Evaluation "ESD in teacher education at universities in Baden-Wuerttemberg" - qualitative follow-up study

Funded by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the federal state of Baden-uerttemberg, an online evaluation called “ESD in teacher training at higher education institutions in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg” (German version: Siegmund & Jahn 2014) has been conducted. The evaluation aimed at surveying the current state of the implementation of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in teacher training at universities in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Furthermore, potentials as well as obstacles for ESD implementation, including academic´s willingness to implement ESD in their courses, have been surveyed. The results indicate that ESD implementation in teacher education is currently more or less bound to individual academics. Implementation occurs especially in traditional subjects such as biology or geography, as well as in sports. However, there is a general awareness of the importance of ESD for teacher training.

The results and conclusions of the quantitative evaluation are currently studied in a follow-up investigation, funded by the ministry as well, to get a deeper understanding of the reasons as well as potentials and obstacles for ESD implementation in teacher training at state-wide higher education institutions. The investigation will be carried out as a qualitative study focusing on interviews with academic staff from different universities. The overall aim of the qualitative study is to get supplementary information on potential measures that could be undertaken to foster the implementation of ESD in teacher education at universities in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Location of the surveyed universities, each with the total number of students in teacher education in the winter term 2012 -2013 

(Data Source: Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Wuerttemberg)

Project start: 2015