Learning to be Leaders for Change

For the past 30 years, interest in education for sustainability has been on the rise. Yet recent research in Australia indicates that pre-service teacher training institutions may be lagging in preparing teachers to educate for sustainability in school settings. This study's authors described their experience trialing a strategy, called the Mainstreaming Change Model, to enact system-wide improvements in teaching education for sustainability in two Australian provinces. The authors found that pre-service teacher educators in those provinces lacked leadership capacity and knowledge of change strategies; the authors argue that both of those must be developed to drive systemic change.

The Mainstreaming Change Model assumes that longterm sustained change is most likely to occur when all members of the pre-service teacher education system— including schools; pre-service teacher educators, staff, administrators, and students; unions; and government agencies—share the same goal. The model proposes three stages: first, mapping and understanding the relationships with the pre-service education systems; next, building a common vision among all stakeholders; and, finally, developing strategies to coordinate changes and monitor incremental improvement.

This paper simultaneously describes a project that built the profile of education for sustainability in Queensland and the Northern Territories, while also evaluating the effectiveness of the Mainstreaming Change Model. Baseline data suggested that, prior to the start of this initiative, 80% of Australian teachers were unaware of or did not understand the concept of “education for sustainability.”

By way of explaining the purpose of the project, the authors differentiate “education for sustainability” and “environmental education.” Environmental education, they explain, focuses on problem-solving and action-oriented goals in direct response to environmental issues, while education for sustainability emphasizes socioeconomic and political dimensions of environmental problems. Although the authors focus their research on education for sustainability, they acknowledge the rich contribution of environmental education to this field.

This education-for-sustainability project and study occurred over 16 months. In the first four months, project leaders trained the participants (pre-service teacher educators) whom leaders had recruited for the study. Because participants were identified through existing education-for-sustainability networks, they already held field-level leadership positions. Over the next eight months, the authors tested the model and gathered data through baseline surveys and embedded assessments. Participants attended group workshops to learn about action research and systems approaches to change. Because it was difficult for participants who lived far away from each other to remain connected, each participant noted personal reflections in a learning journal. The participants then shared their reflections during community discussions via email, Skype, and/or Facebook.

The authors spent four months analyzing data from the various sources. They found the Mainstreaming Change Model to be moderately useful in generating changes in the two provinces studied. The authors observed that the participants had enhanced knowledge about and skills in education for sustainability; they also observed that the institutions had developed new positions and policies related to sustainability.

Despite those aspects of success, the research highlighted constraints to complete systemic change. Lack of content knowledge and leadership capacity, in particular, inhibited participants' abilities to initiate and drive change. Those findings suggested that being an academic or professional with skills or expertise related to education for sustainability did not necessarily mean that one would also be an effective leader of systems change. The authors argue that such leadership skills must be targeted and developed; they then proposed strategies to do so.

Drawing on their data, the authors suggest that, to be an effective change-related leader, pre-service teacher educators must have in-depth understanding of their organizations and build an adequate knowledge base about education for sustainability and systems change. Project leaders addressed participants' knowledge gaps by providing resources, such as articles, guest-speaker workshops, and email or telephone support and advice. The leaders used an online forum to facilitate conceptual discussions around such topics as the differences and similarities between education for sustainability and environmental education. Participants and project leaders sought assistance and support from external consultants who were well-versed in change management.

Three main issues emerged related to leadership in the Mainstreaming Change model: participants' willingness to initiate change, personal perceptions of leadership capacity, and ability to inspire others in the process. To overcome those issues, some participants strategically leveraged other individuals in positions of authority to gain credibility and generate enthusiasm for the change process. Ultimately, the authors found that holding a position of power was important for being an effective leader, but even more crucial for leadership effectiveness was for the individual to believe in his or her own ability to initiate and sustain change.

To create widespread change in large, complex organizations and successfully embed education for sustainability in the curriculum, the authors found that pre-service teacher educators must learn how to be leaders for change. The authors note that their findings are applicable in related fields such as environmental education. Refining leadership skills and developing new strategies for leading change will influence success in project implementation as well as in pre-service teacher education.