Abstract:

Teacher education plays a key role in fostering Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), particularly where it promotes more equitable access to high-quality education. Driven by recent national initiatives in Germany to promote open education, Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) offer significant potential. In this project, OER are understood as digital learning units that are freely accessible, adaptable, and reusable. OEP are defined as the collaborative development, use, evaluation, and sharing of such resources across institutional and professional boundaries.

This contribution presents the inter- and transdisciplinary project OERLe. Supported by funding from the German Federal Ministry for Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, the project aims to integrate OER and OEP sustainably into teacher education in Germany. The project brings together actors from different phases of teacher education, especially university-based and school-based practical training, and takes into account the federal diversity of structures and responsibilities across German states. Through the participatory co-creation and evaluation of digital learning units, OERLe seeks to strengthen a culture of sharing and to position open education as a contribution to ESD by widening access to high-quality educational opportunities.

Building on findings from a previous project on OER evaluation, OERLe employs a participatory mixed-methods approach to investigate the conditions and barriers for implementing OER and OEP in teacher education. To ensure methodological rigor, our empirical accompanying research encompasses a comprehensive data collection strategy: a quantitative needs assessment (N = 66), the systematic evaluation of newly developed OER digital learning units, and a qualitative interview study combined with a network analysis involving N = 22 teacher educators. Drawing on this robust dataset, this contribution explores how open practices can effectively support ESD, particularly at the crucial interface between the first and second phases of teacher training.

Initial results from the network analysis reveal that the implementation of OER and OEP within the realm of ESD is currently heavily reliant on individual key actors. However, the findings also highlight the immense potential of the project’s approach: OEP cultivated through cross-phase cooperation harmonizes perfectly with the principles of ESD. Just as ESD concepts spread effectively through decentralized networks, collaborative OEP structures facilitate the systemic and network-like diffusion of sustainable educational practices.

Ultimately, our comprehensive dataset provides vital insights into the functioning of teacher education networks in the context of ESD. Although rooted in the specific structural characteristics of the German system, these findings on cross-phase collaboration offer valuable and scalable perspectives for the international discourse on educational transformation. By actively sharing both our empirical insights into network dynamics and the newly developed OER learning environments with the global community, we aim to empower educators worldwide. Through this collaborative approach, we can drive systemic change and establish sustainable, equitable, and future-oriented digital education ecosystems.

Keywords:

Open Educational Practices, Open Educational Resources, Education for Sustainable Development, Professional Development of Teachers.