Case Study | Environmental & Sustainability Education in Teacher Education

Overview

To grow a generation of sustainability-minded youth, Canada’s teacher education institutions must also prepare their preservice teachers with the knowledge, skills and capacities needed to bring quality environmental and sustainability education (ESE) to K–12 classrooms.The Environmental and Sustainability Education in Teacher Education (ESE-TE) Standing Committee of the Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication, founded in 2017, endeavours to better embed ESE in all faculties of education across Canada. This group of post-secondary educators and scholars from across the country serves as an information hub, compiling research and resources and offering programming for teacher educators seeking to integrate a culture of sustainability into their teacher education programs. This fulfills the recommendations of a national roundtable from 2016 for a national body dedicated to advancing in ESE-TE research, policy and advocacy in Canada.

ESE-TE’s mission is to engage those involved in teacher education to better support a cultural shift of Canadians towards more sustainable, equitable and just forms of living. It does this by raising awareness of ESE in teacher education, deepening knowledge, and supporting resources around the concept, and advising on policy related to it. It has also been involved in helping to design and deliver digital forms of professional learning for both preservice and in-service teachers in Canada’s K-12 educational systems.

Engagement and Solutions

ESE-TE amplifies research, resources and promising practices from all regions of Canada to help preservice teacher education programs improve their curricula and pedagogy in ESE. As part of this work, their website shares many course syllabi that demonstrate how teacher educators might integrate ESE into everything from early childhood education to outdoor education and subject-specific courses. It has also held several national research symposia focused on sharing and mobilizing research, encouraging both new and existing scholars to delve deeper into the praxis of ESE in teacher education. These symposia have resulted in a number of anthologies, articles and studies, as well as a special issue in the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education focused on ESE in teacher education.

Outcomes and Future Vision

ESE-TE is building on past accomplishments that include supporting initiatives like Accelerate Climate Change Education in Teacher Education and Learning for a Sustainable Future, which offer grants, resources, and professional development for teachers. Important advocacy and policy promotion efforts have resulted in the Association of Canadian Deans of Education adopting the Accord on Education for a SustainableFuture and the Ontario College of Teachers adopting additional teacher qualifications for environmental and eco-justice education. ESE-TE is working to increase the active participation of teacher educators across Canada through its leadership of working groups dedicated to research and knowledge mobilization, resource sharing, communications, advocacy, and policy. ESE-TE recognizes the role of teachers and teacher educators to leverage formal education in the urgent goal to build a sustainable future for all and it is committed to the ethical responsibility of supporting young global citizens and all those who teach them.