University training for future teachers: the need to educate in the model of degrowth

Abstract

The initial training that future teachers receive in the Faculties of Education in Spain is influenced by the principles and approaches that their teachers transmit to them, which will have repercussions on the teaching that they convey to their future students. Hence, the importance of the objective of this research: to find out what approaches to education for degrowth and sustainability are taken by those university lecturers who train future teachers in the kindergarten, primary, secondary and social education school system in Spain. A qualitative methodology based on Critical Discourse Analysis is used to examine the discourses on sustainability and degrowth developed by the teaching staff of the Faculty of Education at the University of León, as a case study, from the triangulation of three research instruments: interviews, discussion groups and documentary review of the teaching guides of the subjects they teach. The findings show that teaching staff tend to reproduce models linked to the dominant neoliberal discourse, despite expressing their intention to be critical of this model. In spite of the limitation of this study, due to the reduced sample to a case study, it is considered that its results may be transferable to other university contexts. It is concluded that it is urgent to train university teaching staff in sustainability and degrowth if we want them to contribute to raising awareness and sensitising future education professionals to this model which will allow future generations to inherit a sustainable planet.