Chapter 3: Education for Sustainable Development in Teacher Education in Sweden: Curriculum and Discursive Institutionalism

Sustainability and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) are evolving concepts shaped by varying interests, influencing perceptions of shared values and future visions. This chapter examines ESD policy and its integration into teacher education (TE) curricula and university policy discourses in Sweden. Using a discursive institutionalism approach, the study explores the content of policy ideas and the interactive processes of policy coordination and communication. Despite Sweden’s long history of ESD engagement, the interpretation and enactment of the ESD framework remain sites of compromise and negotiation. Higher education institutions (HEIs) face challenges in conceptualising and evaluating ESD, with limited representation in course syllabi. International research also highlights that climate change education frameworks are the weakest in teacher training. Focusing on TE in Sweden, the study explores: What are the policy ideas on ESD as formulated in TE curricula? How are ESD policy ideas discursively constructed and communicated across different institutional policy discourses? The analysis uses data from two Swedish universities, including 52 syllabi and six key policies. Findings suggest that while ESD ideas are well elaborated in university policy discourse, their representation in the TE curriculum is narrower. The social dimension appears to stand out, while the action competence domain and transformative education are not highly noticeable. Meanwhile, there exists some degree of tension between interdisciplinarity and specialisation, and international and local outlooks, mirroring conflicting priorities between academia, the economy, society and global and local needs. The chapter provides insights into how ESD is interpreted, negotiated and communicated in Swedish TE.