Geography teacher educators’ perspectives on education for sustainability: identity and agency in a period of rapid education policy change in England

Journal article

Initial Teacher Education in England is in a period of rapid policy change. This is happening at a time when discourse about humans’ relationships with nature is changing, and there is increased recognition of the impacts that people have had on the Earth. Through a questionnaire and focus groups, we engaged with geography teacher educators’ experiences of, and perspectives on, Education for Sustainability (EfS). Using the key dimensions of teacher agency model to analyse focus group data, we found that EfS was not consistently engaged with in geography teacher education, and where it was, it varied in the amount of time given to it, and the nature of the ideas, debates and knowledges engaged with through it. Whilst national education policy in England is constraining in some areas, its failure to truly engage with EfS has led geography teacher educators—in their own words—to “navigate” and “subvert” state-imposed policy. The article concludes by arguing for dialogue between geography teacher educators and policy makers to inform teacher education about EfS that supports the agency of young people, teachers and teacher educators in making informed decisions about education practices, as well as their lives and futures.

Authors: Hammond, L; Fargher, M; Walshe, N

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Journal: International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
• Publication date: 2024-11-11
• Acceptance date: 2024-11-03
• DOI: 10.1080/10382046.2024.2426476
• EISSN: 1747-7611
• ISSN: 1038-2046
• Language: English
• Keywords: education policy; geography education; geography teacher education; education for sustainability; agency; teacher education