A Professional Competences’ Diagnosis in Education for Sustainability: A Case Study from the Standpoint of the Education Guidance Service (EGS) in the Spanish Context
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is an interesting and important empirical research on the evolving real-life process of capacity building for ESD. A key issue in the field of ESD - the interrelation between values and competences to be acquired, is discussed as a prerequisite in creating an effective framework for action.
The aim and objectives of the research are several times differently claimed throughout the text (Introduction, Theoretical background and Discussion).
The character of the EGS as well as the educational level addressed by the research need to be explained in the Introduction.
A lot of sources, numerous aspects and various classifications are mentioned in the Theoretical Background section (lines 63-80). They are all relevant to ESD and witness for a good knowledge of the broad range of issues in the ESD field, yet there is no clarity on how they contribute to building the framework of the current research – the model presented in Fig.1.
The importance and the innovative character of the Educational Guidance Service system is well explained, but that rather belongs to a context description than to a theoretical background.
No respondents’ initials should be included in the manuscript; the respondents should be indicated as respondent 1, 2, 3, etc.
In addition to the recommendations concerning possible improvement of the process in the particular case, it would be probably important to expand the discussion about “the line of research that would be very interesting to continue: ESD through the perspective of Educational Guidance” (line 842) and about the messages of the particular Spanish case study to a broader regional and global community working to promote ESD.
Language could be improved – there are too long or complicated sentences that are difficult to follow, e.g. 51-58, 104-109, 112-117, 150-158, 214-225, 271-276, 623-630, 713-718, 774-777, 786-791, 827-834. Printing mistakes in the text should be removed; the numbers of sections and sub-sections after section 2 are currently mistaken.
Author Response
We would like to thank the reviewer for the thorough and thoughtful comments. In the following we present an answer for each one of them to explain how the recommendations have been addressed.
Point 1. The character of the EGS as well as the educational level addressed by the research need to be explained in the Introduction.
Response 1. The character of the EGS as well as the educational level addressed by the research have been explained in the “Introduction”. The following text has been added:
[...]
The analyzedEGS is a public service provided by the Government and aims to advise and guide primary and secondary school teachers to improve their teaching practice. In this case, we have focused on the guiding members of EGS and primary education teachers who are beneficiaries of the work of this service, as later specified in the section "description of the case study".
[...]
Point 2. A lot of sources, numerous aspects and various classifications are mentioned in the Theoretical Background section (lines 63-80). They are all relevant to ESD and witness for a good knowledge of the broad range of issues in the ESD field, yet there is no clarity on how they contribute to building the framework of the current research – the model presented in Fig.1.
Response 2. We consider that the model presented in Fig 1 is the result of different authors contributions cited in lines 105-124.
Point 3. The importance and the innovative character of the Educational Guidance Service system is well explained, but that rather belongs to a context description than to a theoretical background.
Response 3. We have removed the description of EGS object of study from "Theoretical Background" section and we have created a specific new point for it: Point 3. Description of the case study.
Point 4. No respondents’ initials should be included in the manuscript; the respondents should be indicated as respondent 1, 2, 3, etc.
Response 4. We have changed the respondents‘ initials by numbers.
Point 5. In addition to the recommendations concerning possible improvement of the process in the particular case, it would be probably important to expand the discussion about “the line of research that would be very interesting to continue: ESD through the perspective of Educational Guidance” (line 842) and about the messages of the particular Spanish case study to a broader regional and global community working to promote ESD.
Response 5. In section “conclusions”, we have incorporated the future line of research proposed by reviewer (line 852).
Point 6. Language could be improved – there are too long or complicated sentences that are difficult to follow, e.g. 51-58, 104-109, 112-117, 150-158, 214-225, 271-276, 623-630, 713-718, 774-777, 786-791, 827-834.
Response 6. We have reviewed long sentences that the reviewer specified and we have modified those to the extent of possible.
Point 7. The numbers of sections and sub-sections after section 2 are currently mistaken.
Response 7. We have updated the numbers of section and sub-sections after section 2.
Reviewer 2 Report
My comments are mainly about the data analysis and the presentation of the results. What is the sample size and response rate that is associated with the Table 1- 5.
I rarely find people present the correlation table in the results. It does not make much sense for how to interpret them. Why don't you do a more advanced analysis, regression analysis for a more well thought analysis to test any hypothesis that you might have?
I will also not use a word could in a manuscript. It is better suited for a presentation. Because all I read from it is the word "schools" which does not make a whole lot of sense for that it means.
Consider adding two more literature to demonstrate that the authors have includes some most recently published research in terms of education for sustainable development.
Li, C. J., Monroe, M. C., & Ritchie, T. (2018). Integrating social science research to advance sustainability education. In: Leal Filho, W., Marans, R., Callewaert, J. (eds). Handbook of Sustainability and Social Science Research. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham
Monroe, M. C., Oxarart, A., Ritchie T., & Li, C. J. (2018). Innovative instructional module uses evaluation to enhance quality. In: Leal Filho, W., Marans, R., Callewaert, J. (eds). Handbook of Sustainability and Social Science Research. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham
Thank you for the important work!
Author Response
We would like to thank the reviewer for the thorough and thoughtful comments. In the following we present an answer for each one of them to explain how the recommendations have been addressed.
Point 1. My comments are mainly about the data analysis and the presentation of the results. What is the sample size and response rate that is associated with the Table 1- 5.
Response 1. Although the questionnaire sample appears on line 313, we have added both, sample and response rate in section 5.1. (line 380).
Point 2. Rarely find people present the correlation table in the results. It does not make much sense for how to interpret them. Why don't you do a more advanced analysis, regression analysis for a more well thought analysis to test any hypothesis that you might have?
Response 2. We have presented the correlational analysis in section “results” because we find the findings interesting and significative. Teachers and counselors must take this into account in their professional practice. On the other hand, as the reviewer says, it would have been interesting to have made regression analysis and will be considered for futures publications related to this research.
Point 3. I will also not use a word could in a manuscript. It is better suited for a presentation. Because all I read from it is the word "schools" which does not make a whole lot of sense for that it means.
Response 3. In order to avoid a hypothesis-like style in the discussion derived from the use of conditional forms such as “could”, we have revisited the text and rephrased it.
Point 4. Consider adding two more literature to demonstrate that the authors have includes some most recently published research in terms of education for sustainable development.
Response 4. Both references suggested by the reviewer are considered relevant and therefore, have been included in the bibliography.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
