Chapters authored
Enhancing Social Sustainability through Education: Revisiting the Concept of Multicultural Education
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development holds that education is essential to achieving a sustainable future. Thus, many countries around the world have made multicultural education imperative. However, a pertinent question is how multicultural education should be understood and how inclusive teaching and learning approaches should be initiated and integrated within educational systems. In this chapter, I critically discuss the concept of multicultural education and explore how it may contribute to realising the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. First, I give an overview of the main characteristics and goals of multicultural education. Second, I discuss what I see as two major hindrances to realising a sustainable multicultural education: the lack of integrating issues of diversity into everyday school practices and the deficit discourse that still characterises contemporary educational debates on diversity.
Part of the book: Ecotheology
Perspective Chapter: Enhancing Student Teachers’ Professional Development through Active Learning
As a contrast to traditional approaches to learning, this chapter explores two examples of active learning conducted with student teachers in Norway. In the first example, the chapter reports from a case study on student teachers’ engagement with the Scandinavian Romani exhibit at a local museum. For this example, the chapter discusses student teachers’ possibilities for developing a critical consciousness through immersive experiences. In the second example, the chapter presents and discusses a project using virtual reality (VR) technology designed to build student teachers’ capacity for their future professional role in schools. For this example, the chapter addresses the development of student teachers’ awareness of their own professionality and their active role in home-school cooperation. In both examples, the chapter draws attention to the leading role of the teacher educator, who actively facilitates a collaborative, interactive, and participatory learning environment. Theoretically, the chapter elaborates on student-centered learning from the perspectives of John Dewey and Paulo Freire, underlining the significance of active engagement and critical reflections.
Part of the book: Education Annual Volume 2023