New Eden: Mediating Pre-service Teachers’ Conceptions of Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

In this chapter the author examines the use of Mantle of the Expert (Heathcote & Bolton, 1995) as a model of integrated curriculum design for pre-service teachers (PSTs), so they can deliver pedagogical approaches enabling their pupils to think critically about the impact of their lifestyles on the environment. Drawing on the pedagogy of dramatic inquiry (Heathcote & Bolton, 1995), primary teacher educators positioned PST’s as a range of experts, working for the fictitious ‘Waste Not Want Not Company’. In these roles, PSTs gained insights concerning the interplay between environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development. As naturalists they mapped habitats within a forest setting; as recreations officers they identified possible social and educational uses of the forest; as scientists they analysed water quality; as planners they considered the development of a settlement New Eden, and as agentic environmental advocates they prepared delegate materials for a World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development. Using these approaches, teacher educators simultaneously provided PST’s with a model of integrated curriculum design for subsequent emulation on their school-based placements.