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Professional Development and Sustainability

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education

Definition

Professional development refers to education programs intended to help teachers (among others) to improve their professional knowledge, competence, skills, and effectiveness. ESD competence-based professional development can help teachers acquire ESD competences and support them to delivery ESD to the curriculum, as well as to develop and implement school ESD policy.

Introduction

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) addresses the global environmental and social challenges by providing knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that empower learners to contribute to sustainable development. It is transformational and holistic and involves learning about different sustainable development (SD) concepts and issues through suitable and effective pedagogies and learning environments (UNESCO 2014). The importance of education’s role in achieving SD has been extensively discussed (e.g., UNECE 2011, 2013), recognized by the UN and highlighted throughout the Millennium and the...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cyprus Pedagogical Institute/Frederick University, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Aravella Zachariou

  2. School of Education, Frederick University, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Chrysanthi Kadji Beltran

  3. University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK

    Paul Vare & Richard Millican

Authors
  1. Aravella Zachariou
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  2. Chrysanthi Kadji Beltran
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  3. Paul Vare
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  4. Richard Millican
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aravella Zachariou .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

Section Editor information

  1. Democritus University of Thrace, Thrace, Greece

    Evangelos Manolas

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Zachariou, A., Beltran, C.K., Vare, P., Millican, R. (2019). Professional Development and Sustainability. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_180-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_180-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63951-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63951-2

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