Lärande för hållbar utveckling i yrkeslärarutbildning [Learning for sustainable development in vocational teacher education]

Abstract

This article draws on data from a module on education for sustainable development (ESD) in vocational teacher education. There are two kinds of data: 47 group work projects, where the assignment was to design an ESD activity in upper secondary vocational education, and a web questionnaire (average response rate of 80 %). The purpose is to describe and discuss how ESD can take form in vocational teacher education, and how the students value the knowledge that they have acquired when working with the module. The results give a positive picture of many different pedagogical approaches of planning an ESD activity. The variety of the contents of the activities stretch from having specific vocational focus, to broader societal perspectives. The planned activities for the pupils also differ, from participating in classroom exercises to activities based on actionand student-based planning. The different pedagogical approaches are exemplified and discussed. The results from the questionnaire show that over all, the students are positive to the content of the ESD module and the work that is carried out within this part of the course. These results are related to previous studies with critical aspects of teaching ESD.

Keywords

• Vocational teacher education
• learning for sustainable development
• vocational education and training
• pedagogy
• student projects