Mid Sweden University

The main aim of the paper is to discuss students' learning and personal development through developing scientific didactic models in education for sustainable development (ESD) based on rural small school conditions. A partial aim is to present a heuristic research methodology where collaboration between school staff, researchers, neighboring local actors, and the local geographical location contributes to developing ESD theory and practice. 

Considering present eco-social-cultural challenges and respecting the earth's carrying capacity (Fettes och Blenkinsop, 2023) and planetary boundaries (Oziewicz, 2022) education is an important partner (Jickling et. al 2018). Hence, the need to understand practical challenges and to develop didactical tools for teaching and learning is crucial. Accordingly, this paper presents tentative results from a practice-based research project with three small schools in sparsely populated areas in the middle of Sweden.

The project builds on the assumption that schools’ geographical location is important for the kind of environmental and sustainability education that is possible and desirable. Furthermore, whereas place-based education research is common (see Yemini, Engel & Ben Simon 2023), research that focuses on small schools in sparsely populated communities is uncommon. In particular, the paper addresses questions concerning the potential of the local natural environment as an equally important partner in education. Other sustainability factors taken into consideration are how education can address migration into cities, extending formal education to formal-nonformal education in collaboration with neighboring local actors, and how to understand and organize students' learning in such teaching practice context (Miller, 2015; Pettersson, 2017; Wildy, et. al., 2014). Furthermore, those schools often engage in the proximity of the local community, place, and the culture and history of local communities. 

The paper builds on categorial Bildung-theory and critical constructive didactics (Klafki, 1995) to enable the importance of personal transformation change and the role of education in mastering the global challenges of an uncertain future (Wilhelmsson & Blenkinsop, accepted; Kvamme, 2021). Simultaneously, critical constructive didactics focuses on educational content and didactics as an intersection between theory and practice (Klafki, 2010). Didactic models are realized to the extent that they are used and tested in teaching practice where the practice is seen as both a starting point and frame of reference for didactic theory (Künzli, 2010). Furthermore, late Klafki introduces “epochal key problems” as important issues that are decisive for the future. This underlines the current and future responsibilities of both teachers and students and the readiness for learning and development that leads to mastering complex sustainability problems (Kvamme, 2021).

The research questions addressed are: 

What challenges and opportunities are constituted in teaching for sustainable development in small schools in sparsely populated areas? 

What are the pluralistic interaction areas for those schools with nature, the local community, and the socio-geographical location?

In what ways does a practical research methodology focusing on didactic models enable a locally relevant education for sustainable development?

Tentative results include:

Insights into how the school engages (and is engaged by) the local community in education for sustainable development.

Didactic models for locally relevant education for sustainable development, including appropriate skills and attributes, that relate critically and constructively to the school's mission.

A scientifically assessed research methodology that strengthens collaboration and is sustainable over time.

Method

The study design is based on an abductive logic that enables a continuous didactic reflection where theory and empirical evidence are mutually reinterpreted (Wilhelmsson & Damber, 2022). Accordingly, the reciprocal relationship between theory and empirical practice has a given place in the research process. Abduction's flexible choice of theoretical framework avoids one-sided analysis and uncritical explanations. This is favorable for studying, understanding, and explaining the complexity of education for sustainable development. In addition, a rapidly changing society demands the ability to constantly reconsider theoretical explanations in education and teaching.

Practitioner inquiry is used as methodology. Here, teaching becomes the concrete place for the investigation and thus constitutes a context for professional and cultural understanding and development (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). The methodology, which is critical and reflexive, enables the pedagogues' systematic reflection and thus a purpose-oriented study of local teaching practice.

The abductive design along with practitioner inquiry ensures that participating researchers and educators collaborate in data collection, activities, and analysis and that these activities also become learning opportunities for participating educators and researchers.

Didactic modeling is used throughout the phases of the project as it consists of three components, extraction (construct a tentative model based on empirical data), mangling (successive and purpose-oriented adaptation of the tentative models), and exemplifying (documentation of the use of the models in analysis and teaching) (Hamza and Lundqvist, 2023).

The empirical material consists of reflexive texts produced in direct connection to the teaching experience and through collaborative workshops, writing exercises, seminars, and interactive lectures in dialogue with participating pedagogues. Documentation from teaching planning and student participation constitutes supplementary material. Data is also collected using structured dialogues about central teaching cases, and in-depth follow-up interviews with a strategic selection of participating teachers and neighboring local actors. The processing of the material takes place with the aim of jointly and critically reflecting on the complexity of, and the change in, teaching practice in collaboration with the local community and the geographical location.

Conclusions

The project produces insights into how schools engage and are engaged by the local community in establishing ESD; research methods and methodology, partnership with small schools, teaching practices that relate critically to the school's commission; how researchers and practitioners can, in collaboration with neighboring local actors, contribute to developing didactic models for locally relevant ESD; identifying relevant skills for participating practitioners and researchers; didactic models for locally relevant education for sustainable development. 

The three evolving themes imply that locally relevant didactical models that relate critically and constructively to the school's mission in a global context should include collaboration with neighboring local community actors, the place, and nature; significant critical perspectives and student participation for student learning and development; conditions that are constitutive for living and working in sparsely populated communities. 

The preliminary analysis shows that the three themes are interconnected in most teaching activities and teachers' practice-reflections. The themes also comprise individual student perspectives, teaching practice, and the overall purpose of education. Importantly, although the local community needs and needs of the individual in this specific context is underlined the latter is emphasized in teaching practice. E.g. how to motivate students to learn, what kind of knowledge is underlined, and how to achieve specific competencies in this context. Furthermore, the proximity of the local community, and the culture and history that characterize the geographical location, are celebrated at the same time as social norms and values may be challenged through education to fulfill the school's mission.

Additionally, the practitioner inquiry includes pedagogues' systematic reflection and a purpose-oriented study of local teaching practice that implies an imbalance between researchers and practitioners. Practitioners question if their teaching practice are correct and struggle with theoretical perspectives. Hence, researchers´ efforts to contextualize theory into teachers' practice is important. In addition, the work is time-consuming.

References

Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S.L. (2009) Teacher Research as Stance. The SAGE Handbook of Educational Action Research, Susan E. Noffke, and Bridget Somekh (Red), s. 39–49. SAGE Publications.

Fettes, Mark & Blenkinsop, Sean (2023) Education as the Practice of Eco-Social-Cultural Change. Palgrave Macmillan Cham https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45834-7

Hamza, K &Lundqvist, E. (2023). Mangling didactic models for use in didactic analysis of Classroom interaction. I Lizogate, F., Klette K., och Almqvist, J. (2023) (red) Didactics in a Changing World. European perspectives on Teaching, learning and the curriculum. (s 103–121). Springer Nature Switzerland: 

Jickling, B., Blenkinsop, S., Timmerman, N. & De Danann Sitka-Sage, M. (2018). Wild Pedagogies: Touchstones for Re-Negotiating Education and the Environment in the Anthropocene. Springer International Publishing AG. 

Klafki, W. (1995). Didactic analysis as the core of preparation of instruction (Didaktische Anlyse als Kern der Unterrichtsvorbereitung). Journal of Curriculum Studies, 27(1), 13-30. Klafki, W. (2010). The significance of classical theories of bildung for a contemporary concept of allgeminbildung. In, I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a reflective practice: The German didaktic tradition (pp. 85-107). Routledge. 

Klafki, W. (2010). The significance of classical theories of bildung for a contemporary concept of allgeminbildung. In I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a reflective practice: The German didaktic tradition (pp. 85-107). Routledge. 

Kvamme, O. (2021). Rethinking Bildung in the Anthropocene: The case of Wolfgang Klafki. Theological Studies, 77 (3), a 6807, 1-9. Künzli, R. (2010). German didactic models of re-presentation, of intercourse, and of experience. In I. Westbury, S. Hopmann, & K. Riquarts (Eds.), Teaching as a Reflective Practice. The German Didaktik Tradition (pp. 41-54). Routledge. 

Miller, P. (2015). Leading remotely: exploring the experiences of principals in rural and remote School communities in Jamaica. (Case study). International Journal of Whole Schooling, 11(1), 35. 

Oziewicz, M. (2022). Planetarianism Now: On Anticipatory Imagination, Young People’s Literature, and Hope for the Planet. In: Paulsen, M., jagodzinski, j., M. Hawke, S. (eds) Pedagogy in the Anthropocene. Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90980-2_12

Yemini, M, Engel, L. & Ben Simon, A. (2023): Placebased education – a systematic review of literature. Educational Review, DOI:10.1080/00131911.2023.2177260

Wilhelmsson, L. & Blenkinsop, S. (accepted). Ecologizing Bildung: Educating for the eco-social-cultural challenges of the twenty-first century: Canadian Journal of Environmental Education. Volume 23.

Wilhelmsson, L. & Damber, U. (2022). Abduktion som alternativ i didaktisk forskning. Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige, 4, ss. 180-202 

Crisis management planning and response can be improved by regional governments and organisations learning from one another. Specifically, comparative learning may be a benefit when groups understand the perceived effectiveness of various regional approaches when responding to different types of hazards. This article presents findings from a comparative case study analysis of regional governance perspectives of crisis management for geopolitical events and natural hazards in the Sunshine Coast, Australia, and Gotland, Sweden. Data were collected and analysed using document analyses and semi-structured interviews with regional practitioners. It was found that regional crisis management is increasingly influenced by global processes that are affecting the scales and characteristics of crises. As a result, prospective regional governance must evolve to include more international perspectives in crisis management and account for activities and processes that take place beyond arbitrary political boundaries.

At the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in 2014, UNESCO launched the Global Action Programme on ESD (GAP) as a follow-up to UN Decade of ESD (2005-2014). The GAP puts a strong emphasis on generating and scaling concrete ESD actions in all levels and areas to accelerate progress towards sustainable development. In response to that, SWEDESD together with its partners have designed a reflective process tool to support the ESD community in their scaling efforts in order to address UNESCO’s directives – the Re-Solve scaling process tool (hereafter called “Re-Solve”). This handbook provides guidance and framework on how the tool shall be applied, thus a contribution to UNESCO’s effort in advancing the ESD agenda and accelerating progress towards sustainable development. 

The handbook is for anyone interested or involved in scaling ESD, i.e.: organisations, community groups, academics, students – as a stakeholder, leader, facilitator and how to create a more effective, ethical and sustainable scaling process. It is particularly addressed for those responsible for setting up, leading or facilitating a Re-Solve scaling process – the “you” of this handbook – but will be equally useful for those who would just like to know what scaling ESD is about. The handbook integrates practical instructions and facilitation tools with sound theoretical foundations to provide a coherent approach towards scaling ESD. 

Highlights:

-Education about, through and for human rights, peace and sustainability in the global north and south is investigated from students’ point of view.

- Knowledge, skills, and attitudes in line with international recommendations are evidentin all national contexts.

- Students may identify violations of human rights and recognise acts of violence but struggle more to identify issues linked to sustainability and strategies to solve conflicts.

- Knowing how to promote human rights, peace, or sustainability is more of a challenge than identifying human rights, peace, or sustainability.

- Impact from teaching is associated with local contexts and a mix of teaching methods,both student centred and teacher directed

This article aims to introduce a view of scaling as a learning process. In the article we discuss the concept of ‘scaling up’ or ‘scaling’ of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities on the basis of how ‘scaling up’ ESD is highlighted in the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. Drawing on a Deweyan theory of learning as processes of transactional encounters, the article presents a conceptual framework of scaling-ESD- activities-as-learning. This conceptual framework is intended to have implications for ESD policy and ESE research. The theoretical specications and practical implications presented are results of data collected using a participatory research approach (Re-Solve) and an abductive analysis. In this article, we argue that viewing scaling as a learning process enables a nuanced notion of scaling ESD-activities. This should be seen in relation to (a) complex sustainability challenges, (b) ethical aspects, (c) a more attentive and strict approach to scaling in ESD policy and (d) addressing questions of signicant importance to scaling research.

Energy production and consumption give rise to issues of justice for future humans. By analysing a specific case - Swedish energy politics - this article contributes to the discussion of how consideration for future humans should affect energy policy making. It outlines three different energy scenarios for the period 2035-2065 - the nuclear-renewables, the renewables-low and the renewables-high scenarios - and assesses them from the point of view of justice for future individuals by using the capabilities approach as a normative framework. We cannot make a definitive assessment of the different scenarios due to the great uncertainties involved in determining the impacts on individuals living between 2035 and 2065 and individuals born thereafter, but we still conclude that we have certain reasons to prefer the renewables-low scenario since it avoids certain risks connected with the other scenarios. The economic growth in this scenario is lower than in the others, but we question whether this is a disadvantage from the point of view of the capabilities approach.

By means of a narrative research synthesis, the aim of this article is to explore how the political dimension can or should be staged as a teaching and learning content in education for sustainable development (ESD). The study is limited to research literature dealing with the political dimension in relation to the phenomenon of conflict. Three approaches to the topic are identified: a socially critical approach (SCA), a social learning approach (SLA) and a radical democratic approach (RDA). Notably, SCA and SLA are already established in the research field, whereas RDA is a result of our synthesis. The scope of the synthesis is limited to these three approaches. We follow up the narrative research synthesis by comparing the three approaches to discern how the political dimension emerges as an educational content by using conflict as part of the teaching and learning activities. The main results are that all three approaches tend to downplay the political and produce political sameness. The article ends by suggesting possible directions for further research that would fruitfully translate the idea of the political dimension into educational settings and enrich the political dimension as a concept in ESD in both practice and research.