An operational action competency approach to transforming education for sustainable development by action based in-situ interventions

Education for Sustainable Development, ESD, is among the most intensely debated topics in the field of educational research. However, to teachers in primary and secondary school, the concepts underlying ESD are often perceived as abstract and complex, and there is growing concern that ESD may cause anxiety and distress. This presentation discusses outcomes of an intervention study, where science teachers from 50 Danish schools develop lesson plans in a design-based research framework through three iterations. Our approach targets three main challenges to teaching ESD in primary and secondary school:

The role of science in ESD: Sustainable development is rightfully perceived as a topic transgressing traditional subjects and classes. However, science plays a key role to understanding the relationships underlying sustainability problems. We use the Stockholm Resilience Centre “wedding cake model” of the UN sustainable development goals to enable discussions of the relationships between the ecological, social and economic sustainability domains, and how these can be used to identify overlaps and conflicts of interests between individual goals. The ecological domain is directly defined by science concepts, while the other domains can be used to introduce SocioScientific Issues related to the goals.
The complexity of ESD: The scale of complexity inherent to sustainability issues can be daunting. In the form of a physical artifact, we introduce UNESCOs eight key competencies for sustainability as a didactic design tool and to guide student discussions. Rather than downplaying or misrepresenting the inherent complexity, this approach can help teachers prioritize their didactic designs.
Engagement and empowerment: All design objects in our project involve outdoor learning environments and local stakeholders, with students engaging actively in local sustainability actions.

We present results from our first two iterations with examples from four cases studies, teacher and student interviews and pre- and post-survey data from participating schools.