Involvement of NGOs in Training Teachers in Education for Sustainable Development in Vietnam: A Case Study

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with participatory and experiential approaches have made significant contribution to education for sustainable development (ESD) globally. Examination of five NGO training courses conducted at a Vietnamese teacher education institution reveals that NGOs apply interactive teaching pedagogies that promote student teachers' sustainability competencies, including systems thinking, future thinking, values thinking and an action-orientation. Students in focus groups saw NGOs as crucial educators in non-formal ESD, contributing to promoting ESD at TEIs by helping to raise funds and to provide research funding, offering the promise of future employment, and reviewing curriculum. Yet weak collaboration between NGOs and universities is among the main challenges to NGO involvement in training student teachers in ESD. Thus some initial steps have been proposed to enhance university-NGO partnerships for further collaboration on teaching ESD.