This study aims to investigate how students mobilise scientific and socio-political knowledge about climate change in communicative actions directed at the public. It presents a teaching and learning proposal for high school science classes, focusing on critical communication and action in the context of climate change. Grounded in the Science-Technology-Society (STS) framework and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the course aims to help students learn scientific knowledge about climate change while fostering critical agency to address socio-environmental challenges. The course, implemented with 37 high school students in São Paulo, Brazil, was structured into two phases: (i) one focused on foundational scientific concepts, historical context, and socio-political dimensions of climate change, and (ii) the other emphasising student-led interventions to communicate and act on the issue. Activities included lectures, group discussions, and projects such as creating social media campaigns, producing documentaries, and developing educational games. The data presented in this study comprise the didactic sequence of the course offered to students, along with the final reports they produced, which contain descriptions and analyses of the educational interventions they implemented. The findings highlight the importance of integrating scientific, political, and ethical dimensions in climate education, enabling students to understand the complexities of climate change and develop transformative agency.
Parental involvement in the elite former Model C schools (Whites-only schools) in the Tshwane South District, South Africa, is a persistent challenge to attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4, focusing on quality education. Research on parental involvement in South Africa has mainly focused on public schools, not former Model C schools. This knowledge gap on the challenges to parental involvement and possible solutions has practical and policy implications, which this study seeks to explore. Using a mixed methods approach, this study is underpinned by Epstein’s model of parental involvement and Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s parental involvement model, triangulated to provide a stronger theoretical base. The findings identified parents’ low attendance at parent-teacher meetings and insufficient support given to children in their schoolwork and homework as the main challenges to parental involvement. These findings are linked to the dominant one, namely parents’ socioeconomic constraints, which undercut parents’ meaningful involvement in their children’s learning. The article recommends using virtual methods and holding hybrid parents’ meetings to communicate with them and maximise their participation, mobilising parents and introducing incentives to promote parental involvement.
Today’s teachers in inclusive settings face the challenge of working with an increasing number of children and adolescents experiencing psychological and emotionalbehavioral difficulties. Among these, children with learning disabilities are particularly vulnerable to such challenges. Consequently, teachers are expected to assume a dual role that blends psychologist’s tasks with their educational responsibilities. This broadened scope of tasks requires the acquisition and use of additional competencies. One key competency is the use of child-sensitive language - a subset of therapeutic discourse that serves to foster desirable psychological, behavioral, and academic outcomes in children by promoting a healthy self-concept, positive self-esteem, and emotional resilience. Nevertheless, it remains an open question whether competence in child-sensitive language can be taken for granted among individuals who are fully educated and socially experienced. This study aimed to assess prospective teachers‘ competence in child-sensitive language and identify corresponding training needs. The sample (N = 660) consisted of 435 teacher trainees from 22 higher education institutions in Germany and 225 from 13 institutions in Austria. The online administration of the Bremer Key - a 13-item situational judgment test developed for this purpose - reveals that only 3% of the prospective teachers in the two countries demonstrate mastery-level competence in child-sensitive language. These findings underscore the urgent need for structured instruction and practice in the use of childsensitive language within teacher training programs in both countries.
Entrepreneurship Education (EE) is experiencing growth at both primary and secondary educational levels worldwide, including in South Africa. It is increasingly advocated as a strategy for sustainable development. Nevertheless, the pedagogical foundation of EE for sustainable development in schools remains in the nascent stages of development. This paper examines the necessity of developing a more comprehensive vision of school-based EE, critiquing the growth- and human capital-oriented perspectives on sustainable development within EE. Considering the life-worlds of learners in South African communities—representative of broader contexts within the Global South—this paper proposes an approach to EE for sustainable futures grounded in the capability approach (CA). Building on this foundation, it advocates for a transformative model aligned with the principles of social and ecological justice, decolonisation and critical pedagogy. The proposed model introduces critical inquiry into ‘spaces of unfreedoms’ as a pedagogical starting point for the praxis of teaching in South African classrooms. It links EE with the ideas of capability expansion and sustainable development. The model supports an entrepreneurial learning process aimed at transformative action toward more equitable and sustainable futures. Its relevance extends to curriculum development, pre-service and in-service teacher education.
