Hållbar utveckling i svensk undervisning: En kvalitativ studie om hållbar utveckling i den svenska skolan med fokus på ämneslärare inom NO- och SO-kunskap i grundskolan årskurs 7-9.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to contribute with an understanding and knowledge of how teachers in primary school, grades 7-9, and subject teachers in science studies and social study subjects, understand and interpret the term sustainable development and also how they experience that Agenda 2030 and the Global Goals is reflected in teaching. Sustainable development is an important goal to achieve in order to prevent the global environmental issues we experience today. Previous research has shown that the concept of sustainable development is hard to understand in many other areas, which is why this study focuses on teachers who educate the future generation. In order to do so, this qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to bring forward the teacher’s perspective on the issue which is then analyzed with the help of a thematic analysis. With the help of environmental ethics as the theoretical framework, I analyze the material and present it under themes and sub-themes. Environmental ethics has a couple of subcategories which will also work as some of the themes in this study, together with other themes that appeared during the thematic analysis. The main result shows that many teachers have some understanding of what sustainable development is, but not how to incorporate the term into their teaching. This is problematic because many researchers argue that it is important to incorporate sustainability in the education for the younger generation. The lack of knowledge is arguably mainly because of the lack of education about sustainable development for the teachers themselves, and also because the main focus on sustainable development is on the ecological dimension. This result in the other two dimensions, the economic and social dimension, being excluded.