Education for Sustainability: Developing Ecocritical Literature Circles in the Student Teacher Classroom

Abstract

How can student-teachers learn efficient ways to encourage sustainability thinking in their pupils and fulfil the competence aims on sustainability outlined in national subject curriculums as a response to UNESCO’s programme on Education for Sustainable Development, ESD? The core hypothesis of this project was that tailored literature circles, focused on the ecocritical aspects of literary texts, would make student-teachers aware of how they can use literature as a process to reflect on sustainability. This would enable them to incorporate sustainability thinking into their own teaching practices.

Keywords

• ecocriticism
• teacher education
• posthuman
• literature circles
• education for sustainable development (eds)
• young adult literature