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- Larsson, Jonna, et al.
(author)
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How preschool teacher students create meaning about teaching for sustainability in preschool
- 2019
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In: 29th EECERA Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece, 20-23 aug 2019.
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Abstract The objective of this study is on how preschool teacher students, in written text, create meaning about teaching for sustainability and STEM related issues in relation to a preschool teaching practice. Researchers argue that education for sustainability is a marginalized area within teacher education (Ferreira, Ryan & Tilbury, 2014), especially within the field of preschool teacher education (Davis (2015). The students' ontological and epistemological understandings have been studied through their descriptions of children, sustainability (Davis, 2014), globally and locally aspects and STEM (Osborn & Dillon, 2008) within thematic work. This qualitative research draws on a methodological frame (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2008) where a critical theoretical approach (Ideland & Malmberg, 2015) is put forward. The analytical method used is critical text analysis (Sterling, Warwick & Wyness, 2016). The study is based on nineteen essays written by preschool teacher students, who actively accepted to share essays via e-mail. Students participated after completing their pre-school teacher training. All essays were de-identified, as per the Swedish guidelines for research practice (Vetenskapsrådet, 2017). The study reveals (1) how students create meaning about teaching for sustainability in preschool based on coherent and fragmentary thematic outlines, (2) the relationship between the global and the local in the students' essays and (3) how STEM appears in sustainability focused thematic work. This creates diverse conditions for children to develop complex thinking and impacts teaching for sustainability. This study offers insights about organizational aspects, possibilities and challenges when working with sustainability in preschool.
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