Pre-service teachers' preparedness for sustainability education - a case study

Abstract

Teacher education is a vital first step in embedding education for sustainability in Australian schools. However, research indicates that tertiary programs for teachers have done little to prepare teachers for teaching education for sustainability. The United Nations' Decade of Education for Sustainable Development has influenced tertiary institutions nationwide to focus on embedding sustainability across the curriculum in Bachelor of Education courses. The aim of this report was to ascertain first year pre-service teachers' knowledge of environmental sustainability using a questionnaire based on prior research and the Organisation for Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD) (2009) survey of secondary students’ environmental and geophysical science knowledge. Results indicate that this sample of 156 first year pre-service teachers' confidence in their knowledge of environmental sustainability issues matches that of fifteen-year-old Australians surveyed by OECD (2009). Their test performance however highlighted disparities between their confidence and knowledge, perhaps indicating a range of influences and exposure to learning activities.