IN-PERSON: Applying Education

Abstract

The emerging educational trends demand competencies in sustainability to address the complex problems of the real world and to be prepared for unexpected challenges we may encounter in future. It requires non-linear behaviour to solve problems cut across social, economic and ecological domains at the local and global levels. The field of sustainability challenges the existing knowledge structures and implores to break disciplinary boundaries and bridge the academia-social divide. The situation necessitates our graduates ready to solve societal problems in the most creative and scientific ways. The education for sustainability calls for pedagogical innovations that provide students with interactive, experiential and real-time learning experiences. It stipulates capacity building of teachers enabling them to integrate domain-specific knowledge into meaningful applications for sustainable practices. The present study first investigates the status of sustainability competencies in teachers’ education programs through a systematic literature review. It is important in the Indian context when the current National Education Policy-NEP 2020 recommends major revisions in teacher education programs to achieve the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development. The next part of the study identifies clusters of key sustainable competencies that should essentially be part of any teacher education program. It further proposes a developmental framework for sustainable competencies in teacher education programs that focuses on Strategic Planning Competencies; Knowledge Action Competencies; Collaborative Partnership Competencies and Resilience Mindset Competencies. The framework delineates multiple pathways to embed sustainability competencies in teaching learning discourse without altering the discipline-specific nuances.