Page 39 - Climate Conference - EBook 2023: Al-Qasemi Academy

Professional Development for
Education for Sustainable Development
Prof. Franz Rauch

Institute of Instructional and School Development
University of Klagenfurt

ABSTRACT
The interdisciplinary nature, as well as the present and future relevance of the sustainability debate

(including climate change and biodiversity loss), with all its inherent dilemmas, uncertainties, and
confusions, may constitute fertile ground for educational innovation. A crucial prerequisite for
innovation of schools and instruction in the sense mentioned above is teacher education which
allows for these principles.
Against this background, the University of Klagenfurt and several Colleges of Teacher Education

conceived a four-semester University program for Teachers and Teacher Educators. The goal of the
University Course BINE is to encourage participants to deal as a “community of learners” with subject
information on sustainable development (SD) and education for sustainable development (ESD) in a

reflected way. An important element of the course is the systematic reflection of innovation in one's
own practice in an action research study context.
The overall results of the evaluation of the course have shown that the BINE course offers an
adequate instructional and learning strategy for the participants to construct the meaning of the
complex issues of SD and ESD by researching, reflecting, and exchanging in learning groups focused

on concrete examples. It is a challenge not to simplify ESD and lose its potential to identify the
interconnections between the ecological, social, economic, and cultural-political spheres more
clearly and adequately. Findings indicate that the systematic collection and analysis of data and the

writing of a study are regarded as strenuous but conducive to learning. It seems that a balance of
provocation and support as elements of a dynamic didactical design offers space for more in-depth
reflections on ESD.

Keywords: Education for Sustainable Development, Professional Development, Teacher
Education, Action Research.