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Leading professional learning for sustainability in geography education through curriculum design

Leading professional learning for sustainability in geography education through curriculum design
Leading professional learning for sustainability in geography education through curriculum design

Purpose: International and national education policy identifies the need for young people to develop knowledge and understanding of sustainability and to use this knowledge for positive action. This paper reflects on a larger curriculum investigation project that used the Curriculum Design Coherence (CDC) Model with in-service teachers as a professional learning framework to engage their learners with sustainability in geography education. This paper outlines the diffractive insights of two teacher educators, making sense of our contribution to the project in order to explicitly discern our roles. Design/methodology/approach: Our enquiry is situated within the participatory paradigm in which we recognise the roles of teachers and teacher educators are entangled in the co-production of knowledge. Findings: We find that curriculum design, with its focus on disciplinary knowledge is an important aspect of curriculum coherence in relation to the concept of sustainability. Significantly informed collaboration between teachers and teacher-educators enriches professional learning through engagement with both research materials and conceptually informed dialogues. Practical implications: We conclude that more research on the role of teacher knowledge with practitioners, is needed to enable professional empowerment so that in turn young people can become informed and critical citizens. Originality/value: This paper draws on a posthumanist philosophy and a diffractive methodology to make explicit the epistemic role of the teacher educator in a climate change and sustainability education project.

collaborative professionalism, curriculum design, epistemic coherence, professional judgement, sustainability
2056-9548
Rawlings Smith, Emma
587730f7-d234-4421-8dc9-48e1705b5a92
Swift, Diane
a8606e1f-37c2-4c2f-ac9a-99d8294de018
Rawlings Smith, Emma
587730f7-d234-4421-8dc9-48e1705b5a92
Swift, Diane
a8606e1f-37c2-4c2f-ac9a-99d8294de018

Rawlings Smith, Emma and Swift, Diane (2024) Leading professional learning for sustainability in geography education through curriculum design. Journal of Professional Capital and Community. (doi:10.1108/JPCC-12-2023-0092).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Purpose: International and national education policy identifies the need for young people to develop knowledge and understanding of sustainability and to use this knowledge for positive action. This paper reflects on a larger curriculum investigation project that used the Curriculum Design Coherence (CDC) Model with in-service teachers as a professional learning framework to engage their learners with sustainability in geography education. This paper outlines the diffractive insights of two teacher educators, making sense of our contribution to the project in order to explicitly discern our roles. Design/methodology/approach: Our enquiry is situated within the participatory paradigm in which we recognise the roles of teachers and teacher educators are entangled in the co-production of knowledge. Findings: We find that curriculum design, with its focus on disciplinary knowledge is an important aspect of curriculum coherence in relation to the concept of sustainability. Significantly informed collaboration between teachers and teacher-educators enriches professional learning through engagement with both research materials and conceptually informed dialogues. Practical implications: We conclude that more research on the role of teacher knowledge with practitioners, is needed to enable professional empowerment so that in turn young people can become informed and critical citizens. Originality/value: This paper draws on a posthumanist philosophy and a diffractive methodology to make explicit the epistemic role of the teacher educator in a climate change and sustainability education project.

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Swift and Rawlings Smith Accepted Manuscript - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 5 November 2024
Published date: 23 December 2024
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited.
Keywords: collaborative professionalism, curriculum design, epistemic coherence, professional judgement, sustainability

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 497012
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/497012
ISSN: 2056-9548
PURE UUID: d91c0a91-6bf2-455a-9f7b-49105f75bb8b
ORCID for Emma Rawlings Smith: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1350-0691

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 14 Jan 2025 17:52
Last modified: 16 Jan 2025 03:14

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Contributors

Author: Emma Rawlings Smith ORCID iD
Author: Diane Swift

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