A Case Study of Sustainable Educators: 'What needs do teachers, with a desire to be sustainable educators, have that would allow them to assume this role?'.

摘要

The purpose of this research is to identify what teachers, from a specific school district and who are already working with aspects of sustainable education, need to be effective sustainable educators. This paper describes and analyzes a case study, consisting of a group of Bend-La Pine School District teachers located in the Central Oregon area of the United States of America. The researcher developed and facilitated a three-hour workshop, which allowed for both dissemination of information and participant participation through written responses and dialogue. The researcher used the qualitative mixed methods of a formal questionnaire, personal documentation, and a group discussion during the workshop to collect data. These methods allow for assessments of the participants' knowledge and understanding of sustainability, sustainable education and the sustainable educator, as well as allowed the participants to identifying the support they need to be sustainable educators. This paper describes each step of the research. The intent of this research is to help identify support needed, not to provide a professional development plan. Therefore, the researcher used the analysis of data to develop suggestions as to how these results apply to the Bend-La Pine school district, and how they might apply to expand sustainable education professional development to more teachers. To aid in the understanding of the material described in this thesis, there is a glossary provided.