Conference Agenda

In 2020, the transport sector was responsible for around 23 % of the greenhouse gas emissions (European Commission 2022, p. 127). The EU Commission’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy (European Commission 2020) and the European Green Deal envision a shift from trucks to the green modes of transport rail and inland waterways. Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) represents an eco-friendly, CO2-saving mode of transport (Schroten et al. 2019) (European Commission 2019). To succeed a modal shift to IWT, a shift in the mindsets of logistics staff is needed, leading to the requirement of knowledge about IWT (Beil and Putz-Egger 2022) (Putz and Schauer 2014).

The goal of this paper is to present intermediate findings from the ongoing research project Quinwalo+ (Qualification Inland Waterway Logistics), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport and initiated by the German Boatmen’s Exchange in Duisburg (Schifferbörse e.V 2023). Quinwalo+ aims at analyzing and developing teaching materials for IWT in Germany in order to foster a shift to the green transport mode IWT (European Commission 2011, p. 7).

In the field of logistics education, insights not only from the Quinwalo+ findings but from ongoing expert exchange show that IWT is underrepresented in German speaking countries. This is also reflected by Breinbauer et al. (2012) where recommendations for sustainable education in intermodal transport in Austria are given to policy makers, public institutions and other relevant actors. Ricoy and Sánchez-M (2022) underline the importance of gaining ecological awareness and knowledge at an early age (p. 15). It can be hypothesized, however, that educators in German speaking countries often lack the requisite knowledge and awareness of the IWT-impact themselves, which, unfortunately, leads to the topic’s underrepresentation in both, school curricula and teacher education (cf. Putz and Schauer 2013). In that context, Santos et. al. (2010) underline the impact of information and education policies for behavioural change, and point out that the advertising and marketing effect for triggering behavioural change should not be underestimated either (p. 47). The UNESCO (2020) launched a policy paper with recommendations for education for sustainable development (EDS), which recalls the responsibility of policy makers to review education systems and to “integrate ESD into education policies, […] learning environments, curricula, teacher education […].” (p. 32), and recommends capacity building of educators to empower them to transfer and develop their abilities to teach for sustainable development (priority action area 3, p. 36).

The Austrian research project REWWay (Research and Education in IWT) can be identified as a pioneer in this context. Since 2015, teaching and learning materials on the topic of IWT with a focus on the Danube have been made available online (Logistikum 2023). Research conducted, revealed, that there is no comparable online educational material on IWT in Germany or with focus on the Rhine River. This is where the Quinwalo+-project, realized by researchers of the Department for Sustainable Transport at the Logistikum, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, comes in. Quinwalo+ aims at

a) analysing and evaluating curricula and existing online and offline teaching materials about IWT in Germany

b) creating a set of inspiring teaching materials on IWT with focus on Germany/the Rhine River

c) raising awareness of IWT as a sustainable alternative to freight transport by truck.

The created IWT-teaching materials, which will be completed by the end of 2023, focus at both, vocational schools with a logistics focus, and vocational and general schools without a logistics orientation in German-speaking countries. It is planned by the initiators to offer them open source on an online-IWT-platform to encourage educators to update their teaching content regularly (cf.van Hoek 2001).

In times of climate crisis education needs to get students to experience, understand and put into words the problems we face. Accordingly, an educational practice needs to be developed that encourage students to reflect on what it means to be human in relation to other species. For this, literary texts can be used, not only to create knowledge about biological diversity but also to create hope for possible futures.

Earlier, Lyngfelt and Söderberg (2021) have demonstrated how knowledge about the relationship between ecological, economic and social sustainable development can be explored educationally by the use of narratology; ‘voices’ in literary texts are linked to voices of prospective students in classrooms, making it possible to explore the interdependence of ecological, economic and social sustainability. The study proposed draws on this conception of narratology and understands eco-literacy as an interaction between creative inarticulacy and creative articulations. This approach is theoretically based on Gadamer’s interest for the interplay between ‘the known’ and ‘unknown’, and the meaning of ‘horizons of understanding’ (Gadamer, 2004). Additionally, Bakhtin’s perception of dialogue is important here, since it focuses on what difference communication does to us rather than on dialogue itself (Bakhtin, 1999). The study proposed draws on this by considering the polyphony of voices in a classroom to be utterances reflecting a variety of dimensions of contexts in time and space. A listener response approach to polyphony, including both listeners’ criticism and self-criticism, is suggested to be able to develop understanding in terms of sensitiveness and attention (Adelmann, 2012). To focus interaction between closeness and distance to literary texts, is here important to understand the interplay between sensitiveness and attention to eco-systems and biological diversities. It is this understanding that makes work with eco-literacy possible, defining it as a reflecting educational practice, crucial for work with sustainability at school.

To sum up, this study aims at investigating how literary texts can be used to create knowledge about biological diversity and climate change through shared reading, and by doing so explore possibilities of shared reading sessions to create hope for possible futures.

The research questions are as follows:

1. Do shared reading sessions create reader engagement and possibilities for readers to position themselves in relation to societal challenges due to climate change, and in that case how does shared reading methodologically promote this process?

2.Do shared reading sessions, according to the readers, create hope and a sense of agency individually and collectively? If so, how is this reader response related to the choice of texts and the performance of the shared reading sessions?

Objectives:

In recent years, sustainable development (SD) has gained wider appeal in Norwegian educational research and several voices from various professional environments are now exploring sustainability issues (Kvamme & Sæther, 2019b). We therefore see the need for a systematic literature review, i.e. a transparent and thorough review of the research in the field where high demands are placed on being explicit in the choice of method and selection criteria (Newman & Gough, 2020). The review consists of two parts, one for each of the following research questions:

RQ:

1. What characterises research on sustainable development in Norwegian research?
2. How does the research relate to the concept of sustainable development?

The first part of the study describes what is being researched (such as subjects, levels and participants). This is useful for identifying main patterns and tendencies in the research, and for pointing out any gaps that need to be filled with more research in the future. The second part of the study stems from our recognition that the SD concept comprises tensions and we are interested in investigating how these tensions are expressed in the research field. The tension between continued economic growth and greater protection of nature and the environment is often highlighted as the strongest (Purvis et al., 2019; Sinnes, 2015). Also, the debate about whether economic growth leads to more or less social inequality and whether social justice should take precedence over environmental concerns are additional expressions of tensions within the term (Connelly, 2007).

Theoretical framework

The first part of the review uses a descriptive approach where overviews are made of what subjects, levels (primary, secondary, teacher students, etc.), and focuses of attention are. In the second part we make use of Hopwood et. al.’s model of placing articles within a model balancing socio-economic vs ecological considerations, and what level of change is considered needed. Is it sufficient to make changes within the status-quo? Are larger changes required but within the system? (Reform) Or do we need to change the whole system? (Transformation). This framework is used to be able to get a holistic impression of the research field and where centres of gravity are.