Ideologies and Functional Education for Sustainable Development in Initial Teacher Education at South African Universities

Abstract

Every state needs a functional education system for sustainable development based on its ideology, from pre-primary to higher education, for its citizens. Education for sustainable development aims to empower individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to protect the planet. In contrast, an ideology is a set of ideas, beliefs and attitudes, consciously or unconsciously, reflecting or shaping understandings or misconceptions of the social and political world. Due to changes and disruptions in education and other sectors of society globally, and because of technology and climate, functional education has the potential to contribute significantly towards sustainable development.  The paper explores whether universities’ initial teacher programmes have modules with elements of education for sustainable development at two Limpopo universities. The paper was underpinned by the theoretical frameworks of ideology by Joseph S. Roucek in 1944 and the theory of change (TOC), the theory of education for sustainable human development (TESHD), and a theory of transformative learning (TTL) by Jack Mezirow. This is a qualitative design paper where documents from both universities were analysed. Document analysis involves reviewing and evaluating electronic and physical (computer-based and Internet-transmitted) documents to interpret them, understand their meaning and develop upon the information they provide. Like many other qualitative research methods, document analysis involves examining and interpreting data to uncover meaning, gain understanding, and come to a conclusion. Like other analytical methods in qualitative research, document analysis requires that data be examined and interpreted to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge. Interviews were also conducted with two participants, each from both universities. The education for sustainable development does not form part of the curriculum. The paper calls for reformulating South Africa’s ideology in initial teacher training to align with Education for Sustainable Development, SDGs 1 (no poverty), 2 (zero hunger), 4 (quality education) and 13 (Climate change), and Agenda 2063, Africa we want, fostering a better future for all.