FUTURES: Futures thinking for sustainable development in teacher education

Futures literacy is understood as the capacity to distinguish between different ways of thinking about the future in order to think about the present with openness and creativity (Miller, 2015). In this context, the European sustainability competence framework includes futures thinking and anticipation as part of the key competences (Bianchi el al., 2022). This project aims to explore futures thinking with teachers educators that work in sustainable development to address the absence of knowledge in this key area. We will work with teacher educators and their students to understand and to develop creative approaches to imagine and aspire to preferred longterm futures for sustainable development. Important efforts have been made in the island of Ireland in the context of Education for Sustainable Development. The Irish National Strategy designed for 2018-2030 on Education for Sustainable Development (DoE, 2018) provides a framework to support the education sector’s contribution toward a more sustainable future, promoting a new curriculum. In a similar way, Northern Ireland has introduced a number of sustainable education policies since 2009 and changes in the curriculum. Furthermore, carbon Literacy Programmes, funded by the DAERA were launched in 2021 to educate school pupils, community groups and youth organisations improve their understanding of carbon emissions and how their daily activities can contribute to increasing emissions. Despite these ongoing emergent changes in both regions, the need to imagine resilient and creative futures pathways of societal development (Facer, 2021) has not been explored sufficiently. It is argued that there is a need to facilitate processes that allow the development of a "capability to aspire" (Appadurai, 2004; Facer, 2021) and hope (Ojala, 2015) enabling people to envision and pursue desirable individual, community-based and societal futures. To battle the potential growth of apathy in young generations (Combi, 2015), we need to go beyond narratives of futures connected to high consumption-based, or technology-based futures that do not foreground well-being and equality. Futures thinking can play a key role in helping teachers help their students develop much-needed critical thinking and envisioning skills. However little is known about how teachers can use this methodology in practice and how, whether and where it may be useful. On this basis, our research aims are as follows: (1) To explore teacher educators' views about the inclusion of futures thinking in the context of teaching Sustainable Development and citizen participation. (2) To identify the success factors for capabilities to aspire to futures beyond simple iterations of the present. . (3) To identify pedagogical approaches that help students in future thinking in the context of sustainable development and climate change.