Naslov
Language Education for Sustainable Development: Mother Tongue and Foreign Language in Croatian Primary Education

Autori
Cvikić, Lidija ; Dobravac, Gordana

Izvornik
Knowledge International Journal (1857-923X) 41 (2020), 2; 357-362

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
ESD key competencies, lower level primary school, first and foreign language learning

Sažetak
Education for sustainable development (ESD) is defined as education that changes skills, knowledge, values and attitudes to build more sustainable and just societies for all (UN 2015 ; UNESCO, 2017). Its importance is recognized and implemented into Croatian educational system at the policy level (National Implementation Report, 2014). However, there is still little research on specific aspects of ESD in Croatia. ESD envisions education that is set on three pillars: economic, environmental and socio-cultural, the latter given the least attention (Gregers Eriksen, 2013 ; Zygmunt 2016). Being holistic and transformational in its nature (Engdahl, 2015 ; OMEP, 2017 ; UNICEF, 2019), ESD concerns learning content, outcomes, pedagogy and learning environment, therefore it should be the main aim of education in general, including language education. Zygmunt (2016) argues that language as a medium of obtaining and transmitting knowledge has immense importance for sustainable development. Bahtic and Visnjic Jevtic (2020) proved that even children at age 3 to 7 understand the concept of diversity, especially linguistic diversity, and its positive value. Also, Otieno (2008) emphasizes that culture underlines the EDS, because culture influences our behavior, communication and learning. Therefore, language education should be one of the main areas to implement EDS (Zygmunt, 2016). This paper deals with Croatian mother tongue (L1) and English foreign language (FL) learning within the scope of ESD. More precisely, it investigates whether the curricula for learning Croatian as L1 and English as FL in primary education (grades 1-4) support education for sustainable development. For the purpose of this paper two curricula will be analyzed: Curriculum for subject Croatian language in the primary and secondary school (MZO, 2019a) and Curriculum for subject English language in the primary and secondary school (MZO, 2019b). Based on the qualitative analysis of the curricula for primary level (grades 1 to 4), it will be discussed how language learning outcomes specified by the two curricula are related and might contribute to the development of ESD key competencies: system thinking competency, anticipatory competency, normative competency, strategic competency, collaborative competency, critical thinking competency, self- awareness competency and integrated problem solving competency. The study has shown that both L1 and FL curricula support the development of ESD key competencies. The most supported competency by both curricula is system thinking competency, followed by self-awareness and collaboration competency. However, in both curricula there is a relatively large number of outcomes that can not be directly related to ESD key competencies. Still, they could be also used to foster the competencies providing ESD pedagogical approaches and methods are applied.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija, Obrazovne znanosti (psihologija odgoja i obrazovanja, sociologija obrazovanja, politologija obrazovanja, ekonomika obrazovanja, antropologija obrazovanja, neuroznanost i rano učenje, pedagoške discipline)

POVEZANOST RADA