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- Nordén, Birgitta
(författare)
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Learning and teaching sustainable development in global-local contexts
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis is to develop knowledge of teachingand learning sustainable development in global–local contexts. Theresearch field is global learning for sustainable development (GLSD).Phenomenographic approach and contextual analysis were used asmethods of analysis, and data was collected by Semi-structuredinterviews at secondary and upper secondary schools in Sweden.In Study I, a strategic and systematic literature review was conductedof recent trends and critique to the dominating rhetoric on policy levelconcerning global education and global learning on sustainabilityissues. The complexity represented in GLSD is of global interest toface current challenges. The global–local context and the process forglobal learning were characterised by the learner’s perspective andself-efficacy. The variation of ways in which contextual features wererevealed, affected how participants experienced their own learningglobal learning space. In Study II, empirical investigations were conducted of students’,teachers’, and head teachers’ conceptions of implementation of GLSD.Results indicate that critical knowledge capabilities were needed toact towards sustainability globally. Critical knowledge capabilitiesdeveloped in the processes were to take command and collaborateas a team. Capabilities that were identified as necessary but whichhad not been sufficiently developed were to be prepared, act in atransdisciplinary manner and lead for holistic understanding in thelearning process. Critical knowledge capabilities to handle complexknowledge were characterised by volition, self-directed learning, andknowledge formation. In Study III, a re-analysis was conducted of the data from StudyII. The results shed light on pertinent transition skills in GLSD:(I) transdisciplinary action via knowledge formation in actualpractices, (II) democratic collaborative action via processes ofunderstanding, respectively (III) self-directed learning and independentinitiative. These transition skills, enabling young people to beprepared for unpredictable changes, were perceived as key featuresin developing young people’s capability in an uncertain world. Theydeveloped worldview understanding, and advanced transformationcompetencies including critical reflections upon questions of currentnormativity. In Study IV, collaborative and transdisciplinary teaching with aglobal–local perspective was investigated in a study with teacherscommitted to global learning and sustainable development at anupper secondary school. Two main transdisciplinary teachingapproaches of GLSD were distinguished: Contributing: Assist andTake Part respectively Ownership: Possess and Reconceptualise.The contributing approach was divided into the sub-categories: (I)Disheartened, (II) Supportive, and (III) Complementing teachingapproaches; while the ownership approach comprised (IV) Decisive,and (V) Multi-dimensional teaching approaches. Various dimensions of the results appeared to be relevant forsustainability teaching and learning in global–local contexts, whenconnections between the studies were analysed in relation to the contextand the overarching aims of the thesis. Through transdisciplinaryteaching deep approaches to learning can be developed and Globalteaching for sustainable development (GTSD) could be advanced.Individual and collaborative learning characterised by selfdetermination,responsibility, and social readiness leading to actionemerged as key aspects At a global–local level, there is a growing need to develop competenciesand capabilities for transitions towards sustainability. Conflicts andclimate change are drastically increasing the number of displacedpeople who need transnational education on proactive preventivestrategies, as well as develop to critical knowledge capabilities that can be useful across numerous contexts and in the face of changingcircumstances. Increasingly, also young people need to manage theirown learning processes in self-directed learning, regardless of wherethey are physically or may move in their lifetimes. As established socialstructures struggle to address global challenges, people across theplanet need to be able to organise themselves and to take initiatives.
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| 2. |
- Nordén, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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Transitions Towards an Unknown Future : Non-Formal Learning in Transnational Communities for a Sustainable Society
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The study makes an inventory of learning opportunities young people were offered in connection with CEI 2016, one of the annual international conferences organized by the NGO named Caretakers of the Environment International (CEI), which year 2016 took place in Aalborg in Denmark. The learning opportunities offered by this transnational learning community are discussed in relation to some essential learning qualities to meet the comprehensive sustainability challenges facing our societies - in particular youth, who can be seen as a target group per se, many times in transition-like situations: (1) learning for uncertain future, 82) dealing with complex cross-border issues, (3) ability to collaborate, (4) take initiative and act in society. These qualities are difficult to achieve in formal school systems that are essentially organized to ensure the transmission of a specific learning content and measurable abilities. The question in this study has been inspired by a previous study in a Swedish school context (Nordén, Avery & Anderberg, 2012, Nordén, 2016), about abilities that allow high school students to get an agency towards local and global sustainability challenges. The critical skills identified were: (1) Organization/self-regulation and independent decision-making skills (2) Development of Transnational Learning Communities (3) Democratic cooperation in action. There is widespread consensus that radical new educational approaches are needed to address the challenges of our time (Breiting & Wickenberg, 2010; Mochizuki & Yarime, 2016; Reid & Scott, 2013). Traditionally, focus has been placed on transmitting an existing knowledge base. The situations we face are changing at a staggering rate, and future developments are characterized by great uncertainty. Barnett (2012) therefore claims that preparation for the unknown should be guiding in education. Young people must not only be able to explore different complex situations, but also be prepared to take initiatives to act, find solutions to major environmental and social problems, and steer up their own learning during their life journey (Almers, 2013; Barrat, Barratt-Hacking, Scott & Talbot, 2006; Öhman, 2008). In this context, one has talked about sustainability literacy (Dawe, Jucker & Martin, 2005). CEI's activities are non-formal (Mocker & Spear, 1982) in the sense that they are organized for the purpose of promoting learning for sustainability and have a well-considered overall structure, but participants can independently define the issues and projects they work with . The transnational learning community could thereby support a challenge-oriented learning (UE4SD, 2015). The results indicate that the processes are supported when young people and their teachers experience a sense of community and having a place in the local-global context. This is done both through intensive work on their own projects prior to the conference, through participation in the physical meetings during the conference and the subsequent network activities in connection with it. In order for society as a whole to take advantage of the potential of non-formal learning, alternative educational approaches need to gain increased recognition and attention. The focus has to be shifted from a narrow performance splash that values isolated results, to reflect more widely on the learning opportunities offered by different forms of education in their entirety.
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- Nordén, Birgitta, et al.
(författare)
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Learning in global settings : developing transitions for meaning-making
- 2012
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Ingår i: Research in Comparative and International Education. - : Symposium Journals. - 1745-4999. ; 7:4, s. 514-529
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Global teaching and learning for sustainable development reaches from the classroom to the world outside, and is therefore a particularly interesting setting for practicing transitions skills. The article suggests a number of features perceived as crucial in developing young people’s capability to act in a changing world and under circumstances that are difficult to predict. The suggestions are based on an empirical study of the Lund Calling project, which aimed at implementing a web-based international programme for teaching preventive environmental strategies in Swedish secondary schools. The article first touches on some of the conditions in Sweden that particularly impact young people’s transition to adulthood. Related research in sustainability education is also briefly outlined. Knowledge capability theory is used to discuss results from the empirical study of the Lund Calling project, where interviews were conducted with secondary school students, teachers and headmasters. Based on these interviews, features that appear to be particularly relevant as transition skills in global learning for sustainable development include transdisciplinary action, democratic collaborative action, as well as self-directed and independent initiative. The article concludes that young people today cannot, as in earlier periods of history, base their actions entirely on the traditions of the family or community. Instead, they also need to learn to form their own communities, capable of acting on both local and global levels. Education here plays an important role, to develop necessary transition skills that enable young people to be prepared for a rapidly changing and uncertain world.
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