The Austrian ECOLOG Schools Network

Results of a Quantitative Evaluation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25749/sis.28591

Keywords:

environment, quantitative methods, environmental education, educational networks

Abstract

This paper describes networking for education for sustainable development within the Austrian ECOLOG-schools network. It discusses theoretical concepts of Education for Sustainable Development and school development from an Austrian perspective, as well as networks in education in general and the organisation of the ECOLOG-network in particular. ECOLOG is a programme and network for the greening of schools and education for sustainability in Austria. For 25 years, over 700 ECOLOG schools and 13 colleges of teacher education have been integrating an ecological approach into their everyday school life and school development. Throughout the ECOLOG-schools network's existence, a series of evaluations, inquiries, and studies have been produced (Rauch & Pfaffenwimmer, 2020). Based on these evaluations and to obtain current quantitative data on the implementation of ECOLOG at the participating schools, a questionnaire survey was sent to all ECOLOG school coordinators with 154 respondents (25% response rate) in the school year 2018/19, with the aim of deriving relevant measures to support ECOLOG schools. The results show that the coordinators implemented the ECOLOG principles in their everyday school life through environmentally conscious actions, while pupils learned how to deal with limited resources and were exposed to new ways of thinking and working. However, there is still room for improvement, for instance in shaping cooperation with out-of-school partners.

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Author Biographies

Franz Rauch, Institute of Instructional and School Development, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education, University of Klagenfurt, Austria

Professor at the Institute of Instructional and School Development (IUS) at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria). He has been involved in research and development projects internationally and nationally since many years. He served as visiting scholar in Newcastle upon Thyne, England, and as Fulbright scholar in St.  Louis, USA. He is one of the editors of Educational Action Research Journal and serves on editorial boards of other Journals (like The Journal of Environmental Education). His working areas are education for sustainable development, networks in education, school development, science education, continuing education for teachers and action research.

Mira Dulle, Institute of Instructional and School Development, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education, University of Klagenfurt, Austria

Holds a master’s degree in applied cultural science. She did an internship at the Austrian commission for UNESCO where she worked in the areas of intangible cultural heritage and education. She worked within the FWF project “Development and Manifestation of Wisdom”. She worked as project manager at the EC projects PROFILES and CODES. She was coordinating the regional networks of the Austrian project “Innovations in Mathematics, Science and Technology Teaching” (IMST) and was conducting a number of project evaluations. She is part of the co-ordination team of the ECOLOG project (Ecologizing schools network) at the IUS and is conducting her dissertation in the field of education of sustainable development. Her working and research areas are education for sustainable development/environmental education, networks in education and science education.

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Published

2023-06-30

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 2 (2023): Thinking Education in Times of Transition

Section

Articles

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