Abstract:

Here we present an experience in which key points were worked on for the inclusion of sustainability in the educational context. As teacher educators, we propose to include sustainability in our Master's course "Investigación Educative para el Desarrollo Profesional del Docente" (IEDPD, Educational Research for the Professional Development of Teachers), aimed at future professionals in the field of education, since they constitute a particularly sensitive group for the formation of future citizens.

The innovation was developed within the module "Equidad y Sostenibilidad en la Escuela" (Equity and Sustainability in the School), of the aforementioned Master's course. To this end we designed a didactic sequence, the analysis of which is the objective of this present study. The purpose was to reflect on the concept of sustainability. The sequence consists of three phases. The first is entitled "Hacía una visión compleja del mundo" (Towards a complex vision of the world), because to understand what sustainability is, involves becoming aware of the situation of planetary crisis. It begins with an individual reflection focused on identifying socio-environmental problems. Subsequently, these issues are put together through a pictogram in which the students have to represent the interconnections between problems. The second is entitled "¿Cómo podemos contribuir a la construcción de un mundo mejor?" (How can we contribute to building a better world?). Its purpose is to propose solutions to the diagnoses that have been made, for which the students are given different texts. Following their analysis, the concept of Education for Sustainability (ES) is formalized and presented as a possible way to build a sustainable and fair world. The third and last phase is entitled "Mirando hacía adelante" (Looking ahead), the purpose of which is to provide the students with methods that are in accordance with the principles of sustainability, to serve as a scaffolding for the inclusion of sustainability in their professional development.

In order to gather information on their ideas about sustainability, and their possible evolution after completing the module, an exploratory questionnaire was implemented both at the beginning and at the end of the sequence. The questionnaire was designed as a combination of open questions and others of a Likert-scale type. It was validated by experts. It is therefore a first approximation to the field, and is of a descriptive nature. The subjects in the study were the thirty students, between 22 and 40 years in age.

The results showed slight changes in the students' initial ideas. They identified a greater range of socio-environmental problems, and including some at a local level. However, the relationships established between them were linear – cause-and-effect. The students showed interest in using these problems as a triggering element in a teaching intervention, but showed a lack of formation in this regard.

Finally, although we did identify changes in the students' initial perceptions, these were not significant enough to be capable of indicating that the didactic sequence had been the trigger. Nevertheless, we detected two lines of intervention. On the one hand, an effort should be made to help with the construction of a more systemic vision and, on the other, there is a need to go into an abundance of resources, strategies, and techniques for the inclusion of sustainability in the action of teaching.

Keywords:

Education for Sustainability, teacher training, didactic sequence.