22 Playing to our traditional strengths to deliver ESD: Teacher Education and ESD

Dr Anne Dolan outlined how Mary Immaculate College (MIC) integrates ESD into its undergraduate and postgraduate teacher education programmes, building on a long tradition of environmental and social learning in primary schools. From “nature tables” to outdoor excursions, sustainability has long been a feature of Irish education, but today it is reinforced by national and international policy, including UNESCO frameworks and Ireland’s second National Strategy on ESD.

She highlighted how SDG 4.7—ensuring that all learners acquire knowledge and skills for sustainable development—sits at the heart of curriculum reform. In Ireland, exciting developments are underway: the early years framework Aistear has been updated; a new primary curriculum framework explicitly embeds strands such as Environment and Sustainable Living; and senior cycle reform includes the review of geography and the piloting of a new Leaving Certificate subject on Climate Action and Sustainable Development, which Dolan chairs.

At MIC, teacher education is guided by the Teaching Council’s Standards for Initial Teacher Education, which mandate Global Citizenship Education across programmes. Dolan has authored and co-authored key resources to support this, including Powerful Primary Geography, Teaching Climate Change in Primary Schools, and Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals. These are accompanied by open-access digital resources, including a national Padlet of teaching materials for every SDG.

MIC also offers specialist courses, including a new Masters in Education for Sustainability and Global Citizenship, with strong emphasis on outdoor learning and partnerships with organisations such as the Burrenbeo Trust and the Explorers Marine Education Programme.

About the author

name: Dr Anne Dolan

institution: Mary Immaculate College

Dr Anne Dolan is an Associate Professor at Mary Immaculate College.