Beyond traditional teacher professional development: Innovations in teacher professional learning in environmental and sustainability education

Many teacher workshops are one-off events. Teachers leave inspired, then go back to busy classrooms, test pressures and little support. How can training help teachers keep teaching outdoors and connect lessons to their own place over the long term?

The authors describe Rivers2Lake, a program run from the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve. The reserve is a research and education site on the St. Louis River where it meets Lake Superior. It is run by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A staff member at the Superior Rivers Watershed Association also works on the program.

The authors examine the program against three approaches that a UNESCO expert review linked to good sustainability learning:

• Dialogue and collaboration: learning through real two-way conversation and teamwork, not just listening to a trainer.
• Engaging the whole system: working with the school, community and landscape around a teacher, not only the teacher alone.
• Active, hands-on learning: doing, exploring and reflecting.

Earlier evaluations of Rivers2Lake, reported in the article, found that students in these teachers' classes better understood the Great Lakes and developed a stronger sense of place and commitment to caring for it. Students also showed improved learning and engagement.

What the authors describe and observed:

1. A shared outdoor start builds skills and a team. Each year opens with a four-day Summer Institute for about 12 teachers and program staff. They travel from the river's headwaters in Minnesota to the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior. Along the way they meet local experts, learn the area's history, run water quality projects, practice outdoor teaching skills and plan their year together.
2. Two-way mentoring keeps teachers going. During the school year, each teacher works with a mentor from the reserve or the watershed association. They meet on a set schedule, with meetings booked in advance and reminders sent. Teachers bring expertise on their students and curriculum. Mentors bring expertise in outdoor and place-based teaching, and suggest local field sites, stewardship projects and real research teachers can tap into. Mentors also co-teach lessons until teachers feel comfortable. The authors report these conversations help teachers work through practical, curriculum and administrative barriers.
3. A wider network eases isolation. Teachers are introduced to a network of scientists, land managers, cultural practitioners and Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) leaders and elders, and encouraged to think of it as their own. The authors observed that this eased teachers' sense of being alone in making change. As teachers and students joined real scientific work and land management decisions, they practiced thinking about whole systems and asking critical questions.
4. Working beyond the enrolled teachers builds support. Mentors also run short training sessions and outdoor activities for teachers at the same schools who are not in the program. They talk regularly with principals and curriculum staff and share progress with school boards. The authors report support for the program grew as a result.
5. A mid-year gathering and a strong finish. Six months after the summer course, a one-day Winter Symposium lets teachers share progress and problems, and learn to teach outdoors in snow and subzero cold. The authors see the last two months of the school year as the high point, when warmer weather and less test pressure give teachers room to create. In one example, a fifth-grade teacher's class visited Wisconsin Point, a nearby beach important to the community, many times during the year. In May they planted cedar trees with an Anishinaabe elder, canoed and made art on site. The teacher later said the experience strengthened her commitment to teaching outdoors.

The authors conclude that deep work with a small group may look less impressive from outside, but produces more lasting, wider change.

What this means for your practice:

Go deep with a small group. If you run teacher training, consider a full year of support for a small group instead of many short workshops. The authors recommend this based on their experience with Rivers2Lake. They also suggest judging success by lasting change rather than by how many teachers attended.

Make mentoring regular and two-way. The mentoring model in finding 2 is central to the program, and the authors credit it with helping teachers overcome barriers. Book check-ins ahead of time and send reminders. Treat teachers as the experts on their students. Co-teach early lessons so teachers can try new methods with backup.

Connect teachers to local people. Following finding 3, introduce teachers to scientists, land managers, cultural practitioners and elders in your area. Help them see these people as part of their own support network.

Work with the school around the teacher. Talk with principals and curriculum staff, share progress with school boards, and offer short sessions for other teachers at the same school. The authors report these steps increased support for Rivers2Lake (finding 4).

Plan for the whole year. A mid-year meeting gives teachers a place to share struggles and learn seasonal skills (finding 5). Expect the biggest projects near the end of the school year and plan time for them. The Wisconsin Point project is one teacher's example, not a tested model, but it shows what a year-long focus on one place can build.

Teach teachers the way you want them to teach. The authors argue that training should use the same outdoor, hands-on, reflective methods teachers will use with students, as the Summer Institute does. This is the authors' recommendation, based on how they designed the program.

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