Education for sustainable development in grades 1-3 in geography

Teaching about sustainable development should permeate all subjects in school. The curriculum for geography states that students must develop the ability to take a stand on “the global challenges of our time and the future based on ecological, social and economic perspectives on sustainable development” (Skolverket, 2022b, p. 1). However, the concept of sustainable development is difficult to define and the curriculum space give teachers in primary school a wide range of choices when it comes to teaching about sustainable development within the subject of geography. The purpose of this survey was therefore to develop knowledge about how teachers in primary school interpret the concept of sustainable development, as well as to investigate how they describe and motivate their teaching regarding sustainable development within the subject of geography.Based on the purpose of the survey, a qualitative interview study was conducted in which six primary school teachers participated. The results showed that the teachers generally interpret the concept of sustainable development from an ecological perspective and in general they teach about how to protect nature and resources. When the results were compared to Öhman´s and Östman´s environmental teaching traditions, it was the normative teaching tradition that was most commonly used. Sustainable development is usually taught thematically or interdisciplinary. The teachers motivate their didactic choices by saying that the working methods are age appropriate and adapted to the students´ level of maturity