Education for Sustainable Development in Initial Teacher Education: From Compliance to Commitment—Sowing the Seeds of Change

Abstract

Despite increasing awareness of the importance of sustainability and national and international policies suggesting education is the key, there has been limited progress so far in the UK education system. Although there are areas of good practice, there is little evidence of the higher orders of learning and change required for the transformative approach necessary for a sustainable future. This article reports on research carried out to investigate the influence of embedding education for sustainable development (ESD) in an initial teacher education programme for student teachers in the further education and skills sector. The way in which the students and initial teacher educators are conceptualizing ESD is explored, as well as the way in which the introduction to ESD has influenced their professional and personal lives. Their responses are analyzed in relation to Sterling’s (2011) levels of learning and change to consider the levels achieved by the students and tutors.

Education for sustainable development; initial teacher education; further education and skills sector; levels of learning and change; transformation