ESD-oriented school certification/accreditation programmes are an integral part of the educational landscape in Germany and many other countries. Schools located in or near National Natural Landscape (NNL) such as UNESCO Biosphere reserves and National Parks shift their engagement with these natural sites and their Educational Centres from the occasional visit and the use of outdoor education activities towards establishing a long-term cooperation when becoming a “Biosphere Reserve School” or “National Park School”. According to the certification programmes schools are provided with an “instrument” for implementing thematic topics of SD in the context of the Biosphere reserve into their learning and teaching and a “guideline” of systematic structural implementation of ESD for example leading to changes in institutional practices. A key role in this supporting process is assigned to certification criteria are considered in line and covering the key elements of a Whole School Approach (WSA) or a Whole Institution Approach to implementing ESD (see Mathar, 2015; Wals & Mathie, 2022; Horst, 2021).

While there is conceptual and theoretical work on (effective) school improvement (see Reezigt & Creemers, 2005) and increasingly empirical studies on the impact of external instruments such as  school inspection and school competitions e.g. (Dedering, 2017; Albers, 2016), there is limited work on the impact  of school certification programmes in ESD on the voluntarily participating schools.

Out assumptions on the project matter are grounded in an understanding of school development as a "systematic, purposeful and self-reflective development process of schools [...], which aims at professionalizing school processes within schools and optimizing the quality of learning provision […]” (Maag Merki, 2018, 2). Further, we hold the premise - based on conceptual work on effective school improvement by  Reezigt and Cremers (2005) - that a school certification programme’s impact results from its qualities for changes to the “contextual factors” (raising pressure for school to improve; providing resources/support to school for improvement) and for impacting a schools’ “process factors” (strengthening aspects of a schools improvement culture and improvement processes).  

We aim to contribute understanding on how schools engage with the school certification criteria, or in other words, how they recontextualise the requirements, and if and how it impacts on their internal school development processes. Further, we are interested in the views of experienced project leaders on success factors for their respective certification programme.

For the empirical study we turned the research aim into the following research questions (RQ):

RQ 1: How have school leaders, ESD facilitators (and their school community) implemented (ESD) learning opportunities on SD and the biosphere reserve site in the curriculum and their daily institutional practice?

RQ2: How is this process supported, hindered or challenged by the certification scheme? 

RQ3: What success factors for supporting schools in their school development processes on implementing ESD in a WSA are identified by project leaders?

The project consists of three sub studies with each one investigating the impact of certification process on school development processes towards implementing ESD in a WSA from a different ancle. Study 1: A qualitative study of seven primary schools becoming “Biosphere Reserve Schools” in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Swabian (01/2020-04/2021. The leading research questions are RQ1 and RQ 2. The accounts were conducted in semi-structured expert interviews in schools with headmaster and ESD facilitators lasting between 60 and 90 minutes (see Gläser & Laudel, 2010). “Experts” in this understanding hold unique expert knowledge on processes of interest to the study. The interview data was analysed using content analysis. It entailed the coding of the interview along nine categories which were further operationalisations of RQ 1 and RQ2 and based on theoretical assumptions. From this coding, each schools implementation process was reconstructed and further used as a basis for comparing the seven schools' approaches to enacting with the criteria’ requirements. Study 2: An explorative study of on how schools interrogate and develop their own teaching practice (with respect to the certification criteria on integrating topics of the biosphere reserve and SD such as sustainable consumption and sustainable tourism) (05/2022- 10/2022). Data was collected from a training workshop with schools which centred around the task to search for an “overarching complex question” (see Künzli David, et.a. 2008; 2008; Muheim, et al., 2018) for goal-oriented planning of a ESD teaching unit based on their own existing learning and teaching material. The results of the mapping exercise during the workshop were documented and analysed. Study 3: (in the planning) A study on identifying of success factors for school certification programmes from National Natural Landscapes Educational Centres promoting school development processes (see RQ 3). First, a review study identifies how many school certification programmes are currently offered with respect to NNL and Nature Parks in Germany. The certification schemes and the criteria provided are analysed for comparison, especially concerning their assumed impact of school development processes. Secondly, the main data collection source will be a survey questionnaire (including quantitative and qualitative questions) addressed at the project leader for the school certification programmes in NNL and nature parks in Germany. Participants are asked to respond to a variety of proposed factors influencing on the success of the certification and more over on lasting impact on schools in their efforts to implement ESD in a WSA.

In the presentation the findings from study 1 and 2 are presented. The aim and research design for study 3 are introduced and to be discussed. Exemplary, some of the findings from study 1 are described here: What has been enacted by school with priority is curricular work, for example by defining annual themes, division of themes across grade levels or definition of regularly recurring events or activities. Other areas that received prioritised attention: Examination of school mission statement, new acquisition and restructuring of cooperation with biosphere partners, schoolyard design and use. Lower priority was given to measures on the sustainable management and sustainable procurement of the school. Participants clearly stated the high added value of participation in the school certification scheme and praised project management approach for applying a good strategy on being demanding and giving freedom to the schools. In terms on enacting on the certification criteria the findings suggest: Formal criteria such as (existence of a cooperation agreement, participation in further training and exchange meetings) are met and their enactment is praised by schools as they were considered as ensuring commitment on the task and project. Criteria requesting from the school activities concerning reporting and making efforts visible to the public were similarly enacted with a positive attitude as they were considered raising the school’s profile and identification within the school community. Finally, concerning the enactment on content certification criteria e.g. requesting the integration of topics of the Biosphere Reserve and SD into teaching in tendency the schools appeared more reluctant to enact on learning goals, teaching content and methods. Hence the later was addressed in a workshop with schools and made the subject of investigation in study 2. The presentation will end with pointing up the interlinkages of the three studies towards the overall aim.

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