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The purpose of this paper is to establish the status of education for sustainability in the teacher education programmes in the province of Manitoba in Canada and to identify challenges and obstacles for mainstreaming education for sustainability in those programmes.

Using a multi-unit case study design, online programme information and data from interviews with faculty administrators and a convenience sample of faculty members from all five faculties of education in Manitoba were collected and analysed.

There is no systematic and focused preparation of teachers for education for sustainability in any of the Manitoba teacher education programmes. Three challenges for mainstreaming of education for sustainability are identified: lack of leadership, an unfavourable view of the role of education for sustainability and the silo-ing within faculties of education.

The research is limited by its focus on the programme-based implementation of education for sustainability in faculties of education, which did not include any course-based implementation by individual instructors.

To address the challenges and obstacles for mainstreaming, the authors argue for joint leadership across the relevant institutional levels (government, university and faculty), and for establishing education for sustainability as a framework for responding to the purpose question of school education.

The study provides empirical evidence for some of the major challenges for mainstreaming education for sustainability in faculties in education and, by generalisation, all university faculties.

Higher education has a key role and responsibility in creating change and addressing issues of fundamental human concern such as inequality and social justice, globalisation and development, environmental protection and sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to describe how RCE‐Ireland, established in September 2007, aims to develop awareness and engagement with these realities and ensure they become integrated into education in Ireland.

Action research is based on a cyclical process of action, observation, reflection and adaptation, and has been adopted by RCE‐Ireland as key to reorienting the practice of education towards sustainability. Two case studies of action research projects are the focus of the paper: Critical Thinking in Large Scale Lectures, University of Limerick, and Reorienting Course Content towards Ethical and Ecological Consumerism, St Angela's College, Sligo. The methodologies employed include both qualitative and quantitative data collection, and address critiques of action research while remaining true to the aims of democratic teaching and engaged scholarship.

The case studies demonstrate action research as a valuable and valid research methodology in itself, as well as recognising its appropriateness in reorienting education towards sustainability. The University and University‐based educationalists have a unique role here by linking research and practice, blurring the boundaries of research as objective and value‐free, and in demonstrating innovation and leadership in addressing global challenges and human concerns.

The University can provide opportunities for reorientation towards sustainability, as well as presenting challenges to this work. There is much evidence that higher education settings find it more difficult to adjust their practices than to adjust their content. One approach to engender such change in practice is the promotion of action research in higher education settings, where the twin roles of the academic practitioner as teacher and as researcher are brought together to adapt educational practice.

This paper aims to contribute to the body of practical knowledge about reorienting teacher education to address sustainability by reflecting on an action research experience from a study course on sustainability in a regional university.

It contemplates the usage of aesthetic learning to activate pre-service teachers’ presentational knowing about inclusion and exclusion – modes of relationships which are essentially sustainable and unsustainable, respectively. The research participants are involved in creation, interpretation and discussion of drawings-cum-concept-maps about inclusive and exclusionary relationships in social and educational contexts.

The participants are found to express their knowledge through presentational forms such as colour, spatial alignment, direction and mimicry.

This qualitative study being an action research into the particulars of a specific situation precludes abstract generalisation. Yet it is hoped that the findings may illuminate related concerns in similar contexts as educators seek inspiration and guidance for improving their practices of implementing teacher education for sustainability.

The paper proposes aesthetic learning as a means to involve pre-service teachers in active generation of personally meaningful and practically applicable insights, enabling communication of complex ideas and fostering emotional engagement with peers. It is also suggested as a pathway towards accessing, exploring and, potentially, enriching the participants’ assumptions about relational issues such as inclusion and exclusion as pre-service teachers strive to make personal sense of what it means to live sustainably.

There have been increasing calls for social studies educators to engage issues of sustainability. Proponents argue that the very survival of the planet depends on the degree to which teachers can move learners away from unsustainable beliefs and behaviors to those grounded in interdisciplinary approaches to solving community and global challenges. How to implement this vision of sustainability education? The purpose of the paper is to report the results of teacher-educators' curriculum and pedagogical approaches to implement the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) C3 framework to engage and empower prospective and practicing teachers to teach for a sustainable future.

The study is guided by the growing field of self-study in teacher education, a type of research undertaken by teacher-educators with the dual purpose of personal professional development and a deep understanding of teacher-education practices. Most data were derived from multiple, recursive conversations (both formal and informal) around curriculum decisions and pedagogical choices to integrate sustainability issues into teacher-education courses. Additional data sources include classroom lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations, course readings and resources.

The authors' three years of collaborative work has shown that an issues-centered, interdisciplinary approach to select and integrate global issues, the current event article analysis, young adult literature and discussion and deliberation of local sustainable development issues that are some of the most effective pedagogical tools to engage and empower teacher candidates in learning about issues that affect the sustainable development of global community. The NCSS C3 provides a powerful framework to scaffold the process of analyzing sustainable issues while also teaching social studies curriculum and standards and skills.

Scholars of global education have called for shifting from an anthropocentric philosophy to a bio-centric worldview emphasizing the embeddedness of humans within the environment. How can social studies teacher-educators implement this vision of global education What instructional resources strategies and learning activities can be effectively integrated into existing courses to help candidates develop competences and commitment to teaching for global sustainability The study examines the innovative approaches to addressing these critical topics in teacher education.

This study aims to investigate the dispositions of early career teacher educators as young academics toward sustainability and accountability for sustainability issues. Through their interpretations, concerns, awareness and ownership of sustainability, the study portrays how a global phenomenon is articulated specifically within the local context of teachers colleges in Turkey.

The study was designed as a survey, and the data were collected through a cross-sectional online questionnaire. The sample (n = 72) was limited, through purposeful sampling, to early career teacher educators teaching and being trained in well-established Turkish teachers colleges to become prospective faculty members of newly founded teachers colleges across the country. The data were analyzed primarily through quantitative methods. For the analyses, STATA software was used to perform descriptive and inferential statistics.

The general results indicated that the participants were highly concerned about sustainability problems. However, their concerns were not reflected to the same degree on their perceived awareness and ownership of education for sustainable development (ESD). Hunger and poverty, loss of biodiversity, climate change and epidemic diseases were all perceived to be urgent more in the global context. On the other hand, unemployment, refugees and terrorism were perceived to be locally urgent problems. Different agencies within the community were addressed to be accountable for different types of sustainability problems. The accountability for economic, environmental and societal problems were mainly placed on governments. Additionally, individuals/families and educators were held more accountable for environmental issues, while corporations and super powers were held more accountable for economic issues. As for societal issues, educators, individuals/families and non-governmental organizations were addressed to be more responsible.

The significance of the study is mainly twofold. If sustainable development is conceptualized with a futuristic viewpoint that attaches a great importance to next generations' needs, focusing on the dispositions of early career teacher educators as young academics is a reasonable way of addressing the current gaps and eliminating the future inefficacies. Building on the assumption that ESD would remain imperfect without the commitment of teacher educators who have the potential to bring changes in educational systems and shape knowledge and skills of future teachers, in turn future generations; this study becomes even more valuable as it includes specifically the academicians in the field of teacher education.

The purpose of this paper is to present a professional development experience for higher education academic staff within the framework of an international Tempus project focused on reorienting university curricula to address sustainability. The project included revising curricula to phase sustainable development principles into university courses.

A qualitative approach was used to examine perceived professional development. Focus groups have been conducted with the academic staff who participated in the project.

The results provided evidence that revising their curricula offered the participants an opportunity to discuss different principles, teaching methods, didactic processes and practices in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Several strategies emerged during curricula revision such as a positive attitude towards meta-cognitive strategies and a goal-oriented approach to curriculum planning. Moreover, the project induced the academic staff to reconsider their teaching methods.

The main limitation is the restricted generalisability of the findings, because of the small number of participants. Further research is needed to confirm the theoretical model that emerged. Implications of the results for professional development and the induction of change in academic staff are also discussed.

There is little information about training experiences for enhancing professional development in academic staff using ESD principles, and this study provides a starting point. According to the results, the project had an impact on the participants’ attitudes, teaching principles and methods, course design skills and assessment approaches.

This paper tries to propose a pedagogical training program starting from the Romanian mandatory curriculum for higher education (HE) teachers, integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) competencies (UNECE, 2012) through infusion as a technique of curricular design dealing with cross-curricular subject integration. The purpose of this paper is to show how new ESD competencies can be implemented and integrated into the existent curricular formulations and how the current state of affairs can be improved and set toward sustainability.

A qualitative research design is utilized, using desk research, content analysis, case study and, as validation for the new curriculum, structured interviews with key experts. First, an assessment of the quality of the Romanian HE pedagogical training program will be presented based on teaching quality assessments from international rankings. Second, integration of ESD competencies into the existing pedagogical professional development program, through a curriculum design, will be proposed.

The present Romanian teacher training curriculum does not nurture ESD competencies, and it does not have this purpose at all. However, it can be affirmed that this curriculum is in accordance with the newest pedagogical theories. It will be shown (through curriculum design) that it is possible to infuse ESD competencies into the present curriculum without many costs. The present architecture of the teacher training system can be described as a good practice example concerning HE professional development or as an alternative that is worthy to be taken into consideration for other countries with similar educational systems or by countries/universities that believe that pedagogical training addressing ESD should be completed early in one’s teaching career.

As a general rule, many generalizations cannot be made based on qualitative research. Case studies have their limitations: they provide in-depth research on particular situations, and only some of their findings can be extrapolated. All HE curricula represent a particular vision and are all perfectible and subject to debate. The author hopes to have provided sufficient cause for the proposed curriculum.

The new curriculum has clear and practical implications, providing the answer to the question “how can we make pedagogical training better?”. Infusing ESD into the present teacher training program constitutes a practical solution, which carries great social impact.

A new curricular architecture is proposed, a new perspective on the efficiency of pedagogical training, in general, is taken into account and, as a good practical example, the present research is a token of inspiration.

The purpose of this paper is to address research on major challenges faced in attempting to mainstream education for sustainable development (ESD).

The research is based on a project for infusing ESD in a teachers' college programme in Jamaica.

Challenges include colleagues' scepticism, students' expectations of course, content vs the actuality of an “expanded” course with ESD input, an absence of policy, syllabus constraints, and ways in which these were addressed.

In analysing the ways in which these challenges were addressed, important principles are uncovered that can guide the introduction of ESD in higher education: how “threats” can become opportunities, how constraints can make for creativity.

There is broad consensus that the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) requires the consideration of geographical and cultural contexts. Despite such an agreement at a theoretical level, there is so far an apparent lack of practical experiences and solid research on approaches that effectively manage to engage professional educators in higher education with ESD in the context of a developing country from the Global South. This paper aims to address this gap and present a case study from a pilot professional development program (PDP) that sought to implement and mainstream ESD among Ethiopian colleges of teacher education (CTEs) and theological seminaries (TSs).

The research presented is based on the methodology of evaluative case study research in ESD. It analyzes the PDP’s specific objectives with regard to capacity and structure building, describes major activities implemented and how these relate to the objectives and explores major outcomes of the PDP.

The paper presents a comprehensive training curriculum aimed at addressing ESD in Ethiopian CTEs and TSs in a whole-institution approach. Results suggest that the PDP’s approach to combine human capacity and institutional structure building was effective in supporting the implementation and mainstreaming of ESD in CTEs and TSs in Ethiopia.

This case study presents original research on a pilot Ethiopian PDP that was implemented in collaboration with two academic institutions from Ethiopia and Germany.

The purpose of this paper is to undertake a cross-comparative inquiry into Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) related to governance, initiatives and practices in initial teacher education (ITE) across four countries with very different contexts – Sweden, Scotland, Canada and Australia. It provides insights into issues arising internationally, implications for ESD in ITE and offers learnings for other countries and contexts.

A cross-comparative study design with overarching themes and within-case descriptions was applied to consider, compare and contrast governance characteristics, initiatives and practices from each context.

The approaches to governance, initiatives and practices that each country adopts are unique yet similar, and all four countries have included ESD in ITE to some extent. Comparing and contrasting approaches has revealed learnings focussed on ESD in relation to governance and regulation, practices and leadership.

Making comparisons between different contexts is difficult and uncertain and often misses the richness and nuances of the individual sites under study. However, it remains an important endeavour as the challenges of embedding ESD in ITE will be better understood and overcome if countries can learn from one another.

Scrutinising different approaches is valuable for broadening views about possibilities and understanding how policies and initiatives translate in practice.