Teacher Experiences with Global Sustainability
Teaching young people about environmental sustainability on a global scale has become increasingly important over the past 20 years. However, these ideas are often tangled in complex historical issues: colonialism and its legacy, economic inequality, marginalization and unequal power relations between the global North vs South. This study asks how teachers consider these issues and deal with them in their lessons when teaching about global sustainability to high school students.
The author of this paper interviewed six high school teachers from three different towns in Sweden, all of whom had been involved in educational programs relating to sustainable development and had hosted teachers …show more content…
One teacher, commented that he wanted students to apply the facts outside of a Swedish context, especially when meeting students and teachers from the global South. Another teacher stressed the importance of treating the issues on a global scale. Through the affective lens, all of the teachers thought that responsibility and fairness were important to global sustainability issues. Three teachers, commented that students should be able to move beyond paternalistic views of the global South without dampening their generosity, with cultural encounters as one way to do …show more content…
One teacher said specifically that his hope was to empower students to be more politically aware, and another teacher said he wanted students to see both themselves and other people as agents for political change. Finally, most of the teachers spoke to the epistemological, pointing out how cultural norms and values shape how students see the world, and that not everyone comes from the same culture. One teacher discussed the importance of talking about issues with people who have different frames of reference, listing discussions about motherhood between her students and those from the South as an example.
The contextual-historical was mentioned most by civics and history teachers, although other teachers were aware of it. All teachers stressed the importance of emotions in connecting students to the issues and driving students to action. Similarly, all the teachers spoke to the political aspects of the issues, and wanted their students to feel they could take action. Most of the teachers touched on epistemological concerns, particularly in relation to student interacting with South students allowing for openness to other
Teaching young people about environmental sustainability on a global scale has become increasingly important over the past 20 years. However, these ideas are often tangled in complex historical issues: colonialism and its legacy, economic inequality, marginalization and unequal power relations between the global North vs South. This study asks how teachers consider these issues and deal with them in their lessons when teaching about global sustainability to high school students.
The author of this paper interviewed six high school teachers from three different towns in Sweden, all of whom had been involved in educational programs relating to sustainable development and had hosted teachers …show more content…
One teacher, commented that he wanted students to apply the facts outside of a Swedish context, especially when meeting students and teachers from the global South. Another teacher stressed the importance of treating the issues on a global scale. Through the affective lens, all of the teachers thought that responsibility and fairness were important to global sustainability issues. Three teachers, commented that students should be able to move beyond paternalistic views of the global South without dampening their generosity, with cultural encounters as one way to do …show more content…
One teacher said specifically that his hope was to empower students to be more politically aware, and another teacher said he wanted students to see both themselves and other people as agents for political change. Finally, most of the teachers spoke to the epistemological, pointing out how cultural norms and values shape how students see the world, and that not everyone comes from the same culture. One teacher discussed the importance of talking about issues with people who have different frames of reference, listing discussions about motherhood between her students and those from the South as an example.
The contextual-historical was mentioned most by civics and history teachers, although other teachers were aware of it. All teachers stressed the importance of emotions in connecting students to the issues and driving students to action. Similarly, all the teachers spoke to the political aspects of the issues, and wanted their students to feel they could take action. Most of the teachers touched on epistemological concerns, particularly in relation to student interacting with South students allowing for openness to other