Humanities Studios: Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy

Environmental education as an innovative pedagogical strategy for sustainable development: A case study of teacher training

Karina Molozhon
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Abstract

The article presented the results of an empirical study examining the potential of environmental education as an innovative pedagogical strategy for sustainable development within the system of training future teachers. The aim of the study was to analyse the effectiveness of a series of guest lectures involving international (European Union countries and the United Kingdom) and Ukrainian practitioners and researchers as a tool for implementing the principles of education for sustainable development, lifelong learning, and universal design for learning. The research was grounded in a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach, employing a case study as the primary methodological design. The empirical basis was an educational case study conducted by the Department of Botany, Ecology and Horticulture at Bohdan Khmelnytsky Melitopol State Pedagogical University (Ukraine), within a series of ten hybrid-format guest lectures was implemented during 2025. The study involved 350 participants, including students of pedagogical specialities, academic staff, and representatives of other educational institutions. To assess the impact of the educational intervention, a pre-test/post-test questionnaire design based on a five-point Likert scale was applied. The results were analysed using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon’s non-parametric signed-rank test for dependent samples. The findings demonstrated statistically significant positive dynamics in participants’ awareness of environmental education and sustainable development, their attitudes towards lifelong learning, and their readiness to implement inclusive and innovative pedagogical practices. Comparative analysis revealed that students showed greater increases in motivation and knowledge, whereas teachers demonstrated a higher level of readiness to integrate the acquired experience into their professional practice. The practical value of the study lay in the possibility of applying its results by higher education institutions and teacher training centres for designing and implementing sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-oriented professional development programmes

Keywords

education for sustainable development; universal design for learning (UDL); lifelong learning; guest lectures; training of future teachers; pedagogical innovations

Suggested citation
Molozhon, K. (2026). Environmental education as an innovative pedagogical strategy for sustainable development: A case study of teacher training. Humanities Studios: Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, 14(2), 48-62. https://doi.org/10.31548/hspedagog/2.2026.48
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