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This paper defines transformative language teaching for sustainability (TLS) and shows how contemporary, learner-oriented language teaching can foster important competencies and skills needed to reach the goals of education for sustainable development (ESD). The main aim of our approach is to integrate transformation-oriented ESD into language teaching in a way that considers and utilises the special features of language teaching and learning. We discuss the substantial possibilities that language education offers to ESD and propose a transformation-oriented ESD framework as the foundation for TLS, covering the linguistic and cultural features of sustainability that are central to language teaching and learning. Finally, we outline the pedagogical implications for TLS related to subject matter content and methods, that is, how language teachers can use learner-oriented language teaching methods to integrate ESD in their lessons. We propose a theory-based interdisciplinary model for the implementation of TLS in language education and language teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the function of school leading in the implementation process of education for sustainable development (ESD) in five Swedish schools employing a whole school approach (WSA). A follow-up study design was used, in which schools that had initiated an ESD project in 2016 were subsequently visited twice for interviews with principals during the project and after it was finalized. The theory of practice architectures in combination with the concept of school improvement capacity was used as the theoretical framework in the analysis. The study showed how school leading should be about enhancing the local school's capacity to improve. It also showed how specific practice architectures prefigured a WSA to ESD and how school leading in this context was about arranging—or orchestrating—practice architectures in ways that enabled such an approach. The issues of time and endurance were pivotal. Based on the empirical results from this study and school improvement theory, guidelines were developed that can be used to drive a WSA to ESD process forward through three different school improvement phases: initiation, implementation, and institutionalization. The limitations and suggestions for further research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article centers on a local school reform project aimed at implementing a transformative approach to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The study investigates the project in terms of how the design criteria of a continuous professional development program and critical factors of the implementation process influenced the actual teaching practices. Data were collected through interviews with 15 teachers from five schools, and a thematic analysis was conducted. The results showed that the local school reform had limited effect. Trust between school actors, strategic management, and reflexive collaboration appeared to be the most important enablers of transferring the reform agenda into teaching practice. Skepticism, ambiguous management, and local contexts were identified as obstacles, hampering the intended change. A concluding recommendation for implementing transformation oriented ESD through local school reforms and professional development is to add a novel and threefold design criterion to the existing criteria, namely that of creating and continuously negotiating a shared vision and building trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores how school improvement in combination with a teacher professional development (TPD) project influenced the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) in five Swedish schools, when employing a whole school approach. Interviews were conducted with three teachers from each school. Shulman and Shulman's four forms of capital for capacity building were used as a framework for the data analysis. The impact of the project on the schools' pedagogical activities varied considerably between the schools. The transformative potential in ESD was realized to a greater extent in the schools characterized by high levels of moral capital – i.e. trust – than in the schools characterized by more individual and traditional ways of working. Three general conclusions concerning ESD implementation are drawn: 1) Prior to launching a whole school project for ESD, it is desirable to make an inventory of the capacity building capital at participating schools, and to identify contextual factors constituting external pressure on the building of capital. 2) The school improvement project and the TPD need to be locally adjusted to the available capital. 3) A strategy for adapting the project to the various external pressures needs to be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the different arguments put forward by Swedish upper secondary students on the interconnectedness of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development (SD). The aim is to study the diversity in views among students in order to find out whether this can be used as a resource in a holistic and pluralistic approach to ESD. The study design was based on a two-step process in which the first step was to identify students representing four different, broadly coherent, views on the interconnections between sustainability dimensions, with a specific focus on the role of the economy in SD. Thereafter, focus group interviews were undertaken with the selected groups of students representing the four different views. The findings indicate a diversity of arguments in discussions of SD and the potential that this plurality brings for perspective shifting. Moreover, the economic dimension appears as central to promoting discussions that aim to examine the overall interconnectedness of sustainability dimensions. A further conclusion is that omitting the economic dimension in ESD risks excluding the core of students' ideas of how SD may be realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to provide a content analysis of the new Swedish preschool curriculum in comparison with the previous preceding curriculum to investigate how sustainability and education for sustainability (EfS) have been described, and whether there have been any changes in terms of the scope of their inclusion in the new curriculum. The study adopts a holistic view of sustainability, meaning that the environmental dimension, social dimension, and economic dimension, along with a pluralistic and transformative view of EfS, form the analytical framework. Using content analysis, the frequency of explicit and implicit descriptive words for sustainability and EfS in both curricula were investigated. A contextual analysis was also conducted that involved an interpretation of the meaning of the implicit words. Two main findings could be identified in the new curriculum in comparison to the previous curriculum. The first was that the term sustainability is now used from an explicit and holistic perspective that includes all three dimensions. The second was that the new curriculum provides guidance as to how to incorporate EfS where such words as investigating, participation, collaborate and develop are used. Together with the context in which these words appear, a picture forms of a pluralistic teaching tradition in preschool curricula. Overall, the analysis provides a picture of change in the Swedish preschool curriculum that is in line with the intentions of international policy and research relating to a need for increased focus on sustainability and EfS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Action Competence (AC) has been interpreted in different ways in various domains of the educational sciences. Given the rising scholarly attention to AC, these diverse interpretations are problematic because they hinder a common understanding of the concept among scholars. We unravel the interpretation of AC as a competence of people versus that of an educational approach. We call the latter education for sustainable development (ESD), and discuss the approach as predominantly being a subjectification model of education. Furthermore, we offer an updated and refined generic definition of action competence as a competence of people. To this end, we develop an ecology of psychological concepts that underpin AC. We present a theoretical perspective based on the concepts of "action" and "competence", for stronger consideration of AC as a competence of people. We relate this generic concept of AC to concepts such as commitment, passion, knowledge, and self-efficacy for solving controversial problems. Finally, we introduce the specific concept of "Action Competence in Sustainable Development" (ACiSD) to articulate the competence of people to engage in solving sustainability issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries' policy documents and curricula, teachers in the subject areas of science, social science and language are encouraged to collaborate on cross-curricular issues such as sustainable development (SD). This study is conducted in secondary schools (compulsory years 7-9) in Sweden and investigates the similarities and differences in the responses of ten teacher groups (forty-three teachers in total) to questions about their teaching contributions in their own subject areas to education for sustainable development (ESD). The overall aim is to understand how teachers of these three subject areas can contribute to cross-curricular teaching in teacher teams in the context of ESD. This is done by analysing the group responses from data collected in group discussions concerning the teaching dimensions what (content), how (methods) and why (purposes) in relation to ESD. We first analyse the teacher group responses and arguments regarding their contribution to ESD teaching from each subject area separately. Thereafter, we comparatively analyse how the different subject areas' contributions overlap or complement each other in a potential collaborative ESD teaching. The results show that teachers from different subject areas stress different yet complimentary dimensions of teaching and perspectives of ESD. The implications for cross-curricular teaching in ESD are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends previous environmental education research on gender differences by investigating the gender gap between boys' and girls' sustainability consciousness. The issue of whether the gender gap in environmental education can be identified also in sustainability education is addressed. It has been suggested that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a teaching approach that could play a key role in diminishing the gender gap. However, the possible gender-specific effect of an ESD-oriented teaching approach is empirically untested. A survey instrument was used to detect the hypothesized gender gap in students' sustainability consciousness on a sample of 2,413 Swedish students aged 12–19. Findings reveal a gender gap in students' sustainability consciousness. The gender gap increases throughout the age span and is amplified in ESD-oriented schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The sustainable development (SD) concept is based on the idea that economic and social development should be linked to the environment. However, controversies about various associated issues often arise due to the differences in protagonists’ viewpoints, depending partly on whether they focus mainly on environmental, economic, or social dimensions and partly on ideological stances related (for instance) to the optimal ways of promoting economic growth and social justice. This study investigates views of 638 Swedish upper secondary students who responded to a questionnaire probing their views of SD from two perspectives. In the first, the dimensions were separately introduced, so the respondents only had to consider one dimension at a time. In the second, the dimensions were introduced in an integrated fashion, so the respondents had to consider effects related to all three dimensions. The results strongly indicate that the students’ views and priorities concerning the dimensions depend on both the perspective and the context. Implications for teaching and learning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research has shown that interest in and concern about environmental issues tends to decrease in adolescence, but less is known about adolescents' broader consciousness of sustainable development, also including economic and social issues. This study investigates students' sustainability consciousness in the transition to adolescence. This was done by surveying 2,413 Swedish students in the sixth, ninth and twelfth grades using an age-adapted questionnaire. The results unambiguously show that Swedish students' sustainability consciousness dips in adolescence, strongly indicating a need to modify the sustainability education for adolescents. Education for sustainable development is recommended as an approach to meet that need. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Perhaps the most important issue in our time is how to sustain our planet's resources, while developing wealth and well-being for a growing population. This monumental task has been defined in the concept of sustainable development (SD). During the last few decades the world communities have agreed upon addressing SD through international treaties. As a response Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been launched as an answer to cope with sustainability. However, empirical studies are a missing link in the discourse around ESD, where decisions and implementation strategies are heavily based on policy recommendations and gut feelings by practitioners. We used data from 2413 students in grades 6, 9, and 12 from 51 schools across Sweden to study the effectiveness of ESD. In line with the current debate on the definition of ESD, we quantified the extent to which teaching can be labeled as holistic and/or pluralistic. Through a series of descriptive analyses and the estimation of structural equation models, our results indicate that ESD can indeed impact on student outcomes in terms of their sustainability consciousness. The results of this study reveal the key role ESD plays in addressing SD, paving the way for a more sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Sustainable development (SD) is a complex idea, based on environmental, economic and social dimensions. In line with SD, education for sustainable development (ESD) is an approach to teaching that combines cognitive and affective domains and aims to build empowerment abilities. Purpose:The purpose of this article is to investigate effects of the implementation of ESD in Sweden, in terms of developing students’ sustainability consciousness (SC). Two groups of students were included: one was from schools with a profile of ESD and the other one was from comparable schools without explicit ESD-profile. Sample:A total of 638 students from upper secondary schools (grade 12) in science-related or social science-related programs participated in the study. Design and methods:A procedure was created for the selection of schools considered to be the most active in using an ESD approach as well as comparable schools with no explicit ESD approach. During spring 2013, the students responded to a questionnaire based on sustainability knowingness, attitudes and behaviors within the environmental, economic and social dimensions of SD that together constitute the concept of SC. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results:The results indicate that there are significant differences in SC between students from schools that teach with an ESD approach compared to students from regular schools. Furthermore, a significant difference between the two groups of students was found in the underlying economic dimension of SC. No significant differences were found in the environmental and social dimensions of SC. Conclusions:Although the results show that ESD-profiled schools have effect on students’ SC, the effects are relatively small. Therefore, the effects and nature of the implementation of ESD are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although policy documents emphasize the importance of integrating social, economic, and environmental dimensions into education for sustainability (EfS), there is a lack of studies investigating how social sustainability can be included in preschool teaching. Therefore, this study aims to increase knowledge about preschool teachers' teaching practices relating to social sustainability. This study uses EfS as a conceptual framework that includes a holistic view of sustainability addressing social, economic, and environmental aspects, as well as pluralistic teaching approach from a transformative perspective. To explore the views and teaching practices, individual interviews were conducted with 12 preschool teachers from eight preschools that took part in a school development project. The project included professional development workshops for teachers on EfS and local implementation efforts. Thematic content analysis was conducted. The interviews made it apparent that the teachers initially viewed sustainability from an environmental perspective; however, after involvement in the school development project, they began to integrate the social sustainability dimension into their teaching. The teachers associated local sustainability challenges with those faced internationally. To a certain extent, children's agency was noted in pluralistic educational activities that supported children's active participation. The level at which preschool teachers integrated social sustainability into their teaching varied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]