Teachers’ profiles in education for sustainable development: interests, instructional beliefs, and instructional practices

Abstract

Teachers’ instructional beliefs and interests in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) are related to holistic, pluralistic, and action-oriented instructional practices in ESD teaching. To explore this hypothesis, we examine teachers’ ESD teaching profiles based on their instructional beliefs, interests, and instructional practices in ESD. We apply a mixed method design using a survey (quantitative data) and vignettes with open accompanying questions (qualitative data). Our sample consists of 535 Flemish elementary and secondary school teachers for the scales. A subsample of 187 teachers responded to the vignettes. Our analysis indicates two teachers’ ESD teaching profiles: the lower ESD practice-oriented teachers who hold several instructional beliefs about holistic and pluralistic instructional practices, are interested in action-orientation in ESD, but do not apply the practices in class; and the higher ESD practice-oriented teachers who also have varying instructional beliefs about holistic and pluralistic instructional practices but are not very interested in action-orientation in ESD. However, they use holistic, pluralistic, or action-oriented practices in ESD teaching.

Keywords:

• Instructional practices
• instructional beliefs
• teacher interest
• holism
• pluralism
• action-orientation

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Ethics

In all data collections the ethical guidelines and advice of the researchers’ institution were observed (the University of Antwerp Ethics Committee for Social and Human Sciences, approval number SHW_18_25).

Additional information

Funding

This research was undertaken as part of the VALIES project, which has received funding from the Flanders Research Foundation (FWO) under the Strategic Basic Research (SBO) (46/FA0400400/7474). The first author has also been fellow of Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, Greece [F ZL 089-1, 2015-2016].

Notes on contributors

Eleni Sinakou

Eleni Sinakou has competed her PhD thesis at the Edubron Research Unit at the Training and Educational Sciences Department of the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Her research interests include teaching practices in education for sustainable development in elementary, secondary school and higher education from conceptual as well as teaching perspectives.

Vincent Donche

Vincent Donche is a full professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Training and Education Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium. Within the research group EduBROn, he conducts research in the domains of learning and instruction, higher education and educational measurement.

Peter Van Petegem

Peter Van Petegem is full professor in educational sciences at the Department of Training and Education Sciences of the University of Antwerp (BE). His research focuses on educational evaluation at pupil, institution and system level. He has a special interest in research in the area of Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development.