Abstract

This article examines the integration of sustainable development within schools and society when lacking transformative processes or "inert knowledge". Based on Huber's (2022) "Handlungsmodells der Schulgestaltung", solution strategies and potentials for educational management and leadership are discussed from the perspective of different stakeholders in educational practice (teachers, students, school administrators, educational partners, activists). Based on a qualitative study (interviews, n=67), barriers (i.e. the feeling of helplessness, lack of interest, motivation or resources, the complexity of the topic, missing political support and incentives,…)  as well as resulting potential starting points (shared vulnerability and parrhesia),  for making "inert knowledge" have a transformative effect are discussed.

Outline of the Paper

Although various programs (e.g., UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, ÖKOLOG program, Education for Sustainable Development [ESD]) suggest integrating sustainable development topics into schools, reviews (e.g., Algurén, 2021; Taylor et al., 2019) show that there is a lack of emancipative and behavior-changing educational offers. In Austria, for example, Loparics (2022) shows that educators rank problems of sustainable development last compared to other educational dimensions. At the outcome level, i.e. the hope that education will ultimately have an impact on the social and political dimension, there is also no sign of a trend reversal. The 1.5-degree target of the Paris Climate Conference seems hardly achievable anymore (Armstrong McKay et al., 2022).

It seems that while we have approaches to what learning and school can contribute, this knowledge is not used in a transformative way in practice. To prevent such “inert knowledge” (Renkl, 1996), new knowledge should not only be adopted at the cognitive level but people should also be motivated to question traditional patterns of thought and interpretation and to discard entrenched behaviours (Antal, 1997). New perspectives, knowledge and skills for analyzing and shaping current and future tasks are needed at all levels of action (Stoltenberg & Burandt, 2014, p. 567).

For school management, specific problems arise in terms of initiating unconventional (transformational) educational processes in an organization with conventional structures. Along the lines of Huber's (2022) model of school design, ESD is examined under the following adapted areas of action: teaching, education and consultation. The overarching framework is formed by the school management-specific dimensions of personnel, organization, educational landscape and quality management.

Along with the following questions, we want to put a perspective on school and organizational development and identify central points of leverage for how schools can be reached in this mix of demands, contemporary problems and needs of the actors:

1. How and along which values do we pedagogically accompany pupils in their becoming in the face of crises and transformations?
2. Which (everyday) forms of practice and social interaction are produced in the process?
3. And which spaces of human beings, doing and saying do we open and close in the process?

The qualitative study (n=67) examines Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the context of school environments in Austria from the perspectives of teachers, students, school administrators, educational partners and activists. The various participants were chosen systematically in the state of Upper Austria based on their occupations and space of action (lesson and classes, school leadership, supplementary education and activism). A collection of episodic-narrative interviews (Flick, 2011) addresses the above-mentioned research questions through the qualitative content analysis (Kuckartz & Rädiger, 2022) of individual cases and through cross-case analysis. Due to the early stage of qualitative analysis in the project, this paper will discuss the “most diverse” cases (approx. 30 interviews) out of the presented pool of 67 interviews.

The evaluation of the interviews shows beyond doubt that all actors in and around the school are aware that sustainability is a central field of action for the school and that it should contribute to the solution by thinking comprehensively and within all dimensions of sustainability about transformation processes and modes of learning. At the same time, the interviews focus on comprehensive awareness and specific ideas, as well as significant obstacles such as feelings of helplessness, lack of interest, motivation or resources, the complexity of the topic or missing political support and incentives. Processes of transformative learning are rarely addressed, and the starting point is often the current conditions, which would first have to be changed to achieve sustainability. However, the fact that it is precisely the (interindividual or collective) learning process that could lead to the change is rarely described. Conclusively the authors discuss multiple strategies as potential starting points for transforming inert knowledge such as concepts of shared vulnerability (dealing collectively with how the consequences of climate change) and parrhesia (addressing those people who could actually change the conditions). In general, results on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) from Austria are highly relevant for an international audience, as they offer effective insights within a specific cultural and political context. The findings contribute valuable knowledge to the global discourse on sustainable education. Sharing these findings fosters cross-country learning and encourages collaborative efforts to integrate ESD more effectively worldwide.

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