10th International JTEFS/BBCC Conference "Sustainable Development. Culture. Education"
Reorientation of Teacher Education towards Sustainability through Theory and Practice
May 22-25, 2012
University of Eastern Finland, Savonlinna, Finland
The conference will work in plenary sessions, paper sessions, workshops and poster sessions. The conference will also host the joint meeting of BBCC members and the audience.
The proposed sections entail a wide scope of research as well as practices related to sustainable development as initiated during the previous conferences.
The sub-theme of the Conference is Reorientation of Teacher Education towards Sustainability through Theories and Practices. This allows for a great diversity of contributions under the suggested sections of the Conference.
The main emphasis will be on research and good practices of sustainable development. We look forward to research papers in different disciplines as well as good practices in teacher education and in society at large.
As usual, the Conference will coincide with the publication of the spring and the autumn volumes of Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability (http://www.versita.com/jtes). Abstracts and the papers presented in the conference will be considered for publication in the e-Abstract book and the e-Conference proceedings.
This section aims at constructing ideas that could answer the challenges of sustainable human development from the point of young children’s education. A need of this topic was found in former conferences, because human learning begins at the very start of life. We welcome papers that focus on politics, values (see also Earth Charter), curriculums, diversity of views on science, methodology and theories, pedagogical choices in teacher education and in different pedagogical practices in the field of ECE and preschool, as well as papers on problems of work communities, work with parents, multicultural education, education in history, now and in the future. Of particular interest will be papers that focus on holistic and systemic views on education for sustainability.
Sustainable development is a complex phenomenon. This section aims to discuss the challenges it offers to the research methodology in education. ESD requires a new kind of thinking and a need to change educational research towards more comprehensive and systemic research designs. The validity of educational research as well as the requirements of practitioners may necessitate a methodological reform in a comprehensive direction. This does not mean a contradiction between qualitative and quantitative or empirical and theoretical / conceptual analyses, but the involvement of many factors and complex interaction between them. There are methodological alternatives even today: structural models in quantitative analysis, case studies, theoretical models of systems theory, and conceptual analyses of educational philosophy. The challenge is, however, to envisage totally new methodological approaches and initiatives to solve the problems of ESD research and sustainable development.
It is a challenge for sustainable development to manifest itself in the everyday life of local community. In the Savonlinna campus, forests are seen as a theme for developing multidisciplinary education and research. We are planning to organize the workshop at the Forest museum LUSTO, where its environment as a resource for teacher education will be introduced. Papers presenting good practices at different levels of education, as well as research papers on education for sustainable development in informal and non-formal contexts, together with papers outlining future development, will be welcome.
How sustainable development could be discussed in science education from primary schools to universities? How prospective teachers could be prepared to deal with sustainable development in their instruction? Papers presenting good practices at different levels of education, as well as research papers concerning education for sustainable development in science education are welcome.
This section considers the ICT in sustainable development from a cultural ecological point of view. ICT is not seen only as a technical instrument, but also as an element of the environment offering several opportunities and challenges. The same theme is also related to pedagogy. How can ICT in education support sustainable development? And how can ICT be related to local or global development?
In adult learning sustainable development is associated with such themes as human rights, social equality, good life and civic participation both in global contexts and in communities. Thus the following questions arise: How to foster pedagogy of sustainable development for adults? How to promote co-operation between educational institutions, community work and political decision making? What kind of experiences of educational actions do we have? How could we train adult educators in sustainable development? These kinds of papers are very welcome to encourage discussion.
This section calls for abstracts from different sectors of arts and skills: crafts, design, drama, dance, music, visual art, physical education etc. Arts and skills can be seen as cultural promoters for sustainable development through increasing well-being. Sustainable development in this area means, for example, enhanced creativity and imagination, relief of stress and agony, ease of expressing emotions as well as feelings of success and empowerment. It also helps to break away from everyday routines. Arts, design and skills can also be seen as opposites to throwaway-culture, encouraging people to consume less. Arts and skills may help us to understand ourselves and our world and they also give strengths and means to promote sustainable development. Teaching arts, design and skills can support the integration of intellectual, social, and emotional aspects of student learning for sustainability in a way in which the conative domain (i.e. the domain which governs the student’s desire, commitment, mental energy and self-determination to actually perform) can be taken account.
For this section we expect research papers on children’s and adolescents’ health and well-being. The focus can be pedagogical, or the research questions can arise from a family perspective. The home and school together can also create well-being. Research papers on the interaction between the home and the school and society at large are welcome.
Travelling and touristic experiences enter a person’s life often at a very young age. “Grand tour” was a well documented way to educate upper class youngsters. Nowadays, at least in the Nordic countries, children in general do travel. Sustainable future means more conscious travelling; how to invest more thinking on the travelling one does, in planning, during the journey, and afterwards. Should travelers be educated? Does travelling educate? Could the trips children take with their families be integrated in the learning processes? Tourism is a multiform phenomenon that arouses multidisciplinary research questions also in association with the issues of well-being, education and sustainability. The section aims at making new cross-roads visible.
Education for all has been accepted as a universal goal by the Dakar World Education Forum in 2000 and the subsequent Millennium Development Goals. Despite good progress many countries are still struggling to meet these goals. One of the goals is universal primary education which means that the same good quality education must be provided for all students, irrespective of their social or ethnic background, gender or disabilities. Education that welcomes all learners is often called inclusive education. The idea of aiming for inclusive education is universally accepted by countries and their ministries of education, but in practise we are still far off the goal. Aiming for inclusive education places many challenges to teacher education, and the objective of this section is to discuss these challenges and perhaps suggest some new ideas on what issues should be kept in mind when developing such teacher education that supports sustainable inclusive developments in schools.
As a branch of studies social pedagogy operates in between educational and social sciences. It is suitable for several professionals who act in society in many kinds of communities and in different kinds of human interaction. These professionals face the problems that individuals have as well as those in society at large. They are in a position to help people and the various communities in a sustainable way and also to discuss a sustainable way of living and problem solving.Social pedagogy is often linked with informal and non-formal education and activities in terms of citizenship participation, social movements and community development. What links can be developed between ESD, social pedagogy and social work? What issues have to be studied in these relations? Papers concerning these kinds of questions are called for.
What kinds of models are there in communities on Education for sustainable development? One example and model comes from Espoo in Finland. Espoo is the first Finnish actor to have been approved for inclusion, from the start of 2011, in the UNU’s global sustainable development network. The network comprises local RCEs (Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development) whose aim is to implement the goals of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005 – 2014) and to adapt them to suit local and regional conditions. The main slogan is as follows:”Sustainable future is an active choice and we reach it together!” How are these practices manifested in research, educational practice, community projects and activities? In which way are theory and practice linked together in these kinds of societal practices? It is also a question about construction, deconstruction and re-construction of the ESD phenomenon.
This section is designed to promote the understanding of the values and views of the Earth Charter and its contribution to ESD. The Earth Charter Youth Initiative (ECYI) is a diverse network that calls for urgent action to bring about a just, sustainable and peaceful world. The ECYI holds that sustainability must be understood and implemented in a holistic and integrated manner, inclusive of ecological integrity, social and economic justice and democracy, non-violence and peace. The Earth Charter is a widely recognized global statement on ethics and values for a sustainable future.Promotion of a sustainable way of life, society based on respect and care for the community, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace are the issues suggested for a dialogue in this section.
Mode of participation
The following modes of participation are suggested:
Presentations at the plenary sessions are given by the Keynote speakers invited by the Scientific Committee of the Conference.
Paper presentations are allocated 30 minutes for presentation and for questions from the audience. Each paper session will have a chair person. Dissemination of handouts is highly appreciated.
Workshops provide training in the areas of research, methods, interventional programmes, community practices, youth and other different kinds of initiatives etc. The length of the workshops will range between 90 and 120 minutes depending upon their scale and scope.
Posters are presentations of scientific work in a graphical form. Maximum size for different posters will be: 1) 145 cm width and 115 cm height; 2) 178 width and 118 height. The poster exhibition will be open during the entire conference.
Venue
The Conference will take place at the University of Eastern Finland in its Savonlinna campus, Kuninkaankartanonkatu 7, 57100 Savonlinna, Finland.
The language of the Conference will be English.
For any further information on technical matters, accommodation etc., please contact aija.turunen @ uef.fi and on scientific matters ulla.harkonen @ uef.fi.
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This video has been translated in English - press CC below the video
This video tells us how deep the fish swim in the winter. The video has been entirely produced by primary school children in the Kaipola village school in Finland. The students got a learning task to "design and carry out a study of winter fishing in small groups". The Winter Fishing project was implemented in the spring 2009 with multiage (6-12 years old) pupils, who produced seven different learning objects. The learning objects show how the process of science learning develops and how the children interpret and reflect on their own learning experiences.
