Background:
The UNESCO Roadmap for Implementing the Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) points out the crucial role of teachers and teacher training (TT) in ESD (UNESCO, 2014, p.20). This is not only true on the international level, but is an equally important focus of European and transnational endeavors connected to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ESD. The Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) is the leading ministry in charge of ESD on the federal level in Germany. It launched a high scale national monitoring of the current state of implementation of ESD. The present project is part of this national monitoring within Germany’s GAP actions.
Research question:
At the University of Education in Freiburg an evaluation study was conducted to evaluate accessibility of data and the measurability of ESD relevant TT. Through collecting novel data, the project ESD_indicator_teacher training aims to answer the following research question: How accessible is the data on teacher training in the 16 federal states of Germany? Is it possible to develop a replicable and useful ESD indicator for teacher training as part of a larger, longitudinal set of ESD indicators for a continuous monitoring?
Consequently, the research group led by Prof. Dr. Werner Rieß developed an indicator for ESD relevance in TT provided by the government. Novel data was gathered for all the federal states in Germany. Thereby, the proportion of ESD relevant TT could be calculated for the 16 federal states. In the longer term, this indicator could contribute to the establishment of a national and even international concept of ESD indicators, which in the case of Germany could be integrated in the national Sustainability Strategy. Furthermore, in the future, it could become part of the general educational monitoring reports and giving answers to the following questions: “How do stakeholders know that an increased understanding of ESD programmes and indicators is developing? […] and Are stakeholders improving their ability to assess ESD progress? “ (Tilbury, Janousek, Elias, & Bacha, p. 32).
Theoretical framework:
“Indicators are considered to provide condensed information that can be transformed into knowledge relevant for decision making” (Bormann & Michelsen, 2010, p. 510). However, important preconditions of indicators are that they need to be seen as comprehensive, credible and fair in the eyes of their recipients (s. van Ackeren & Hovestadt, 2003, p. 23f, own translation). As the discourse on how to operationalise and define ESD is still an ongoing debate in research, it is important to guarantee a high level of transparency from the outset of the design of the indicator. This is why many stakeholders, including all spokespersons for ESD and TT from the 16 federal ministries of educations, have been included in the process of development of the national ESD indicator.
Compared to the ongoing discussions on different ESD definitions, there is consensus on the essential role of the teachers in ESD implementation (s. e.g.: Seybold, 2006, p. 172, own translation) and that, “[t]eacher professional development can be an effective way to enhance and ensure the quality of schooling […]” (Lipowsky 2015, p. 28). In the case of ESD this is equally stressed by the UNESCO Roadmap that states “[e]ducators and trainers [as] powerful agents of change for delivering the educational response to sustainable development. But for them to help usher in the transition to a sustainable society, they must first acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and values “ (UNESCO, 2014, p.20).
