Sustainability in the United Arab Emirates Secondary Schools: A Policy Practice Analysis

Abstract

The integration of sustainability in education has gained global attention as a critical component of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Within the United Arab Emirates (UAE), significant efforts have been made to incorporate sustainability into national policies, reflecting the country’s vision for sustainable economic, social and environmental development. Within the context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), this research aims to investigate the alignment between national sustainability policies and their practical implementation in secondary schools, with a focus on identifying barriers and proposing actionable recommendations to enhance the integration of sustainability into education. This study employs a qualitative case study design with content analysis of data gathered from interviews and focus groups collected from a total of 21 teachers, school leaders, heads of departments and government officials, alongside the review of 14 relevant key policy documents. Key findings include a gap between policy and implementation, lack of a unified framework, resource disparities, and several barriers and strengths. This research concludes with recommendations to address these challenges, so that the UAE can strengthen its position as a leader in sustainability education, further aligning its national vision with global SDGs.

1. Introduction

Facing a dire climate situation, an unprecedented need to rectify the current course of action on the environment has arisen, with sustainability emerging as a cornerstone concept and a necessary tenet in every aspect of individuals’, organizations’ and governments’ conducts along the well-established lines of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Within the education sector, this shift towards sustainability and the UN SDGs has been especially reflected at governmental policy level and has, as such, become the basis around which educational institutions draw, organize and align their activities [1].

In the context of education, sustainability can be considered to mean either the educational programs that focus on protecting the environment (in its social, economic and natural dimensions) and promoting the responsible use of natural resources, and/or the alignment of educational institutions’ settings and research policies and practices with the goals of environmental protection (in its social, economic and natural dimensions) and resource conservation [2]. UNESCO, in 2014 and in 2021, have addressed the education challenge to create such a system or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which aims to empower all its learners with the skills, values and competencies that contribute to sustainable living [3,4]. ESD underlines a shift and redesign of education on the micro (objectives, contents and teachings), the meso (networks and communities) and the macro (policies, curricula and budget) levels of education. Finland, Sweden and Germany stand as solid examples for ESD, with sustainability integrated across various levels of education and disciplines [5,6,7,8]. In these countries as well as Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, sustainability is not only integrated across levels and subjects of education, but there is also a focus on sustainability-related skills and activities such as critical thinking and participatory learning, leaning heavily on project-based and community-based teachings. Students are often encouraged to be active in sustainability initiatives and projects, taking sustainability from its theoretical confines into a hands-on approach. The Netherlands has been heralded as one of the main countries that fostered behaviour change through sustainability education [9,10]. Outside of Europe, Canada and New Zealand stand out as countries where sustainability has been central in their educational policies and where its principles are found throughout their teachings and practices, often through student-led environmental initiatives [11,12]. These countries and others, adopting ESD in one form or another, have typically exhibited solid political frameworks for education and their curricula tend to be flexible and innovative, enabling them to promote and adopt the theoretical underlining of, and the practical engagement with, sustainability.

While these examples exist, the reality of educational policies and practices integrating sustainability across the world remain ad hoc and weak in nature [13], even though there is an increase in sustainability-related courses and publications [14] and environmentally oriented actions, such as curbing energy consumption, reducing waste and improving gender equality employability initiatives at the different cycles of learning [11]. Criticism of green-washing and inefficiency for such ad hoc and add-on initiatives have been voiced in recent decades [15]. In fact, academics and policy makers have been consistently calling for the necessity to embed the very principles of sustainability at the core of educational institutions (strategy, curricula and operational structures), across the micro–meso–macro levels, giving rise to what has become known as WIA or Whole Institution Approach, which involves mainstreaming sustainability into all facets of the educational process [16]. Holst’s 2024 [17] systematic review on WIA found that the key characteristics of WIAs can be grouped into the five essential principles of coherence, continuous learning, participation, responsibility and long-term commitment, and seven vastly cohesive areas of action (governance, curriculum, campus, community, research, communication and capacity building) [17]. He added that principles and action areas cannot be considered in isolation from their fundamental organizational environments and essential conditions for effective application. He rightfully concluded that “the concept of WIAs may thus both be approached as an instrument for consistent organizational development in light of (un-) sustainability and as a keystone of integrated high-quality sustainability learning” (p. 1015).

The appeal for sustainability in education extends beyond its well-established urgency and benefits to the Earth system, to include the values gained for learners and as such for the future workforce. In fact, sustainability in education helps learners acquire skills, knowledge and competences necessary to live, contribute and thrive in the current complex socio-ecological issues of the 21st century [18]. Central to the process of acquisition of these skills and knowledge is the educational milieu. However, despite overwhelming evidence that educational institutions (be it kindergartens, schools, universities and everything in between) are key to a successful application of SDGs’ principles and practices, that they are transformational agents of the habits of their staff, students and their families and as such of communities at large [19], sustainability within the educational system worldwide remains to date, at best, poor [20].

Within the educational institutions, the educators stand out as key to the successful incorporation of sustainability and ESD generally, as their role extends to helping students become independent and critical thinkers [21]. As such, the educators themselves need to be equipped with the necessary capabilities to assume this role. A multidisciplinary (inter and intra, associating with both formal and informal education), action-oriented and built around self-directed learning, participation and collaboration competence framework helping educators in professional development becomes imperative [22]. In relevant literature, the competences for educators deemed most needed are “critical thinking”, “participation in community” and “connections” as well as the less addressed abilities of “emotion management” and “achieving transformation” among others [23]. However, the relevant literature has indicated that such a framework cannot be designed, let alone implemented, in a vacuum, and that the existing political context is a key determinant to the existence and success of such framework [16,19,22].

Currently, a plethora of research work exploring the interplay between education, sustainability and policy, ESD and SDGs [24,25,26,27,28] exists, and has produced many recommendations for better sustainability outcomes. Moore et al. (2018) [26] suggested that governmental policies should rely more on pedagogical innovations and less on infrastructural matters. They also concluded that “cross-curriculum” is vital for ESD, as it implies deeper and more active enshrining of sustainability in teaching practices, assessments and learning outcomes. Systemic challenges, mainly inconsistencies in policies, absence of standardized sustainability assessment metrics, financial constraints and resistance to pedagogical reforms, as well as a lack in training teachers among others, have been documented as the main causes hindering successful ESD policies [24,29,30].

However, there are several noticeable gaps in this research body. In fact, a review of the recent literature reveals a dominance of Western-based research and comparatively little research consideration for what is known as the Global South [31]. This gap is well pronounced for the Gulf Cooperation Council region (GCC) and the UAE [32]. Additionally, the majority of the research in this field is geared primarily towards the higher education sector [33], followed by a focus on the primary cycle of education [29,34,35]. However, there is a major deficiency in work dedicated to the high school level. In the GCC region generally and the UAE specifically, while there is more research focusing on the higher education level [36,37,38,39,40,41], no study relating sustainability with the high school level has been found. General studies on the overall educational system including the K-12 level exist but are limited [39,40,42,43,44,45], and there are few studies specifically exploring the K-12 educational level in relation to sustainability in education, which are mostly focused on teachers’ development and education on sustainability [46,47,48].

The realization of this gap is the main drive behind this research, which aims to comprehend the policy settings and the involved factors and actors of ESD in order to properly contextualize and enable the framework for sustainability in education to be successfully designed, adopted and implemented at the relevant national and local levels. This research additionally provides anchorage of the policy context, through the study of examples of the incorporation of sustainability in education, looking at its implementation via educational institutions in the UAE.

2. Sustainability in Education in the UAE

Generally speaking, the schooling system of the UAE reflects its social construct and can be characterized by diversity, catering for its overwhelming expatriate population, which, in 2024, makes up more than 88% of its 11.06 million residents (of whom 1.44 million are Emirati nationals) [49]. The UAE’s educational system is divided into different cycles starting with the pre-primary cycle (for the 3–5 year olds), through the secondary cycle, covering students from 12 to 18 years old (or grade 7–9) and ending with the tertiary or higher education. This system includes both public and private schools. Public schools are governmentally funded by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and its curricula places a focus on Arabic language, heritage and history as well as religion, specifically the Islamic teaching. It includes English teaching at early stages [50]. Private schools cater for the wide range of expatriates’ nationalities and curricular diversity found in the UAE. In Dubai, for example, in the academic year 2023–2024, there were 209 registered and inspected schools, with 360,420 students enrolled. These schools provide 17 curricula, with the highest portion of registered students (40%) dedicated to the British, followed by Indian (26%) and American (15%) systems [51].

The educational system in the UAE has kept pace with the enormous demographical and social changes, as well as the economic developments that the country has been undergoing since its establishment 53 years ago, constantly adapting and changing. In fact, it has undergone several reforms, the latest and most important of which can be found in the governmental policies and strategies of “UAE vision 2021” and the “UAE Education 2030”. These reforms have not only been driven by the experienced social and economic change, but also by the nation’s ambition to position itself globally as a leader in the field of education. These reforms can be briefly summarized by their focus to improve the quality, access and equity of the educational system. They specifically cater for teacher training as well as developing the educational system in line with the needed 21st century skills (such as STEM, digital literacy, critical thinking and creativity) [52]. The evolution of the educational system reflect the country’s commitment to global attractiveness, modernization push and workforce readiness [53].

In terms of the architecture of the educational system in the UAE, it is governed at multiple levels (national, federal and local) and via a variety of entities. The strategic and legal frameworks of the system is managed by the MoE, including setting up the national curriculum in addition to quality assurance and compliance. Additionally, NQA or the National Qualifications Authority is the body responsible for the quality of educational qualifications and national and international certification and accreditation frameworks. At the federal level, ESE or Emirates Schools Establishment is mandated to improve the efficiency of public schools by creating a forward learning environment geared for technology, innovation and updated skills for the future workforce. At the local emirate level, each emirate has an educational authority mandated to implement national educational policies including teacher training and inspection, especially for the private sector, such as the Abu Dhabi Executive Council or ADEC in Abu Dhabi, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority or KHDA in Dubai and the Sharjah Private Education Authority or SPEA in Sharjah.

Within the GCC countries, which comprise the UAE with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), SDG principles have been gaining track in recent decades and integrating them into the respective educational systems has been accelerating. The focus, interest and initiatives in sustainability within the educational sector in the region have been part of the respective national governmental policies such as the KSA’s 2030 Vision and Qatar National Vision 2030. The main focus of such policies has been to promote sustainability in education and prepare the region for a shift from the existing oil-based economies and practices, which are in conflict with sustainability principles [40,45,54]. Governmental policies have been also accompanied by a certain level of community engagement and awareness that enabled local programs and initiatives (recycling programs, greening initiatives, awareness campaigns, etc.) to be established and/or enacted [37]. However, the region has consistently lacked trained educators and resources in the matter of sustainability education and, although some policies and initiatives have been dedicated to remedy this situation, specialists are still few [55].

The UAE specifically has been more and more oriented towards placing sustainability at the heart of its economic and social progress. Much in alignment with the general global trend, the UAE has been endeavouring to diversify its economic framework away from the oil-based economy of past decades towards a more sustainable one, grounded in the human capital and the educational progress, focusing on innovation and knowledge [56]. In fact, at the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Summit, several key issues were particularly highlighted by the UAE as deeply ingrained within the country’s long-term development objectives. These include access to clean energy, ensuring sufficient and affordable food for the population, providing high-quality education and healthcare, fostering sustainable economic growth, maintaining healthy ecosystems and enhancing resource efficiency across all sectors. The UAE also promised to “leave no one behind” and “shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path”, all of which has led to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [57].

The nation’s transition towards sustainability has been materialized through a variety and governmental policies and initiatives such as Vision 2021, we the UAE 2031 and the Centennial Plan 2071 [58], coupled with commitments to international agreements such as COP (host of COP 28 in 2023) and the Paris Climate Agreement, as well as commitment to, and serious financial investments in, green technologies. Additionally, the UAE has 43 legislations in relation to the environment and natural resources, and the government has signed on 26 conventions on the topic of environment such as the “United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification”, the “Kuwait Regional Convention for Cooperation on the Protection of the Marine”, “Environment from Pollution and its Protocols- ROPME” and the “Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer”. Several recent policies and strategies exemplify the nation’s drive towards sustainability indeed, the most important of which are the “National Climate Change Plan 2017”, “UAE vision 2021” and the “UAE Green growth Strategy”, all of which place a focus on several key areas, namely, sustainable urban planning, and water, food, energy and waste management [59].

The UAE’s National Strategy for Higher Education 2030 links sustainability with the education system and the higher education institutions specifically [60]. The strategy places an emphasis on sustainable and green technologies and innovations as well as educators’ professional development and training in sustainability and environmental literacy [61]. In recent years, there have been steps taken to incorporate sustainability in the curriculum at the various cycles of education, especially in the public system, namely the MoE’s Environmental Sustainability Framework and the Roadmap Schools Guidelines COP 28 [62,63]. Contrastingly, a review of educational reform in the UAE conducted by Matsumoto in 2019 reveals that the UAE is “struggling to align market-driven academic goals with dominant cultural paradigms” [44] (p. 4). This was further consolidated by the Haddad et al. 2024 review [43]. In fact, challenges and obstacles at the policy, implementation and evaluation levels still exist [64], and this paper will endeavour to shed light on these and provide recommendations to overcome them.

3. Research Purpose and Aims

While the UAE has taken major strides to embed sustainability into its economic, social and educational policies and practices, it remains to be seen whether these steps have been successful and efficient. This work does not claim to be a complete appraisal of the system, but it endeavours to provide an insight into the architecture and practice of sustainability in education in the UAE, and investigate them critically to enable the production of valid and practical recommendations, with the ultimate purpose to direct and improve the incorporation of sustainability in education. This paper will delve into the policy context for ESD by analysing the current sustainability in education-related governmental policy frameworks and documents, in addition to current sustainability measures and strategies within the educational institutions.

The UAE has been chosen as a case study and a general overview of its educational policy on ESD has been provided. The actors of such policies have been introduced and a review and an analysis of their policies will be conducted, shedding light onto its ESD policy architecture. However, and due to resource constraints (human, financial and temporal), three of the seven emirates constituting the UAE are examined and a focus on one cycle of the educational system, the secondary cycle, has been placed. The UAE has been chosen as it is very well placed to take on the challenges associated with ESD integration, both from an environmental/climate urgency perspective and from a procedural point of view. The emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah were chosen as they represent the most heavily inhabited emirates with the most diverse and active educational profiles. Finally, the secondary cycle of education was selected as it is found at the intersection that prepares school students for either future employment or higher education endeavours. However, it is important to note here that, with a solid methodological construct, the research can easily be expanded geographically and procedurally.

The research objectives are two-fold. The first objective is to analyse the current status of sustainability education in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, while the second objective is to investigate schools’ policies and practices around sustainability in education, providing a practical local anchor for the policies and strategies provided at the national level.

The purpose of the research reflects UAE’s strategic visions and aspirations for the future, with their priority areas, specifically in relation to the UAE Centennial 2071 and the UN SDGs and 2nd, 4th and 17th pillars (respectively renewable energy and sustainability, education reform and skill development, youth engagement and empowerment, gender equality and women’s empowerment). The ultimate aim of this research is to impact policies and shift the concept of sustainability from the confines of textbooks, UN declarations and green-washing practices, right to the middle of educational rhetoric, policy and impact.

4. Methodology

4.1. Research Design

This study employs a qualitative case study research design aimed at synthesizing data collected from interviews, focus groups and document analysis to provide an overall understanding of the integration of sustainability into UAE high schools’ curricula. According to Merriam and Tisdell (2015) [65], reviewing, analysing and interpreting documents is an effective method for generating detailed descriptions of the investigated topic. Document analysis and interpretation helps highlight the similarities and differences in themes emerging from policy designs across various contexts [66]. Additionally, interviews and focus groups offer deeper insights and enrich the study by capturing the perspectives and experiences of key stakeholders involved [66].

4.2. Sampling and Data Collection

A snowballing sampling technique was used to select participants to be interviewed and/or invited for the focus groups. Researchers approached actors in the educational policy field at the national, federal and local levels to represent the various actors of ESD in the UAE. A total of 21 individuals agreed to participate. These individuals represent teachers (n = 6), heads of departments (n = 7), school leaders (n = 5) and government employees (n = 3) located in the 3 different emirates in the UAE. Nine were males and twelve were females. All of the interviewees were living in the UAE for more than 7 years and working in the same organization for at least 3 years. A total of 3 focus groups and 5 one-on-one interviews were conducted using a set of 10 open-ended questions to obtain insights about (1) definition and understanding of sustainability, (2) vision and mission regarding sustainability integration in the curriculum, (3) communication and collaboration with other agencies, and (4) factors facilitating and inhibiting sustainability integration in the curriculum. The focus groups were conducted at the schools’ premises and lasted for one and half hours each. Extensive notes were taken by both researchers to record main points discussed and then researchers compared notes to ensure nothing was missed or duplicated. The interviews were conducted online through the Zoom platform and lasted for an hour each. The researcher assured participants about the confidentiality of the information shared and the anonymity of their personal and institutional identity. Interviews were recorded and transcripts were saved on Word documents on a safe drive with access only by the researchers.

Combining both interviews and focus groups pulls on the strengths of both methods and as such allows a richer dataset. The combination allows the research to balance the depths of interviews with the breadth of the focus group. While interviews allow flexibility in the questioning process and more focus on the individual, providing space for individuals who are not comfortable in a group setting, the focus group provides a “community” environment that is more dynamic and attuned to group perspectives, allowing participants to build on each other’s contributions. Additionally, themes emerging from interviews were further explored and subsequently validated in the focus group. As such, it was deemed beneficial to use both interviews and focus group to enhance the validity, depth and breadth of the dataset, given the complexity of the researched topic.

Fourteen document sources were identified as central to this study as they directly relate to the topic explored and have been identified as such either during the interviews/focus group or during the literature review process. These documents have been either provided by the interviewees (2 of 14) or retrieved from the websites of various governmental agencies in the UAE (12 of 14) such as MoE, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and KHDA. The inclusion criteria for these documents were that they had to be similar in topic and type and had to be recently produced in order to support the analysis of the sustainability integration in UAE school curricula.

4.3. Data Analysis

Policy documents were analysed following the content analysis approach recommended by Cardno (2018) [67] to examine whether the following terms were mentioned in each of the documents analysed to help researchers understand the focus of these strategic and policy documents. The keyword search list included sustainineducation*, environmentawareness*, environmentintegration*, secondarycurriculum*, high school*, grade 9–12*. In addition, each document was analysed based on the questions extracted from Cardno (2018) [67] (see Appendix A). The answer to these questions helped the researchers group the data into five themes.

As for participants’ transcriptions, they were analysed following a content analysis technique to organize data into categories and identify themes [65] by two researchers separately. The researchers colour-coded participants’ transcriptions and grouped them into themes using tabulation on Microsoft Word Office. Then, the researchers used a comparative method to identify similarities, differences and general patterns (from both the participants’ transcriptions and the document analysis) in order to develop an understanding of the alignment of the policies and the actual implementation of sustainability in schools.

5. Results

The analysis of the results is divided into two sections. The first section relates to findings from the interviews and focus groups, while the second section corresponds to data acquired from the analysis of the produced documents.

5.1. Interviews and Focus Group Analysis

Analysis of both interviews and focus groups revealed themes that are provided in the below table (

Table 1. Emerging themes from the interviews and focus group analysis.

	Theme	Key
1	Definition and understanding of sustainability	Terminology
2	Vision and mission regarding sustainability integration	Terminology
3	Communication and collaboration with other agencies	Communication
4	Factors facilitating or inhibiting sustainability integration	Factor
5	Need for a unified framework for sustainability and its impact	Framework
6	Equity and resource disparities	Factor

). Exploration of these themes and illustrative examples follow.

5.1.1. Theme 1: Definition and Understanding of Sustainability

The definition and understanding of sustainability vary significantly among schools, government authorities and other stakeholders, reflecting a lack of standardized terminology and application. Stakeholders, including educators and agencies, often lack a clear and unified understanding of what sustainability encompasses in education. Almost 80% of participants defined sustainability as green areas with limited depth in understanding sustainability as an interdisciplinary concept. As highlighted by Participant K: “we need clarity about what sustainability means in the curriculum and how it should be integrated”. She continues saying that “the workshops on sustainability were very shallow—nothing in-depth about how to integrate it into the curriculum. The ministry hasn’t provided clear criteria for sustainability integration. It’s more about conserving resources without a deeper understanding. It didn’t go beyond the topic of sustainability on how I can conserve the real resources that I have in hand whether food, water, paper; very basic things that we usually do without going in depth”. Participant N added “how to integrate this in the curriculum is going to be through activities such as Eco clubs, field eco trips”.

The remaining participants, primarily in governmental and school administrative positions defined sustainability in terms of its alignment with SDGs and the UAE’s strategic vision for environmental, economic and social sustainability. These responses reflect how their institutions interpret sustainability as a holistic concept, including environmental awareness, resource conservation and behavioural change. These individuals highlighted their schools’ focus on practical aspects of sustainability, such as reducing waste, conserving resources and fostering innovation for sustainable solutions. They were even able to localize this understanding with the context of the UAE highlighting topics like renewable and non-renewable resources, water conservation, desalination and ecosystem preservation, particularly relevant to the UAE context, as Participant N highlighted by saying “our initiatives align with the UAE’s vision to achieve a sustainable environment and change the behavior and thinking of people in the UAE regarding sustainability”. Participant R reiterated by saying “we thought of the importance of implementing all SDGs goals as a holistic concept, one of which is sustainability”. This was echoed with Participant R and K simultaneously saying “the goal of sustainability is reducing waste, using renewable resources, and saving natural resources” and “we focus on how the UAE uses desalination and renewable energy to meet its water needs and conserve resources”.

This theme highlights the critical need for clear guidelines, training and communication to ensure a consistent understanding of sustainability that aligns with both global frameworks and local priorities.

5.1.2. Theme 2: Vision and Mission Regarding Sustainability Integration

Participants’ insights revealed that schools in the UAE demonstrate varied levels of commitment to integrating sustainability into their vision and mission. While some schools embed sustainability and SDGs in alignment with their strategic frameworks and improvement plans, this consistently depends on leadership and personal initiatives rather than a mandated policy. The majority of participants explained that sustainability integration is often driven by proactive leadership rather than formal ministerial requirements. As shared by Participant R, “this is honestly a personal effort within our school. We could identify the importance of implementing sustainability in the curriculum, as part of a holistic concept aligned with the UAE’s vision”.

The integration (or not) of sustainability in high school curricula is dependent on each school. If embedded in the school vision, its implementation is often dependent on the leadership of each department. They are the ones who decide whether it is feasible to integrate sustainability topics or not and how to integrate. It is feasible particularly through authentic tasks and interdisciplinary projects. Participant R explained that “it is even in our departmental improvement plans and the school improvement plan”. Despite this finding, the majority of participants revealed their inability to embed sustainability as a holistic approach limiting its integration mostly with the school curriculum as highlighted by Participant R saying “we teach what is sustainability, renewable fuel, and carbon footprints as part of our chemistry curriculum…In science it’s much easier because it is part of it. In math and other subjects, It’s a bit harder”.

The school’s vision about sustainability is relevant to the UAE context encompassing locally relevant topics such as water desalination, desert ecosystems and energy innovation, but they lack a structured approach to incorporate these topics across subjects. As highlighted by participant K, “we try to make sustainability relevant to students’ lives in the UAE, focusing on topics like renewable energy, desalination and food sustainability”. Participant R mentioned that “we did a campaign whereby students collected plastics, for example, and they had a study about the impact of plastic use on the climate. We have planned some projects where they raise awareness when it comes to sustainability”. Participant N mentioned that “we built an Islamic garden that contains natural cultivated plants. All the plants mentioned in the Qur’an and the Sunnah are present. When the Islamic Park was established in the Authority”.

Some schools proved more willing and/or better equipped to integrate sustainability within its curriculum and adopt it as a tenant of its processes than others, solidifying the idea that sustainability integration proved to be driven by available leadership and conditions rather than by governmental guidance.

5.1.3. Theme 3: Communication and Collaboration with Other Agencies

Information shared by all participants revealed that the communication between schools and government agencies, including the national institutions (MoE), federal ones (such as ADEC, KHDA and SPEA) and others, is inconsistent, confusing and, though hierarchical, it is also often unstructured. For example, participant K mentioned that “there are 2 separate entities, KHDA is talking one language and the MoE is talking something else. KHDA who comes and does the inspection. Sustainability integration is not on their agenda. It was only this year because COP28 [in reference to Dubai hosting the COP28] was booming”. Schools reported limited formal guidance from MoE regarding sustainability. “There isn’t anything yet formal coming from the ministry that schools should talk about or should integrate sustainability goals or SDGs goals into their curriculum, but we saw that it is coming. Nothing is communicated formally from the Ministry, It’s all a personal effort. If you go to the websites’ health and environment for example, you would see, they’re talking about sustainability. Is there anything that is being communicated to schools, that this is something you should integrate and have in your curriculum? No, nothing formal yet!” (Participant R).

Additionally, it emerges that the collaboration typically happens at the initiative of schools or individual stakeholders rather than as part of a coordinated national strategy. For example, the initiatives from environmental authorities like the Sharjah Environment Authority provide external support to schools but are not fully integrated into the national education policy. Furthermore, agencies such as KHDA, ADEC and SPEA primarily focus on regulatory and quality assurance rather than direct curriculum guidance. These quotes below support this finding: “the communication is very random and not organized to bring everyone on board” (Participant K); “we communicate with KHDA, SPEA and the Ministry of Education to align programs with the UAE vision, but there is no clear framework for schools” (Participant N); and “nothing is formal from ADEC or the Ministry... It’s all a personal effort, because we know it’s coming” (Participant R).

Participants highlighted the need for stronger collaboration between schools and universities, emphasizing the existing gap between educators at schools and academics. They believe that fostering closer partnerships would enable research projects and findings to directly inform and enhance school practices. Additionally, participants expressed a clear demand for targeted training sessions and workshops led by academics, which would provide valuable insights and practical strategies to support their teaching and curriculum development efforts related to sustainability integration. “Why can’t university professors visit our schools and train us on how to integrate sustainability across different subjects? They do lots of research projects but what happens with the findings of their papers? Also, why can’t they train us and provide us with training certificates?” (Participant M).

Communication between the government, the academia and the schools needs to be clearer, coordinated and productive.

5.1.4. Theme 4: Factors Facilitating or Inhibiting Sustainability Integration

Facilitators and inhibitors significantly impact sustainability integration in schools. Participants interviewed reported several facilitators such as proactive leadership, interdisciplinary project-based learning and external workshops. The inhibitors range from a lack of formal policy and guidance to resource constraints and inadequate training for educators.

When asked about the facilitators, participants agreed that the sustainability integration at the high school level is the result of their school leadership passion and proactive planning. It is also successfully implemented through involving students with interdisciplinary projects linking subjects like science, maths and English with sustainability themes. They also highlighted the governmental support offered to them through external workshops and initiatives particularly from the environmental authorities in the UAE.

As for the inhibitors, participants mentioned the lack of appointed qualified personnel is impacting the effective integration of sustainability, often resulting in having the science head appointed as sustainability officer at the school without being fully prepared. Furthermore, work overload was highlighted as the volunteering “sustainability officer/coordinator” is taking this task on top of their own tasks. “We have an environmental coordinator; he is a biology teacher. He honestly took the initiative first and he started working on campaigns with his own students in order to raise awareness. And then it developed and like it grew up to be across the whole school” (Participant R). This is identified as a major cause of rushing things and not having enough time to think about effective approaches for sustainability integration. As supported by Participant K, “time is a constraint when it comes to this. Teachers don’t have the time to sit together with no kids on campus and plan”. Also, the lack of collaboration between the school and governmental agencies, and between departments within the same school is another inhibitor. As participant N mentioned, “if we want to achieve a long-term goal and very important main goal for UAE in general, this should need a collaboration between all stakeholders”. Participant K mentioned the following: “it [sustainability integration] isn’t one department work or a person responsibility. It should be all the departments are on the same page, even the facility and the transportation department”.

Furthermore, participants in the less-privileged schools mentioned the direct impact of the financial challenges into this integration. Participants in low-fee and less privileged schools all reported the minimal training and insufficient clarity on criteria and frameworks for implementation as key inhibitors: “the interest will grow if schools are labelled as green schools and supported financially” (Participant M); and “we choose initiatives aligned with the UAE vision, but there is no direct training for teachers on how to integrate sustainability” (Participant N).

Interviewed participants identified several facilitators, including proactive leadership, interdisciplinary project-based learning and external workshops. On the other hand, inhibitors include the absence of formal policies and guidance, limited resources and insufficient training for educators.

5.1.5. Theme 5: Need for a Unified Framework for Sustainability Integration and Its Impact

A recurrent emergent theme is the call for a unified and clear framework to guide sustainability integration across curricula in the UAE schools. As reported by the majority of participants, schools need explicit rubrics, training programs and guidance on how to align their efforts with national sustainability goals. In their opinion, the current efforts are fragmented due to the differing mandates of federal and local education authorities. This is supported by the below quotes: “they need to start with sharing exactly what they’re looking for. The goals should be clear, but how it’s done should be left flexible for schools” (Participant R); and “we need a clear framework and guidance on what’s expected and how sustainability should be implemented” (Participant K and Participant M). This lack of clarity is impacting the overall school vision about sustainability integration in curricula and therefore participants’ own understanding. For instance, Participant R shared that “so far, we need to focus on integrating SDGs in our curriculum and try to improve it and make it better until something comes from the ministry. Maybe it will be something that will change everything we have done, so we never know what’s coming”.

It was evident from participants’ responses that the government entities responsible for schools’ inspection in the UAE such as KHDA, SPEA and ADEC do not have indicators or criteria related to measuring sustainability integration or its impact on students. These inspectors look mainly for students’ learning and scores on core subjects and the extent that students in UAE are achieving high scores on standardized assessments such as PISA. Hence, it becomes the schools’ responsibility and willingness to assess students’ learning on sustainability or not. As one participant mentioned, “we assess students learning about sustainability through an indicator in the rubric. You see kids like, demonstrating real awareness of sustainability they talk about, for example, you go to classes you don’t see the light turned on during the day, plus things become by nature. They even worked on changing the tap of the water so that it has a limit for water. You see things happening by nature” (Participant R).

5.1.6. Theme 6: Equity and Resource Disparities

Based on participants’ responses, it is evident that the resource disparities affect the ability of schools to adopt sustainability initiatives. For example, participant K mentioned that “sustainability should be funded and given all the requirements to have it successfully integrated in the curriculum. For example, when we talk about a project-based idea, it is a big thing and that is happening on a small scale. I can’t make it as a whole since it needs many people on board who are dedicated to that”.

Schools with higher tuition fees and resources are more likely to implement sustainability successfully compared to under-resourced schools, while high-tuition-fee schools call for complete flexibility and autonomy when it comes to sustainability integration in their curriculum. “So, they should give this flexibility to schools rather than dictate how it should happen, because what works in our school might not work in another one and vice versa. So, I think the goals should be clear, but how it is done I think they should give flexibility to schools. And, as I told you, the culture differs, the body of students differs, the curriculum differs” (Participant from a high-tuition-fee school). However, other less-privileged schools are calling for complete centralization and dominance of the MoE and other responsible governmental agencies to guide the school through a step-by-step integration process: “we create yearly projects related to sustainability such as green spaces projects, but we don’t know how to implement sustainability as a cross curricular or interdisciplinary approach. That is why, we need clear guidelines and step by step process from the ministry to teach us how to do that and to teach us how to assess students’ understanding about sustainability” (participant from a less-privileged school). This finding calls for a need for financial support and equitable access to training and resources. Participant K mentioned that “financial burden is definitely there. Sustainability should be supported with funding and resources”. Participant R added that “even the top-performing schools in PISA are the ones with high tuition fees. It’s not fair for schools with low tuition to compete on the same level”.

On another note, while in some emirates like Sharjah, the government has developed eco-friendly spaces for students to visit and learn from about sustainability, schools are not fully supporting learning outside the school walls approach as their main purpose is to ensure that the core subjects’ curriculum is met. Sustainability is not being seen as an integral part of schools’ curricula but rather as an elective topic. Participant N explained that “we had a program called Richness in Desert Park. It was about learning outside the school walls …I told school principals about it but unfortunately very few schools participated as they think that such visits will have students miss other subjects. This was one of the challenges that we faced and we stopped the program since there wasn’t any collaboration from the schools nor from the Ministry of Education or SPEA”.

5.2. Policy Document Analysis

Fourteen key documents were included in the analysis and these were The UAE Green Agenda Programs (2015–2030), the UAE Environmental Policy, The UN’s 2030 Agenda, the KHDA Inspection Key Findings 2023–2024, the We the UAE 2023, the Curriculum Requirements for Private Schools in Dubai, the UAE year of Sustainability 2024, the Environment Vision 2030, the UAE and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Training Guide for Teachers, the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework, the SPEA’s Green School Manual and the Roadmap Schools Guidelines COP28 as well as school lesson plans for varied subjects that included sustainability learning objectives.

A quick run of the keyword search list revealed that all documents included most of them and reverberated with many synonyms and definition words of, or around, sustainability such as clean, renewable, green, innovative, biodiverse, environmentally friendly, eco-friendly and SDG to name just the most repeated ones. The Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework includes more technical and specific terminology, including Whole School Approach (a derivative of WIA) and ESD. It also focuses on specific skills and approaches in relation to sustainability in education, namely, transformative learning, problem-based learning and learner-centred pedagogy. Most documents echoed the terminology of the UN, namely, those found in SDGs and especially SDG4, such as global partnership, ending poverty, reducing inequalities, tackling environmental issues and so on.

The results from the analysis of the content of these 14 documents related to sustainability integration in the UAE reveal both similarities and differences in their goals, approaches and implementation frameworks. Common themes include the adoption of sustainability terminology, alignment with national and global goals, and collaboration among stakeholders. However, differences exist in the depth of integration, focus areas and evaluation mechanisms. The results are organized into patterns, similarities and differences observed across the documents (See

Table 2. Emerging themes from the document analysis.

	Theme	Key
1	Adoption of sustainability terminology	Terminology
2	Commitment to national and global goals	Terminology
3	Guidelines for sustainability in education	Framework
4	Collaboration and multi-stakeholder engagement	Communication
5	Evaluation and monitoring mechanisms	Framework

).

5.2.1. Theme 1: Adoption of Sustainability Terminology

All documents emphasize sustainability using language reflective of their focus areas. For instance, the Abu Dhabi Vision highlights sustainability as a balance between environmental, economic and social goals, while the Green Agenda frequently uses terms like “green economy” and “climate-smart solutions.” The integration of these principles aligns with both local (UAE Vision 2021) and international frameworks (UN SDGs). It is important to highlight that all documents prioritize sustainability, albeit with variations in focus, such as environmental preservation (Environment Policy) versus economic diversification (Green Agenda). This variation in terminology can be contributed to the confusion of participants regarding the lack of, or incoherence of, a definition that they perceive at the national level.

5.2.2. Theme 2: Commitment to National and Global Goals

Each policy aligns with UAE Vision 2021 and other strategic frameworks. Documents such as the UN 2030 Agenda and the Green Agenda further align with international commitments like the Paris Climate Accord, emphasizing the UAE’s leadership in global sustainability efforts. It is important to note that every policy aligns with national strategic goals, ensuring consistency in driving sustainability across sectors. While the Abu Dhabi Vision and Environment Policy targets long-term environmental and economic sustainability, the Dubai Curriculum Requirements focus on regulatory compliance and cultural preservation within schools. The Year 2024 initiative emphasizes public engagement and action.

5.2.3. Theme 3: Guidelines for Sustainability in Education

Sustainability integration in education is explicitly addressed in policies like the Green Agenda, the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework and KHDA Inspection Reports. The Dubai Curriculum Requirements and KHDA Inspection highlight subject-specific guidelines, while others, such as the Year 2024 initiative, emphasize broader public awareness and engagement. Several policies, including the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework, the KHDA Inspection Reports and the Year 2024, promote integrating sustainability into curricula and public behaviour. Policies like the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework, the Green Agenda and the Environment Policy provide detailed frameworks for integrating sustainability into education, whereas the SPEA Green School Manual, Dubai Curriculum Requirements and KHDA Inspection focus more on compliance and inclusivity. Some policies (e.g., Green Agenda and Environment Policy) offer cohesive strategies for sustainability integration, ensuring alignment between national and global priorities. Others, like the Dubai Curriculum Requirements, provide fragmented guidelines focused on compliance without explicit sustainability outcomes. It is important to note here that despite the existence of such guidelines and frameworks, this has not been reflected on the local level, as teachers and enactors of ESD at the local level have voiced their frustration during the interviews and consistently requested the availability for such content.

5.2.4. Theme 4: Collaboration and Multi-Stakeholder Engagement

Most policies, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the We the UAE 2030, the Abu Dhabi Vision, the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework, the UAE and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Roadmap Schools Guidelines COP28 and the Green Agenda, highlight collaborative efforts involving government entities, academia, private sectors and international partners. The KHDA Inspection Reports and Dubai Curriculum Requirements specifically address collaboration within the education sector to meet sustainability and curriculum goals. The Dubai Curriculum Requirements and KHDA Inspection focus on cultural and educational inclusivity, aligning with broader national values. However, as with the guidelines and frameworks, at the local level, collaboration has been something that was seen as absent or weak, though highly needed by interviewees. This sentiment also revibrated at the national level, with interviewees stating that they feel they work in isolation within their departments and that they are not aware of what other departments or institutions are doing.

5.2.5. Theme 5: Evaluation and Monitoring Mechanisms

While monitoring mechanisms are evident in most policies, the level of sophistication varies. The Green Agenda and UN 2030 Agenda use detailed frameworks such as Green Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and UN indicators, while others like the Year 2024 rely more on public engagement and iterative behaviour monitoring. The Green Agenda and UN 2030 Agenda use structured KPIs and measurable targets for monitoring progress, while the Roadmap Schools Guidelines COP28, the Year 2024 and Abu Dhabi Vision rely on less explicit mechanisms, emphasizing iterative progress through stakeholder engagement. Nonetheless, local actors of ESD have voiced their concern for the absence of such metrics that they consider valuable and needed, further highlighting the gap between policy and practice.

However, analysing these documents within the context of their portal revealed that there is obvious discrepancy between these policy documents and the context in which they exist, especially at the local level. For example, when entering sustainability or sustainable or environment in the local education organizations’ portal search field (such as that of the KHDA), only the “Rating of Higher Education Institutions in Dubai—Summary Report 2022” comes up with the mention of “What’s new with 2022? Thanks to improved campuses and infrastructure and better engagement with students, even more universities in Dubai are now rated five stars. The additional focus on environmental sustainability shows the sector is evolving, and that universities are welcoming the change”. In KHDA’s Curriculum Requirement for 2022–2023 document analysed, these were listed as “measure of cognitive abilities”, “measure of attainment and progress” and “reading literacy”.

6. Discussion

While sustainability, generally, and sustainability in education, has been acknowledged at both the policy and local levels in the UAE, the analysis of the above data indicates that there exists a gap between the national and local level, echoing findings in the international literature [29]. The various actors involved, such as federal and local education authorities, schools, teachers and policy makers, seem to operate more or less in silos, resulting in a lack of coordinated efforts and a delay in the effective implementation of sustainability initiatives, similar to results from research conducted by Warner and Elser (2014) [30] and Moore (2018) [26] among others. What is unique in the UAE context is that despite the production of valuable documents and strategies that set out clearly the governmental vision, framework, action plan and time line for the country regarding sustainability in the broader scheme (see for example the UAE Green Agenda Programs 2015–2030, the UAE Environmental Policy, the UN’s 2030 Agenda and the UAE year of Sustainability 2024) and sustainability in education specifically (see for example the KHDA Inspection Key Findings 2023–2024, the Training Guide for Teachers, the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework, the SPEA’s Green School Manual and the Roadmap Schools Guidelines COP28), educational institutions are still struggling with what they perceive as an absence of guidance and frameworks. None of the interviewees were aware of the existence of any procedural frameworks such as the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework or the Roadmap Schools Guidelines COP28, both of which set out to answer the requests that several interviewees have voiced, namely the absence of comprehensive guidelines and a cohesive framework at national level, and as such the need for a clear definition for sustainability in education and the need for a clear vision, clear procedural plan and obvious measurables at the governmental level. This shortfall is exacerbated by a perceived absence of a consistent shared understanding of sustainability, which creates disparities in implementation and evaluation across schools, as is seen in the international literature of ESD. Stakeholders are calling for a unified definition to ensure the consistent and impactful implementation of sustainability practices in education, when various similar definitions are found across the different documents studied in this research work. This advances the question of the importance of raising awareness around these documents and the best way for their dissemination and use.

At the local educational institutions, this definition needs to go beyond the restrictive confines of nature and the physical environment, where, in most of the schools interviewed, sustainability is often regarded as green areas and as a separate topic rather than an integrated topic across different subjects. Hence, this could be seen as a short-term goal rather than a long-term vision. In line with the general literature worldwide [28,30,32,33,34], the adoption of the terminology of sustainability is stronger than the adoption of its practice. Further work is needed to identify whether this is due to a lack of commitment or difficulty in pinning down sustainability in practice (green-washing). Additionally, the government–local gap is compounded by a reliance on personal initiative, rather than any coordinated government support, and the limited availability of qualified personnel to drive sustainability efforts in schools and effectively implement sustainability initiatives. This has led to disparities in how sustainability is understood, applied and evaluated across schools, and raised the need for comprehensive training of government employees and school staff on how to effectively integrate sustainability into both administrative practices and teaching. Such training would help build capacity, ensuring that sustainability becomes a core value within the educational system rather than a peripheral concern. Many of these steps have been presented in the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework. What is needed is the local integration and actual implementation of such framework.

Generally speaking, the challenges commonly identified in the document analysis portion of this research include resource intensity, gaps in public awareness, and tensions between economic growth and environmental protection. For instance, the Green Agenda addresses technological and funding constraints, while the Year 2024 initiative highlights resistance to behavioural change. When placed against the documents analysed, interviews revealed a need for synergy between policies, particularly in integrating sustainability in education in order to ensure successful implementation. Policies with robust evaluation mechanisms, like the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework and the UN 2030 Agenda, could serve as models for others with less-defined monitoring frameworks.

The document analysis underscores the UAE’s comprehensive commitment to sustainability through diverse policies targeting environmental, economic and educational domains. However, the gap between theory and practice needs to be urgently addressed. In fact, without such systemic change, the UAE’s education system will struggle to fully realize its potential regarding sustainability education. Therefore, a concerted effort is needed to improve communication, put to practice the context-specific action plans and assessment systems, and offer robust training programs for all stakeholders involved. Differences in implementation depth and evaluation mechanisms reveal opportunities for greater alignment and cohesion, particularly in integrating sustainability into secondary school curricula. A more unified framework would ensure consistent progress toward achieving sustainability goals while addressing sector-specific challenges. Equally important is the need to make genuine use of produced documents especially at the local level, where many authorities within schools are not aware of their existence and, as such, are not availing themselves of such resources.

This paper agrees with the existing international literature [24,26,30] that cites systemic challenges as obstacles for successful ESD policy, namely inconsistencies in policies, financial limitations and lack in teachers’ training, but mostly unclear official policies [29]. It also aligns with the Singh and Blessinger (2023) [41] research, which examined the roles and challenges of SDGs at the UAE’s university level, and concluded that the most demanding issues among others are collaboration and communication among institutions, the absence of standardized SDG progress reporting protocols, and strategic prioritization of political and economic factors over SDGs. The authors found that the shifts in governmental economic and energy policies have been favourable towards the integration of SDGs within universities. A similar context was found for the secondary school level in this research, which also highlights the importance of communication between and within actors of the educational and governing systems, resulting in clear, consistent and accessible policy content, which enables the local actors to adopt and enact ESD actions.

6.1. Recommendations

In line with the purpose of this research, the recommendations align with the UAE’s strategic visions and future aspirations, aiming to influence policy and shift the concept of sustainability from a theoretical construct found in textbooks, UN declarations and instances of green-washing, to a core element of educational discourse, policy development and tangible impact. From the analysis of the data, several recommendations emerged.

At the onset of this study, it was understood that there was a lack of both a clear national definition of sustainability and a procedural framework for integrating sustainability into education. However, a deeper examination of the issue revealed that there are, in fact, well-defined understandings of sustainability at the national level, along with established frameworks and guidelines for incorporating sustainability into educational institutions. However, the fragmented communication and collaboration between governmental agencies and stakeholders at various levels remains a significant challenge in advancing sustainability in education in the UAE. There is a need for greater coordination to ensure that sustainability policies are effectively implemented in schools. While sustainability is recognized in policy, the disconnect between these policies and the practical realities within schools creates a gap in execution. This disconnect further exacerbates challenges in ensuring that sustainability is addressed as an integral aspect of education, rather than as an isolated or secondary topic.

Furthermore, there is an urgent need for the effective communication of sustainability practices, especially at the local level, which must reflect the UAE’s commitment to economic diversification, green economy development and innovation. Teachers and students must engage with sustainability in both local and global contexts, understanding their roles in addressing these challenges.

Another key challenge is the inefficiency in applying the clear, standardized guidelines provided by the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework. While sustainability is included in high school curricula, there is no consistent approach for embedding it across grade levels or subjects. The absence of a reliable system for assessing sustainability integration means that progress is difficult to measure, and areas for improvement may be overlooked.

Systematic training in sustainability integration is also needed for teachers, administrators and government employees, to ensure sustainability is embedded in educational practices. Training should focus on equipping teachers with the skills and resources to teach sustainability effectively, while government employees should learn to develop policies that foster sustainability across educational systems.

The recommendations discussed above have been mostly addressed in documents such as the UAE’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Training Guide for Teachers and the Environmental Sustainability Cross-Curricular Framework. However, a disconnect between theory and practice remains, and addressing this gap is crucial for the UAE’s education system to fully realize its potential in sustainability education. To achieve this, a concerted effort to improve communication, implement context-specific action plans and offer robust training programs for all stakeholders is required. Only through these coordinated actions can the UAE build a sustainable, innovative and future-ready education system that empowers students to engage meaningfully with global sustainability challenges.

6.2. Limitations and Aspirations

The most relevant obstacle that had to be addressed and overcome to allow this piece of research its degree of validity was the difficulty in effectively engaging with governmental agencies both at the national and local level. As such, the researchers tried several methods including targeting various departments, divisions and people within the same organization and reaching out to all their relevant contacts as well as following up diligently with reminder calls and emails, to ensure an adequate reach and representation of the governmental layer of the system. It remains valid though that, in future studies, a wider representation of the governmental layer needs to be included. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge the wide spectrum of schools and curricula in the UAE, and as such a larger sample size of schools representing a wider variety of curricula needs to be included in future studies. Furthermore, future work would best include various educational cycles (beside the secondary school level studied in this research) across all the other emirates, to enable stronger conclusions. It would also be valuable to examine the schools that claim integrating sustainability in the curriculum and compare these with the national vision and goals of the country to further dissect the discrepancies and/or similarities between the two levels to better tweak any future proposal. It would also be conducive to examine the assessment of sustainability in the curriculum and develop a unified standardized assessment at the national level in alignment with the policy context.

This research is one of the very few papers exploring ESD within the UAE context, specifically at the high school level. It has examined the current status of sustainability education in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi from a policy perspective by analysing relevant documents and interviewing actors from various political and educational spheres. It also investigated, through case studies of several high schools in three of the emirates, how ESD policies are locally enacted, shedding light on the obstacles encountered in the process. The paper concludes with recommendations to close the gap between national policy and regional and local practices.