Learning and Teaching Practices Promoting Education for Sustainable Development: Case Studies from Social Studies and Language Education, University of Botswana

Abstract

The successful achievement of the goals of education for sustainable development (ESD) primarily depend on the nature of the curriculum, teaching and learning approaches, assessment practices and teacher commitment. Research shows that, although secondary school teachers are expected to infuse global issues in their respective teaching subjects at secondary school level, in Botswana, many of them are unable to do so. Teacher education programmes are blamed for not equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to integrate such issues into their disciplines. The aim of this chapter is to share attempts made by two teacher education instructors in incorporating ESD in their courses at the University of Botswana. The key questions addressed are: (1) which pedagogical approaches can be employed in humanities disciplines to embrace ESD? (2) How can students be assessed to measure the extent to which they have acquired the knowledge, skills, and attributes needed to participate in sustainable development? Data for this chapter are based on document analysis and examples of practices from the authors’ courses. The research adopted narrative inquiry approach gathering data whose analysis demonstrates that it is possible for instructors, to transform their pedagogical and assessment practices to embrace ESD principles.