the internal dynamics of cooperative learning and show the synergies and interrelationships between social interactions, socio-cognitive conflict and language. The results stress the importance of a meaningful understanding of the role of social interaction in learning in order to promote the principles of sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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21 pages, 1084 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancing Preservice Teachers’ Key Competencies for Promoting Sustainability in a University Statistics Course

by Heejoo Suh, Sohyung Kim, Seonyoung Hwang and Sunyoung Han

Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9051; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219051 - 30 Oct 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2236

Abstract

In this rapidly changing world, universities have an increased responsibility to prepare professionals for a sustainable future, and teacher education is not an exception to this. In this study, we observed a group of preservice teachers engaging in a statistical investigation project. Specifically, we examined their degree of statistical knowledge; how effective the project was in enhancing their statistical knowledge and thinking; and how they participated in the project to make and share data-driven decisions. To this end, both qualitative and quantitative investigations were used. With the help of pre- and posttests, we found that the degree of knowledge differed between self-perceived and measured knowledge. Moreover, the results demonstrated the project’s effectiveness in enhancing the participating teachers’ statistical knowledge and thinking, specifically estimating the population mean and its interpretation. In making and sharing their decisions, the participating teachers applied multiple key competencies, crucial for promoting sustainability. Thus, the statistical investigation project was effective for enhancing preservice teachers’ statistical knowledge, thinking skills, and ability to promote sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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19 pages, 1218 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Implementation of SDGs in University Teaching: A Course for Professional Development of Teachers in Education for Sustainability for a Transformative Action

by Leslie Mahe Collazo Expósito and Jesús Granados Sánchez

Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8267; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198267 - 8 Oct 2020

Cited by 45 | Viewed by 8656

Abstract

The University Jaume I of Castellon (Spain) launched the “ImpSDGup” course in 2017. The aim of this training course on professional education for sustainable development (ESD) skills and competences for higher education teachers is to help academics in reorienting their subjects’ curricula in order to contribute to the sustainable development goals of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030. The “ImpSDGup” course is based on the Training Model in Transformative Action for Sustainability (TMTAS) model that is structured in three main areas: the content on sustainability, the theoretical approaches, and the ESD teaching and learning methodologies. In this paper, we describe the design and the contents of the training course and we investigate the changes that participants of the course implemented in the design of their subject programs. The methodology of the study was based on content analysis. The main results show that most of the 55 university teachers that undertook the course in its three editions succeeded in transforming course objectives and that they incorporated some of the SDGs and several ESD active learning methodologies in their teaching. As a consequence of this, we consider that the course helps in enhancing university teachers’ ESD professional competences. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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23 pages, 951 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Education, an Essential Instrument to Implement the Sustainable Development Goals in the University Context

by Macarena Esteban Ibáñez, Isabel Victoria Lucena Cid, Luis Vicente Amador Muñoz and Francisco Mateos Claros

Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 7883; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197883 - 23 Sep 2020

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4724

Abstract

The objective of this research is the analysis of sustainable development’s incorporation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the university from the environmental education approach. The study includes the necessary strategy to implement environmental contents, as well as the training of individuals to act with environmental responsibility. The descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative methodology was used to create a questionnaire for university students. Then, we gathered data to achieve the goals proposed in this research: interpret the variations in environmental knowledge and behavior, and understand the conceptual aspects underlying in the students’ features, paying attention to the differences between men and women. The results show that many of the students have previous concepts about the environment, and they consider that environmental education is required to solve environmental issues. Finally, a training proposal is presented to introduce the topics of the SDGs and environmental education in the university. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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19 pages, 1086 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Education for Sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions and Knowledge

by Esther García-González, Rocío Jiménez-Fontana and Pilar Azcárate

Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7741; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187741 - 18 Sep 2020

Cited by 64 | Viewed by 8628

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the change in the perceptions of pre-service teachers after participating in a training process on Education for Sustainability. The research was conducted during academic year 2019–2020 in the context of the Master’s Degree in Educational Research for Teachers’ Professional Development. The changes related to Education for Sustainability, the knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals, and methodological strategies to integrate both were analysed. An initial and a final questionnaire as well as the activities developed by the students during the course were used to gather information. An analysis was performed of three dimensions (Education for Sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals, and methodological strategies) with the help of the NVivo 12 Plus software programme. The results show progress was made in all three dimensions. The most significant changes were detected with regard to the knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the majority of the student teachers indicated they knew them on completing the training process. Their perception of Education for Sustainability evolved towards more complex views, while the methodological strategies proposed at the end of the training process did not differ significantly from the initial ones. This shows it is imperative to insist on training processes that include methodological strategies. By doing so, future educational professionals will be able to incorporate Education for Sustainability into their teaching practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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16 pages, 281 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ecocritical Engagement with Picturebook through Literature Conversations about Beatrice Alemagne’s On a Magical Do-Nothing Day

by Nina Goga and Maria Pujol-Valls

Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7653; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187653 - 16 Sep 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3780

Abstract

This article addresses the need for student teachers to experience how to engage ecocritically with children’s literature to be able to support and develop the sustainability competencies of their future students. In order to respond to this need, we designed a research project examining how Norwegian and Catalan student teachers express and negotiate their ideas about an Italian–French picturebook in a teacher–researcher designed ecocritical literature conversation (ELC). The collected material, consisting of students’ notes and sound recorded and transcribed group discussions, was analysed following the steps of content analysis with an emphasis on finding evidence of dialogic competencies and ecocritical competencies. Although the students did not explicitly integrate ecocritical terminology in their discussions, we found that when structured in line with ideas of dialogic teaching, ecocritical thinking, and literature didactics, literature conversations proved to be a useful tool for these students to critically engage with and negotiate about representations of nature and ecological wisdom from the selected picturebook. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

14 pages, 851 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Early Childhood Preservice Teachers’ View of Socio-Environmental Problems and Its Relationship to the Sustainable Development Goals

by Fátima Rodríguez-Marín, María Puig Gutiérrez, Lidia López-Lozano and Alicia Guerrero Fernández

Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 7163; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177163 - 2 Sep 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2888

Abstract

In the face of the socio-environmental crisis in which we are immersed, the initial training of teachers must assume the work in favor of a critical, committed, participatory citizenry capable of responding to the socio-environmental problems of the current and future world. The analysis of the initial 61 research projects on socio-environmental problems of four classes involving 240 students of the Degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Seville (Seville, Spain) is presented. Under an interpretive descriptive approach according to a category system based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the UN (2015) and its targets, we can learn about their socio-environmental concerns and how they relate to the current 2030 Agenda. We obtain that of the 17 SDGs, around half of the final 42 research projects analyzed focus on sustainable consumption and project patterns and climate change, while problems related to poverty, hunger, or peace do not arise. In addition to allowing us to draw a portrait of the socio-environmental concerns of early childhood preservice teachers, the data obtained also gave us the opportunity to ponder the didactic possibilities that these types of formative activities bring to the training of teachers who are critical and committed to transforming the world. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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20 pages, 1456 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Universities That Learn to Tackle the Challenges of Sustainability: Case Study of the University of Córdoba (Spain)

by Antonio Gomera, Miguel Antúnez and Francisco Villamandos

Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6614; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166614 - 15 Aug 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3685

Abstract

On their path to sustainability, universities must consider both individual and organizational components. Universities are organizations that also have the capacity to learn and evolve. By means of an analysis conducted over the past 20 years at the University of Córdoba (Spain), this article identifies the variables present in the University’s environmental sustainability process, characterizing its evolution through different stages and proposing an organizational model that orders these variables into a system within the framework of complexity. This model highlights the importance of a scientific-technical structure as catalyst, facilitator, and attractor of transformative flows within the organization, which could be a key component of its evolution towards sustainability. It also underscores the possibility of using environmental awareness and the perceived norm as indicators of the system. This characterization reveals the potential of these variables as indicators of progress and anchoring points for the permanent monitoring of the system, and it will also help to design potentially more effective and forceful actions and could prove valuable as a comparison indicator between universities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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17 pages, 2344 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How to Improve Sustainability Competences of Teacher Training? Inquiring the Prior Knowledge on Climate Change in Primary School Students

by Carmen Solís-Espallargas and Hortensia Morón-Monge

Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6486; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166486 - 12 Aug 2020

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4362

Abstract

The work is carried out in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal 13 Climate Action with prospective primary school teachers. The study presented is part of the science education subject at the University of Seville (Spain) during the 2019–2020 academic year. This research has two main goals, on the one hand, to present an innovative educational experience (design and implementation) for teacher training, on the other hand, to assess the educational implication of the experience from the prospective primary school teachers’ self-perception about their level of sustainability competences achieved. The novel educational experience consisted in the inquiry of prior knowledge about climate change in primary school children for the design of a lesson plan. The degree of scope of the educational experience, in particular, the level of sustainability competences achieved was assessed from the self-perception of the participants (Prospective Primary school Teachers) through a Likert-type questionnaire. The results show an improvement in the degree of acquisition of these competences, not only from their self-perception, but also from the investigative process followed through this innovative experience. Likewise, these results indicate the success of the educational proposal as a possible educational strategy for the sustainability of the curriculum in the field of science education. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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19 pages, 1577 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Are We Training in Sustainability in Higher Education? Case Study: Education Degrees at the University of Salamanca

by José Manuel Muñoz-Rodríguez, Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo, Ángela Barrón-Ruiz and Sara Serrate-González

Sustainability 2020, 12(11), 4421; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114421 - 29 May 2020

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 3211

Abstract

In this work, we analyzed the progress made in learning sustainability competencies by students belonging to the four Bachelor Education degrees at the University of Salamanca: Early Childhood Education Teacher, Primary Education Teacher, Pedagogy, and Social Education. To assess this progress, the instrument we used was the student questionnaire designed by the EDINSOST project. The questionnaire consisted of 18 questions related to the four sustainability competencies defined in 2011 by the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities: (1) critical contextualization of knowledge, (2) sustainable use of resources, (3) participation in community processes, and (4) application of ethical principles. The students answered the questions using a four-point Likert scale. The analysis of the answers determined the students’ perception of their own learning related to sustainability competencies. A total of 230 first-year and 96 fourth-year students responded to the questionnaire. The comparison between the first- and fourth-year students’ answers to each question enabled an evaluation of the improvement perceived by the students in their sustainability competencies. We analyzed the results by using the Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis U tests. The results show that the students of the Bachelor Degree in Pedagogy are the only ones who achieve a significant improvement in their sustainability competencies. Bachelor Degree in Social Education and Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Education Teacher students achieve an improvement, but it is not significant. Finally, Bachelor Degree in Primary Education Teacher students do not seem to achieve any improvement. From these data, it appears that the model used to introduce sustainability competencies in the Bachelor Degree in Pedagogy is the only one that achieves good results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What Is the University Doing to Train Future Professionals in the Sustainable Development Goals? Innovative Educational Methods, Research and Challenges.)

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