Resources, Inequality and Sustainability - inte-grating language and science teaching in ESD

Abstract

: The aim of this paper is to investigate to which extent student teachers at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) acquired sustainable competences from attending a course in the SustainComp curriculum in the 2nd semester, 2023 at UCL University College, Denmark. The conceptual framework integrates Klafki’s critical constructive theory about the epochal key problems with the UNESCO guidelines for teaching sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the notion of Socio-scientific Issues (SSI). The paper presents results from a case study of a full-scale pilot activity in the SustainComp project. The research question is “How can a course on Resources, Inequality and Sustainability, that is focused on the impact of sandmining, con-tribute to student teachers’ development of sustainable competences?” The question was answered via a thematic analysis conducted by teachers and researchers as a Community of Practice (COP). Results indicated that students acquired knowledge about SSI, interdisciplinary approaches to teaching ESD, linguistic skills, intercultural understanding and critical thinking. Implications for research point towards the need for more research in the field.