25 September, 2017

New Publication from Prof. Sandra Sprenger (University of Hamburg) and Prof. Birte Nienaber (University of Luxembourg)

(Education for) Sustainable Development in Geography Education – Review and Outlook from a Perspective of Germany

in Journal of Geography in Higher Education


Abstract

Nearly fifteen years after the Rio Conference and ten years after the Lucerne Declaration on Geographical Education for Sustainable Development we are interested to what extent the goals of this declaration have been implemented? What role does Geography play in Education for Sustainable Development in higher education? Therefore, we analyzed the modules of 107 degree programs with Geography as a degree major or as a teacher training subject at 55 German universities, technical colleges and universities of education. We conducted a quantitative text analysis in which we searched the key words “Sustainability”, “Sustainable Development”, “Education for Sustainable Development” and “Nature-Society Studies” in the Module Regulations. Our data indicate the existence of a great heterogeneity between the degree programs. The key words were predominantly found in majors in “Human Geography”, “Geography” and teacher training programs for “academic high schools”. In this article the conceptual aspects can be derived on the basis of results: (a) differences in the orientation of degree programs, (b) varying degree of implementation in the modules, (c) different conceptual understanding of the principles of sustainability, (d) the concepts of Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development are individually and sometimes mixed and (e) heterogeneity between mandatory courses and electives.

DOI 10.1080/03098265.2017.1379057

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