IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i2p767-d722067.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Differences in Teachers’ Professional Action Competence in Education for Sustainable Development: The Importance of Teacher Co-Learning

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Magdalena Isac

    (Center for Political Science Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
    Italian Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), 00153 Rome, Italy)

  • Wanda Sass

    (Research Unit Edubron, Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium)

  • Jelle Boeve-de Pauw

    (Research Unit Edubron, Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium)

  • Sven De Maeyer

    (Research Unit Edubron, Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium)

  • Wouter Schelfhout

    (Research Unit Didactica, Antwerp School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium)

  • Peter Van Petegem

    (Research Unit Edubron, Department of Training and Education Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium)

  • Ellen Claes

    (Center for Political Science Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

Abstract

This study builds on a research-practitioner partnership embedded within an education for sustainable development (ESD) project and aims to explore the major potential challenges (i.e., disciplinary boundaries set by subject specialization, especially in secondary education) and success factors (i.e., teacher co-learning experiences in ESD) associated with differences in teachers’ professional action competence (PACesd) in a sample of 557 in-service teachers in primary and secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium. The study employed a recently validated PACesd measurement instrument and involved quantitative data analysis in a structural equation modelling framework. The results show that primary education teachers tend to report higher PACesd levels compared to their peers in secondary education. Moreover, regardless of educational level, gender and teaching experience, all teachers participating in a working group or a learning community in ESD are more likely to show higher levels of PACesd. Implications of the findings, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Magdalena Isac & Wanda Sass & Jelle Boeve-de Pauw & Sven De Maeyer & Wouter Schelfhout & Peter Van Petegem & Ellen Claes, 2022. "Differences in Teachers’ Professional Action Competence in Education for Sustainable Development: The Importance of Teacher Co-Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-17, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:767-:d:722067
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/767/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/767/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Franziska Bertschy & Christine Künzli & Meret Lehmann, 2013. "Teachers’ Competencies for the Implementation of Educational Offers in the Field of Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(12), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Neil Taylor & Frances Quinn & Kathy Jenkins & Helen Miller-Brown & Nadya Rizk & Theodosia Prodromou & Penelope Serow & Subhashni Taylor, 2019. "Education for Sustainability in the Secondary Sector—A Review," Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, , vol. 13(1), pages 102-122, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tuba Stouthart & Dury Bayram & Jan van der Veen, 2023. "Capturing Pedagogical Design Capacity of STEM Teacher Candidates: Education for Sustainable Development through Socioscientific Issues," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-26, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kifah Imara & Fahriye Altinay, 2021. "Integrating Education for Sustainable Development Competencies in Teacher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Maria Victoria G. Violanda & Dennis V. Madrigal, 2021. "Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): A Journey Towards Sustainable Future," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 20(1), pages 172-180, June.
    3. Susanne Kubisch & Sandra Parth & Veronika Deisenrieder & Karin Oberauer & Johann Stötter & Lars Keller, 2020. "From Transdisciplinary Research to Transdisciplinary Education—The Role of Schools in Contributing to Community Well-Being and Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Sung-Shun Weng & Yang Liu & Juan Dai & Yen-Ching Chuang, 2020. "A Novel Improvement Strategy of Competency for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) of University Teachers Based on Data Mining," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Silvia Albareda-Tiana & Salvador Vidal-Raméntol & Maria Pujol-Valls & Mónica Fernández-Morilla, 2018. "Holistic Approaches to Develop Sustainability and Research Competencies in Pre-Service Teacher Training," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Quentin Ssossé & Johanna Wagner & Carina Hopper, 2021. "Assessing the Impact of ESD: Methods, Challenges, Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-26, March.
    7. Alina Weber & Alexander Georg Büssing & Raphael Jarzyna & Florian Fiebelkorn, 2020. "Do German Student Biology Teachers Intend to Eat Sustainably? Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior with Nature Relatedness and Environmental Concern," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Sílvia Albareda-Tiana & Esther García-González & Rocío Jiménez-Fontana & Carmen Solís-Espallargas, 2019. "Implementing Pedagogical Approaches for ESD in Initial Teacher Training at Spanish Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-19, September.
    9. Alexander Georg Büssing & Maike Schleper & Susanne Menzel, 2018. "Do Pre-service Teachers Dance with Wolves? Subject-Specific Teacher Professional Development in A Recent Biodiversity Conservation Issue," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.
    10. Gisela Cebrián & Mercè Junyent & Ingrid Mulà, 2021. "Current Practices and Future Pathways towards Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-9, August.
    11. Lukas Scherak & Marco Rieckmann, 2020. "Developing ESD Competences in Higher Education Institutions—Staff Training at the University of Vechta," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Mirjam Braßler & Sandra Sprenger, 2021. "Fostering Sustainability Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviours through a Tutor-Supported Interdisciplinary Course in Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-21, March.
    13. Barbara Mazur & Anna Walczyna, 2022. "Sustainable Development Competences of Engineering Students in Light of the Industry 5.0 Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-17, June.
    14. Silvia Lorente-Echeverría & Inma Canales-Lacruz & Berta Murillo-Pardo, 2022. "The Vision of Future Primary School Teachers as to Education for Sustainable Development from a Competency-Based Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.
    15. Andrea Corres & Marco Rieckmann & Anna Espasa & Isabel Ruiz-Mallén, 2020. "Educator Competences in Sustainability Education: A Systematic Review of Frameworks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-24, November.
    16. Juan-Francisco Álvarez-Herrero, 2023. "Urban Itineraries with Smartphones to Promote an Improvement in Environmental Awareness among Secondary School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    17. Ambreen Siddique & Muhammad Anwer & Huma Lodhi, 2018. "Perception of Prospective Teachers about Practices of Sustainable Competencies Learned During PreService Teachers Program," Global Regional Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(1), pages 485-502, June.
    18. Yousif Abdelrahim & Aliah Zafer, 2024. "How Students’ Well-Being, Education for Sustainable Development, and Sustainable Development Relate: A Case of Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-16, October.
    19. Razvan Bologa & Ana-Ramona Lupu & Catalin Boja & Tiberiu Marian Georgescu, 2017. "Sustaining Employability: A Process for Introducing Cloud Computing, Big Data, Social Networks, Mobile Programming and Cybersecurity into Academic Curricula," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.
    20. Paul Vare, 2021. "Exploring the Impacts of Student-Led Sustainability Projects with Secondary School Students and Teachers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:767-:d:722067. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.