Education for sustainable development amidst COVID-19 pandemic: role of sustainability pedagogies in developing students’ sustainability consciousness

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to assess the impact of sustainability pedagogies on students’ sustainability consciousness (SC) in the online instructional settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-method, embedded research design was applied to conduct the research. The participants of the study were the pre-service teachers studying a course, namely, “Education for Sustainable Development” (ESD) in a public sector university of Pakistan. A total of 49 participants were divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group experienced ESD-pedagogies in online teaching-learning (educational) settings, whereas the control group was taught through a lecture-based approach in an online educational setting. The outcome of the research was measured in terms of a change in the pre-service teachers’ SC. The qualitative data were collected from the experimental group only. The quantitative data were analyzed using paired sample t-test and independent sample t-test, whereas the qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings The quantitative and qualitative data indicate that sustainability pedagogies (i.e. case studies, critical incidents, discussions, debates and problem-based teaching) enhanced pre-service teachers’ SC in online educational settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value The current research expands the discussion on the effectiveness of sustainability pedagogies in online educational settings in teacher education programs.