Abstract

In the field of education for sustainable development (ESD), the theoretical background is often absent (Considère and Tutiaux-Guillon, 2013 ; Tutiaux-Guillon, 2013), suggesting that a shared culture would be established and practices would be self-evident. Indeed, the exploration of ESD pedagogies highlights epistemological bases that are absent, incomplete or very personal and ideologically marked. We base our argument on the results of our thesis, defended in 2018 and based on a methodological device that has enabled us to collect the statements of more than a thousand French primary and secondary school teachers about their practices in ESD. The instrumented analysis of the concepts of the anthropological theory of didactics (ATD) developed by Chevallard (2011a) with the notion of « praxeology » highlights a clear gap existing between the pedagogical modalities implemented and the theoretical support at the origin of these pedagogies. In this context, the highlighting of a certain number of references from the scientific literature suggests that certain supports can be identified (and that certain obstacles can be overcome) in order to work towards a shared pedagogical culture and effective professional development for teachers.