Reviewing Vietnam Geography Textbooks from an ESD Perspective
This paper examines how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is transmitted in the context of geography education by investigating the extent to which geography textbooks in Vietnam promote ESD principles. At the same time, the paper helps clarify how ESD is anchored in formal education and h...
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doaj-3f175586c86a4e4da5387eb3d4a5d52a2020-11-25T01:14:00ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502019-04-01119246610.3390/su11092466su11092466Reviewing Vietnam Geography Textbooks from an ESD PerspectiveThao Phuong Nguyen0Institute of Didactics in Geography, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, GermanyThis paper examines how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is transmitted in the context of geography education by investigating the extent to which geography textbooks in Vietnam promote ESD principles. At the same time, the paper helps clarify how ESD is anchored in formal education and how ESD is contextualized in the specific context of Vietnam. This study involved a qualitative analysis supported by MAXQDA software (VERBI, Berlin, Germany), where geography textbooks from grade 6 to grade 12 in Vietnam were analysed to determine (1) how sustainable development (SD) issues are integrated into the content of the textbooks and (2) the extent to which questions and tasks in the textbooks promote competencies regarding the demands of ESD. The findings show that the textbooks somewhat promote ESD through their content and didactic approach. However, there are still some drawbacks. In terms of content, the textbooks’ main approaches to both SD content and geography core knowledge are description and indoctrination. In terms of their didactic approach, almost all questions/tasks ask students to memorize and reproduce information and rote learning rather than helping them promote ESD competencies. This reconfirms that ESD remains an add-on issue to an overcrowded curriculum, and the geography textbooks reflect an instrumental approach to ESD.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2466Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)Vietnamgeography textbooktextbook analysis |
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DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Thao Phuong Nguyen |
spellingShingle |
Thao Phuong Nguyen Reviewing Vietnam Geography Textbooks from an ESD Perspective Sustainability Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Vietnam geography textbook textbook analysis |
author_facet |
Thao Phuong Nguyen |
author_sort |
Thao Phuong Nguyen |
title |
Reviewing Vietnam Geography Textbooks from an ESD Perspective |
title_short |
Reviewing Vietnam Geography Textbooks from an ESD Perspective |
title_full |
Reviewing Vietnam Geography Textbooks from an ESD Perspective |
title_fullStr |
Reviewing Vietnam Geography Textbooks from an ESD Perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reviewing Vietnam Geography Textbooks from an ESD Perspective |
title_sort |
reviewing vietnam geography textbooks from an esd perspective |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2019-04-01 |
description |
This paper examines how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is transmitted in the context of geography education by investigating the extent to which geography textbooks in Vietnam promote ESD principles. At the same time, the paper helps clarify how ESD is anchored in formal education and how ESD is contextualized in the specific context of Vietnam. This study involved a qualitative analysis supported by MAXQDA software (VERBI, Berlin, Germany), where geography textbooks from grade 6 to grade 12 in Vietnam were analysed to determine (1) how sustainable development (SD) issues are integrated into the content of the textbooks and (2) the extent to which questions and tasks in the textbooks promote competencies regarding the demands of ESD. The findings show that the textbooks somewhat promote ESD through their content and didactic approach. However, there are still some drawbacks. In terms of content, the textbooks’ main approaches to both SD content and geography core knowledge are description and indoctrination. In terms of their didactic approach, almost all questions/tasks ask students to memorize and reproduce information and rote learning rather than helping them promote ESD competencies. This reconfirms that ESD remains an add-on issue to an overcrowded curriculum, and the geography textbooks reflect an instrumental approach to ESD. |
topic |
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Vietnam geography textbook textbook analysis |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2466 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT thaophuongnguyen reviewingvietnamgeographytextbooksfromanesdperspective |
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