Mathematics as a driver for sustainable development: Pre-service teachers’ perspectives on awareness, challenges, and implications for teacher training

Abstract

Despite mathematics being multidisciplinary, sustainability and mathematics education are largely under-researched and in an infant stage. In the Namibian context, previous research has investigated in-service teachers' per­ceptions of education for sustainable development and teach­ing practices. Little is known about pre-service teachers' per­spectives on mathematics for sustainable development in terms of awareness, challenges, and how pedagogical mod­ules can be enhanced to develop students' pedagogical knowledge to integrate sustainability concepts in mathemat­ics. The study uses a qualitative approach with an exploratory case study design. Eight third-year pre-service Mathematics teachers were conveniently sampled and completed an open-ended questionnaire. The researcher, informed by the Repre­sentations, Educational approach, Didactic tools, and Skills model, conducted a content analysis of participants' aware­ness, challenges, and implications for training Mathematics teachers. In terms of awareness, the findings revealed that most of the pre-service teachers appear aware and knowl­edgeable of the role of mathematics in driving education for sustainable development. The study also found that the major challenges in incorporating ESD in the mathematics teaching and learning process are didactic tools and skills. Based on the study findings, teacher educators should develop student teachers' pedagogical ESD knowledge to be able to link Mathematics to appropriate SD themes, design learning tasks and materials, and present lessons that incorporate SD. The findings of the study provide direction on components to be considered to en­hance pedagogical modules for pre-service teachers. This study is limited to a case study of the chosen pre-service teachers and campus, thus cannot be extrapolated to a broader population.