A Case Study in K-12 Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

The K-12 sector needs curriculum that will better ready students for the sustainability challenges of the future. This research is a mixed methods case study that uses Kotter’s theory of change to prioritize Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the curriculum and co-curriculum of the Nightingale-Bamford School and explore the impact the changes have on both faculty and students. The Nightingale-Bamford school is K-12, private all-girls school located on the Upper East side of New York City. The Professional Action Competence (PAC) of faculty was measured with a survey both before and after the ESD program was developed. Faculty were interviewed after the change process to further investigate its impact on PAC. Students were also interviewed after the change process to explore whether the changes influenced their intentions to act on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The development and implementation of the program increased the willingness of faculty to engage in ESD, had mitigating effects on self-efficacy, and had a small impact on the faculty’s knowledge of pedagogical approaches. The ESD program increased the intention of students to act on the SDGs. The results imply that Kotter’s theory of change can be used to impact the PAC of faculty to engage in ESD and to positively impact the intention of students to act on the SDGs. More studies are needed to investigate long term impacts of the change process and how the change process impacts faculty and students in other K-12 settings.