A non-linear pedagogical approach to ESD in Initial Teacher Training
Steve Pratchett
March 2011
The catalyst
As the following extract from Haavelstrud (2009) indicates, ecophilosophy is a required
component in all teacher education programmes in Norway. Also note the Norwegian
use of the preferable term teacher education and not training, the latter term now
prevalent in the UK. Reading this article in 2009 became the catalyst for designing a
more radical approach to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in 2009 on
Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programmes at the University College, Plymouth, St Mark
& St John.
Learning from international comparisons
We can all learn from international comparisons, so, drawing on the Norwegian
example, I designed whole-day Education for Sustainable Development workshops in
2009 and 2010, for cohorts of Primary Bachelor of Education (BEd) Year 2 and 4 initial
teacher training students at the UK University College, Plymouth, St Mark and St John.
Groups of students had to select and explore a sustainability issue through the four
elements within the Curriculum Model to Underpin Education for Sustainable
Development (Pratchett 2008) (see fig. 1 below). Note this model not only contains the
cognitive domain of developing knowledge and understanding and the affective domain
of values, attitudes and feelings clarification but also the action domain of participation.
© Pratchett (1984, 2004, 2006)
Awareness
What? Where? When?
Who?
Participation
ISSUE / CHANGE
What can we do as
individuals and together?
(avoids disempowerment,
helplessness)
Analysis
How? Why?
(cause/effect)
Evaluation
What ought/should?
(feelings, attitudes, values)
Affective domain
(Attitudes, values, feelings)
Fig 1: Pratchett (2010 p.1) A Curriculum Model to Underpin Education for Sustainable Development
The participants had to demonstrate evidence of reflection and action ‘aiming at
developing and utilising the students’ commitment towards and engagement in thinking
and acting towards ecological security’ as outlined in the Norwegian case study. Up to
this point in time perhaps the Marjon students had been more reticent about being as
radical as those in Trondheim but it was a start!
Education is critical for achieving environmental and ethical awareness, values and
attitudes and behaviour consistent with sustainable development and for effective public
participation in decision-making. (UN 1992)
Ecophilosophy becomes a required course in
teacher education in Norway in 2015
An extract from Peace Learning by Magnus Haavelsrud (pp.67-68)
Ecophilosophy becomes a required course in teacher education in Norway in 2015.
The course reflects the insights that this discipline is not value neutral and descriptive
only. It is explicitly normative aiming at developing and utilizing the students’
commitment towards and engagement in thinking and acting towards ecological
security as part of a more comprehensive field of peace studies. In this way ecological
security is conceived as closely integrated with issues of development, disarmament,
and human rights. Evaluation criteria in the course include those described by
Sigmund Kvaloy Setreng in his book, Diversity and Time published in Norwegian and
entitled Magngfold og Tid in the year 2001 page 3271:
1. documentation of understanding global and local natural conditions seen as
wholes in which each part relates to all parts;
2. documentation of understanding that each human being and the human
species are part of nature demonstrating cases of both conflict and harmony;
3. demonstrating a wide range of human abilities and possibilities such as critical
thinking, understanding patterns, wholes, and processes of change, sensibility,
empathy, emotion, and compassion, intuition, and not least: ability for practical
and political activity by participating in political and/or social conflict in the
struggle for ecological security.
The students are required to focus on problems and challenges in their own
community.
One group of students in Trondheim, Norway, observes how plastic bags pollute not
only beaches but oceans as well. As birds on the beaches and on the surface of the
ocean get tangled up with plastic they die and sink becoming part of the fish food
chain. This can in time lead to bits of plastic in fish stomachs which are again eaten
by bigger fish, seals, and whales. As plastic contains chemicals that are cancerous
the prognosis is that not only animals in the ocean may be exposed to this danger but
human beings as they will in the end find it on the dinner table.
In their search for the causes of this problem the students are confronted with not only
human behaviour on the individual level, but also political apathy in the Norwegian
government and international government organisations such as the UN. Their goal or
vision is to reduce the use of plastic food wrappings for shopping purposes, and also
secure safe storage of plastic that is thrown away. This is a structural problem
requiring global political action and they contact the representative from Norway in the
United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) in order for her to take up the issue
in this global lawmaking institution. She finds the obstacles from industry and
commerce so strong that she refuses to do so. Upon proof of more political apathy the
students become furious and contact the major newspapers in the country and with
the help of the Young Peace Builders Organisation in the Hague they are able to
make contact with similar youth organisations in several countries about the issue.
The local challenge observed on a beach in Trondheim with the help of teachereducation students led to a global movement to forbid the use of plastic in food
storage and transport including shopping bags in all member countries of the UN.
This student group meets the criteria of evaluation mentioned earlier and received a
good grade in the course on eco-philosophy: 1) they had demonstrated the localglobal interrelationship, 2) they had demonstrated harmony and conflict with nature,
and 3) they had demonstrated a wide range of abilities and integrated reflection and
action in their course work. P.S. It took five years for the seed sown by the teacher
education student group to flourish in UN law. By the way, the representative from
Norway was not re-elected to the UNPA.
Design of the ESD Workshop: Learning Objectives
By the end of the session students would have:
1. Developed an in-depth knowledge and understanding of a sustainability issue;
2. Developed an understanding of, and the ability to apply, an appropriate
curriculum model to underpin a sustainability enquiry;
3. Developed both ICT and communication skills in presenting the findings of a
sustainability enquiry to colleagues;
4. Clarified their values, attitudes and dispositions towards sustainability;
5. Demonstrated understanding of global and local natural conditions seen as
wholes in which each part relates to all parts;
6. Demonstrated understanding that each human being and the human species are
part of nature demonstrating cases of both conflict and harmony;
7. Demonstrated a wide range of human abilities and possibilities such as critical
thinking, understanding patterns, wholes, and processes of change, sensibility,
empathy, emotion, and compassion, intuition, and not least; ability for practical
and political activity by participating in political and/or social conflict in the
struggle for ecological security.
I did not want the students’ research into their chosen sustainability issue to be solely
an ‘academic’ exercise. The workshop was designed to engage them in not only the
cognitive domain but also in the affective domain of clarifying their feelings, attitudes
and values and in the action domain of self-empowerment and social/political
participation. Emphasis was placed on students acting both collaboratively in groups
and individually, demonstrating their ‘ability for practical and political activity by
participating in political and/or social conflict in the struggle for ecological security’
(Haavelsrud, 2009) in relation to their own chosen sustainability issue. In the student
task briefing below this is emphasised in the guidance statement both in terms of
present and future actions and involvements:
Teaching for the future requires exploration of their own and others’ hopes and fears for
the future and the action required to create a more just and ecologically sustainable
future. It empowers children to feel that they can work towards their chosen future. (Hicks
& Holden 1995 p.10)
Design of the ESD Workshop: Content & Plan for the day
9.00-10.30
Key-note lecture: ‘A Curriculum Model to Underpin Education for
Sustainable Development’

Paired/group discussion and ranking exercise of the Eight Doorways for
Sustainable Schools 2020

Paired/group discussion of model
1. What are your views on the curriculum models presented by Pratchett,
(1985, 2004, 2006) and Allen & Gunsell (2001) for addressing change &
sustainability issues?
2. Have you ever seen these curriculum models implemented in Primary
schools, used by students on teaching practice or anywhere on ITT
programmes?
3. What dangers and pitfalls are there for the teacher at each stage/step in
these curriculum models?
4. What contribution can NC subjects make at each stage/step in these
curriculum models?

Viewing of Fair Play Football (Teachers’ TV video of a teacher using the
model to explore the sustainability issues that underlie the trade in sports
equipment such as footballs).

Briefing on group task in which students engage in a sustainability enquiry
and create a PowerPoint presentation based around the curriculum model .
11.30-3.30
Group research for and planning & creation of PowerPoint presentations on
chosen ESD issue, which should address the cognitive, affective and action
domains. (Tutors will visit groups to offer guidance & advice.)
Identify the immediate participatory action your group or individuals within the
group have taken today and then identify any future planned
participation/action that you could or intend to get involved in for the future.
Also identify what others could do if they wish to get involved and participate in
your chosen issue.
3.30- 4.30
Student ESD presentations in four sub-groups to their peers and tutors,
including questions and evaluative feedback from the audience.
Emphasis was also placed on tutors and students becoming both learners and
teachers. Tutors as well as students’ peers were present for the group presentations,
each being a culmination of the day’s research. Hence, knowledge, understanding,
values and feelings, clarification and participation for change were explored and shared
in a community of enquiry, initially within each group, and then within the wider body of
students and tutors. The design of the workshop was based on:
1. the social constructivist premise that learning is most effective in a social context
where dialogue and discussion are valued and more informed others (which in
this instance tended to be the student groups) extended the learning of others
through sharing with peers. The forum for discussion was extended into the
College intranet environment via a discussion board (examples of student and
tutor contributions accompany this article)
2. the premise that learning is most effective if it is experiential. Hence, it was felt
that a didactic explanation of the cognitive, affective and action domains of
learning in the curriculum model to underpin ESD (Pratchett 2010) would be less
effective than students experiencing these domains for themselves. This would
be more likely result in the internalisation of the learning process and, hence,
enhance students’ ability and motivation to use this approach in planning and
implementing the model in their primary classrooms.
Education for citizenship cannot be based on the transmission of knowledge. It is
essentially a matter of developing in pupils a range of capabilities, especially the power of
autonomous thinking. And that requires an approach to curriculum planning, a curriculum
model, whose central feature is not knowledge to be acquired or facts to be stored or
extrinsic objectives to be attained but the process to be promoted and the procedural
principles to be derived from those processes …..Such a curriculum cannot be integrated
with a curriculum, which like the National Curriculum is founded on preselected
knowledge-content and predetermined behavioural objectives. They are oil and water.
(Kelly 1995 p.186)
3. The premise that learning is most effective when enquiry based.
Education about sustainability is most effectively delivered through enquiry-based learning
– the hallmark of good, effective geography teaching. Pupils can be encouraged to take
responsibility for their learning by identifying real issues that concern them such as litter,
disability access and energy supplies in their immediate environment. They can
investigate the issue with hands on practical data collection and use the results to take
action and see the effectiveness of their actions, so developing education for
sustainability. (Morris & Willy 2007 p.34)
Evaluation and Outcomes
During the workshop and in the presentations there was ample evidence of high levels
of participation, e.g. some groups engaged locally in challenging the university’s chef
regarding the degree to which he addressed issues of Fairtrade, food miles,
biodegradability... Others challenged the Principal on the university’s levels of
commitment to recycling and others challenged the PE department on their purchasing
policy in relation to Fairtrade footballs and sports clothing. Some contacted local
councils, for example on their lack of strategies for recycling batteries, others wrote to
their MP lobbying for action on their chosen sustainability issue and others joined
organisations, which lobby and work in the area of development and sustainability. For
many this was a new and empowering experience as many were reticent about
questioning and challenging the policy and practice of authorities and authority figures.
Students also engaged in a post-workshop online discussion board where they reflected
on the value of the learning experiences of the day and their contribution to their
personal and professional development.
A non-linear pedagogical approach
This case study includes many of the features associated with a non-linear approach to
Education for Sustainable Development. The students are engaged in independent
enquiries on real issues that concern them, which encourage them to take responsibility
for their learning. The direction learning takes cannot be predicted and there is many an
unexpected turn. Much of the learning is open-ended and cannot be determined by the
tutor in advance with prescriptive objectives. Hence, expressive objectives are more
appropriate:
An expressive objective describes an educational encounter. It identifies a situation in which
children are to work, a problem with which they are to cope, a task in which they are to
engage; but it does not specify what from that encounter, situation, problem, or task they are
to learn …. An expressive objective is evocative rather than prescriptive. (Eisner 1969 cited
in Kelly 1989 p.79)
The prior reading, evaluation of media sources, and the workshop itself all interact in
unforeseen ways and the feedback loops of online sharing of presentation slides and
a discussion board result in a dynamic and lateral model of learning.
References
Eisner, E. W. (1969) Instructional and expressive educational objectives: their
formulation and use in the curriculum, cited in Kelly, A.V. (1989) The Curriculum
Theory and Practice. London: Paul Chapman
Haavelsrud, M. (2009) Peace Learning in Kagawa, F. & Selby, D. (Eds.) (2009)
Education and Climate Change Living and Learning in Interesting Times. London:
Routledge
Kelly, A.V. (1995) Education and Democracy, Principles and Practice. London: Paul
Chapman
Hicks, D. & Holden, C. (1995) Visions of the future: why we need to teach for tomorrow.
Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books
Morris, G. & Willy, T. (2007) Eight Doorways to Sustainability. Primary Geographer No.
64, Sheffield: Geographical Association
Pratchett, S.J. (2008) A Curriculum Model to Underpin Education for Sustainable
Development published online at: http://esd.escalate.ac.uk/gattegno also as a paper
presented at the All Our Futures Conference, Plymouth University, 9-11th Sept. 2008.
Also published online at: http://csf.plymouth.ac.uk/files/Presentations/P-T/SPratchett.pdf
UN (2005) Guidelines and Recommendations for Reorienting Education to Address
Sustainability. United Nations1
1
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001433/143370e.pdf accessed 3 March 2011
Workshop Preparation for UK student teachers. ESD Whole-day Workshop 2010
Here are two references for you to reflect upon. During the ESD workshop you, in
collaboration with others, will be engaged not just in developing your knowledge and
understanding of a sustainability issue but also in clarification of your own values,
attitudes and dispositions towards the environment. QTS Standard Q2 requires you to
understand and demonstrate those attitudes, values and dispositions so that you can
foster them in primary children. Hence, this workshop is relevant in your professional
progress towards achieving Standard Q2.
Q2: Demonstrate the positive values, attitudes and behaviour they expect from
children and young people TDA Guidance to accompany QTS (2007):
Trainees are expected to understand and demonstrate the values and attitudes they want
learners to develop. Such values will include, for example: respect for other people, a
positive attitude towards learning and teaching, care for the environment and social
responsibility. Trainee teachers should put these values into practice in the classroom and
in the wider teaching context.
Education is critical for achieving environmental and ethical awareness, values and
attitudes and behaviour consistent with sustainable development and for effective public
participation in decision-making. (UN 1992 Rio Summit Agenda 21 Chapter 36)
You will be engaging in a sustainability enquiry
Education about sustainability is most effectively delivered through enquiry-based learning
- the hallmark of good, effective geography teaching. Pupils can be encouraged to take
responsibility for their learning by identifying real issues that concern them such as litter,
disability access, energy supplies in their immediate environment. They can investigate
the issue with hands on practical data collection and use the results to take action and see
the effectiveness of their actions, so developing education for sustainability. (Morris &
Willy 2007 p.34)
Prior reading
The following are required reading prior to attending the ESD Workshop
1. Pratchett S. (2008) A Curriculum Model to Underpin Education for Sustainable
Development Available online at: http://esd.escalate.ac.uk/gattegno & as a paper
presented at the ‘All Our Futures Conference’, Plymouth University, 9-11th Sept.
2008.
This paper proposes a curriculum model that should underpin ESD, which is
enquiry-led and addresses the cognitive, affective and action domains
2. Haavelsrud, M. (2009) Peace Learning in Kagawa, F. & Selby, D. (Eds.) 2009 Education
and Climate Change Living and Learning in Interesting Times. Routledge, pp.67-68.
This is a case study of teacher training students in Norway who are required to
engage practically with ESD to gain qualified teacher status
Group size
Aim for 4 students per group for effective group work.
During the course of the day you will need to sign your group up for one of the 4 rooms
in which to make your presentations. There will be 4 signing up sheets on the BEd 2
notice board and these will specify the quota of groups in each room (approx 5/6 group
presentations a room).
Choosing a sustainability issue
Decide on a sustainability issue that concerns you all (You may use the UNESCO's 10
key themes for ESD from their Draft Framework 2003 as guidance and inspiration
regarding broad areas to consider). Your chosen issue may fall within one or more of
these themes and may be local, regional, national or global or any combination of these.
(The UNESCO 10 themes are on slide 2 of the introductory slides on LS in DO6H
Module section.
The first two slides of your slide presentation
Find the first two slides to your slide presentation … in the menu folder labelled ESD
Workshop. Save these two slides on your Network space to work on.
Creating your own slide presentation

Change the first slide of the PowerPoint by deleting the picture in the centre of the
Awareness, Analysis, Evaluation, Participation wheel and pasting in an image of
your own which illustrates your chosen issue.

Replace the text in the text box above and below your image to describe your
chosen issue.

Change the second slide of UNESCO's 10 themes for ESD by using a colour to
highlight the theme or themes that your chosen issue falls within.

Construct the rest of your PowerPoint presentation around the four sections
Awareness, Analysis, Evaluation & Participation.

In the participation section identify the immediate participatory action your group or
individuals within the group have taken today and then identify any future planned
participation/action that you could or intend to get involved in for the future. Also
identify what others could do if they wish to get involved and participate in your
chosen issue.
See the case study of how some Norwegian teacher training students got involved in
participatory action as part of their chosen ESD issue in the extract from Haavelsrud,
M. (2009)

Create a last slide to your presentation, which reflects on the distinctive contribution
that different subjects in the curriculum make to your enquiry.

Aim for a 10-minute presentation (approximately).
Bringing your slides to your presentation (ready to start at 3.30pm)

We recommend that you save your completed PowerPoint in three places for safety:
1. On your own College Network space
2. On the 'Shared Drive'
3. On a USB stick (if you have one)
Number 2 & 3 can be accessed easily during presentations without the time-consuming
procedure of the previous team logging off and your team logging on to the College
Network.
Supporting Material
1. Examples of BEd Year 2 students’ presentation slides
2. Examples of BEd 4 students’ discussion board contributions after the workshop
and their follow-up reading
3. Pratchett, S. J. (2008) A Curriculum Model to Underpin Education for Sustainable
Development
4. Pratchett, S. J. (2008) ‘A Curriculum Model to Underpin Education for
Sustainable Development’ (presentation slides)
5. Fairplay Football (Teachers TV documentary programme)