Pre-service teachers' understanding and concern for sustainability issues: Implications for teacher education

Abstract

Education for sustainability (EfS) represents an important educational agenda both nationally and internationally, with growing support for its inclusion in teacher education programs. Recently, EfS has been prioritised in the School of Education at James Cook University, which is reflected in the development of an undergraduate EfS subject for students studying early childhood and primary education. At the commencement of the teaching semester, a sample of 142 pre-service teachers undertaking this subject completed a Likert-style questionnaire that examined their perceived relevance of EfS in schools and pre-service teacher education, how informed they were about selected sustainability issues and their concern for these issues. While the data tells a 'good news story' about the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the importance of EfS, it tells a concerning one regarding knowledge. The percentage of respondents who indicated that they could not explain what the sustainability issues surveyed were really about ranged from 15%-45%, even though they thought they presented a serious concern for themselves and for other people in Australia. The implications of these findings for pre-service teacher education are also discussed.