Towards Integrating Education for Sustainable Development at Initial Teacher Training: The Case of Lesotho College of Education
This viewpoint paper presents some findings of a participatory action research programme carried out by teacher trainers at the Lesotho College of Education (LCE) in order to integrate education for sustainable development (ESD) into its courses. It reveals how social learning brings about deep meaning as students connect subject content knowledge through participatory learning to their sociocultural backgrounds. Participants were later interviewed to ascertain their views on teaching for sustainable development and on interdisciplinary collaboration as a means of enhancing quality in teaching and learning. The findings indicate that some participants had, as a result of the action research project, been able to emerge from the culture of academic isolation through initiating collaboration with other teacher trainers outside the study area.
SWOT Analysis of Selected Schools involved in Greening and Sustainable Development Programmes
This study aimed to explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in greening schools for sustainable development in Tshwane North District in Gauteng Province of South Africa. The research considered whether contextual factors hinder schools from effectively greening their schools for sustainable development. This research is qualitative and employed focus group interviews and observation. The study was undertaken with purposefully sampled members of the school management team and school governing body at three primary schools. Data was analysed through thematic content analysis. The major finding of the study was that school funds were swiftly depleted on resources such as water, energy, paper and equipment. Furthermore, contextual factors emerged emanating from little knowledge of greening and sustainability practices by school role players and a lack of policy framework on how sustainable development and greening schools should be implemented. The findings suggest the creation of an integrative assessment of greening school policies and strategies that embrace a practical activity plan for curriculum and infrastructure to monitor school resource management.Keywords: green school; sustainable development, school role players; Sustainable Development Goals
Photoreflectance characterization of vanadium-doped GaAs layers grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy
Abstract We characterized the vanadium-doped (GaAs:V) layers grown on GaAs substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. The conductivity of the samples is checked by the Hall effect measurements, and it is n type with electrons concentration ranging from 2×10 13 to 2×10 17  cm −3 . We used the photoreflectance technique (PR) to study the effect of vanadium doping on the optical properties of GaAs. Our experimental results show that the built-in electric field F and the broadening parameter Γ 0 increase with V-doping concentration. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of the built-in electric field and the broadening parameter of GaAs:V samples have been investigated by PR. It has been observed that these parameters increase with increasing temperature. The decrease of the built-in electric field with decreasing temperature is due to the photovoltage effect.We characterized the vanadium-doped GaAs (GaAs:V) layers grown on GaAs substrate by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy.