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Trends and New Challenges in Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Education

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 9695

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Mark C. Mifsud

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Guest Editor

Director, Centre for Environmental Education and Research, University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Interests: education for sustainable development; environmental education; pro-environmental behaviour modelling; sustainable developmentenvironmental knowledge; attitudes and behaviour mapping implementation strategies for sdg’s; transformative pedagogies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable development forms the core of the 2030 Agenda (UNESCO) and the economic, social and ecological dimensions of sustainable development have now been balanced and visualised through the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which place the fight against poverty and sustainable development on the same agenda for the first time.

A key way to progress towards the SDG’s is through education. The formation of pro-environmental values, the changing of behaviour and individual and collective action are the overarching themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

The world has undergone a number of changes from the influence of digitalisation to climate change processes that are now impinging on our daily lives and decisions. In the face of these dynamic developments initiatives in education both in formal settings, like schools, and within the community have to change in order to better address these new realities.

The purpose of this special issue of Sustainability, is to critically analyse such emerging trends and challenges within environmental education and education for sustainable development.

Dr. Mark C. Mifsud
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

education for sustainable development
environmental education
esd and ee trends and challenges
pedagogical engagement
informal, formal and non-formal ee and esd
policy development and community transformation
change agents

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 1932 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Empowering Non-Academic Staff for the Implementation of Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions

by Paula Bacelar-Nicolau, Mahsa Mapar, Sandra Caeiro, Sara Moreno Pires, Mariana Nicolau, Catarina Madeira, Marta Ferreira Dias, Ana Paula Gomes, Myriam Lopes, Helena Nadais and Georgios Malandrakis

Sustainability 2023, 15(20), 14818; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014818 - 12 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1488

Abstract

Sustainability within higher education institutions (HEIs) is a well-established topic in the literature. Many fields of education for sustainable development have been explored, mainly focused on HEI students, as well as on academic staff. The technical, administrative, and management staff, referred to as non-academic staff has not received as much attention as the remaining HEI community, which leaves a gap in the successful implementation of sustainability practices and policies, as they play a vital and central role in the HEIs’ everyday functioning. Hence, the EUSTEPs project launched two sustainability training courses dedicated exclusively to this segment of the university community, aiming to increase their knowledge on facts and tools for the best sustainability transition. The first short-term online training, organized by the University of Aveiro and Universidade Aberta, Portugal, was run in May 2021. The training targeted 27 non-academic staff from different sectors. The second online training course was implemented one year later and involved 17 elements from the previous training. The results showed very high levels of overall satisfaction and full achievement of the participants’ expectations in sustainability issues. The non-academic staff learned and discussed the human–environment relationship, tracked and discussed their personal ecological footprint in the workspace, actively participated on how to run the university ecological footprint calculator, developed within the EUSTEPs project, and felt mobilized to implement actions to reduce their university’s environmental impacts (as well as in their general daily activities). Similar training programs can be used to empower non-academic staff for the implementation of sustainability in other higher education institutions, hence contributing to a successful integrated sustainability approach for the whole school. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends and New Challenges in Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Education)

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12 pages, 836 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bridging the Gap: The Affective Dimension of Learning Outcomes in Environmental Primary and Secondary Education

by Violeta Orlovic Lovren and Milica Marusic Jablanovic

Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6370; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086370 - 07 Apr 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1480

Abstract

There is growing evidence of the power of the affective dimensions for pro-environmental behavior, as well as of existing gaps between the dimensions of learning outcomes in recent environmental education literature. Based on the need to address that gap, this article explores the integration of the cognitive (ecological knowledge and cognitive skills), the affective and the behavioral domain in the learning outcomes of subjects related to the environment within Serbian elementary and general secondary education. This analysis was performed on the second cycle of the elementary school curricula and the general secondary education curricula for the following compulsory subjects: biology, chemistry and geography. It uses the holistic framework of EE goals, as defined by the Tbilisi Declaration as well as the concept of environmental literacy, as defined by the authors of the National Environmental Literacy Assessment used in the US, which distinguish four components of environmental literacy: ecological knowledge, cognitive skills, environmental affects and pro-environmental behavior. The results clearly show the dominance of the cognitive when compared with the affective and behavioral dimensions in both primary and secondary education. The focus of education on measurable outcomes offers firm structure for planning and evaluation, but underestimates the importance of preferences, values, enjoyment and does not facilitate rewarding the main source of pro-environmental behavior. Starting from the holistic and whole school approach to environmental education, the authors re-emphasize the need to bridge the existing gap and to provide policy support to teachers in developing their own as well as students’ environmental engagement and resilience. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends and New Challenges in Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Education)

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13 pages, 214 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structural Analysis of Environmental Literacy of Urban Residents in China—Based on the Questionnaire Survey of Qingdao Residents

by Huawen Tian and Shanshan Chen

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5552; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065552 - 22 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1153

Abstract

Residents’ environmental literacy is the basis of sustainable development. The structure of environmental literacy and the interaction among its elements is a very important topic, which has been rarely studied. By using the literature analysis method to analyze the existing research of scholars, it can be concluded that the connotation of environmental literacy is composed of environmental knowledge, environmental awareness, and environmental behavior. The environmental literacy and structure of Qingdao residents can be measured by questionnaire survey. It has been found through a more in-depth structural analysis that environmental knowledge and environmental awareness will influence but cannot decide environmental behavior all by themselves; high-level environmental knowledge and high environmental awareness do not necessarily lead to a high-level environmental behavior but low-level environmental knowledge and low environmental awareness almost inevitably lead to a low-level environmental behavior. This finding is of great value for the government to formulate environmental policies scientifically, carry out environmental education more effectively, comprehensively improve residents’ environmental literacy and improve their environmental behavior. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends and New Challenges in Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Education)

17 pages, 1324 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Understanding the Gap between University Ambitions to Teach and Deliver Climate Change Education

by Ann Hindley

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 13823; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142113823 - 25 Oct 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1591

Abstract

This paper aims to determine why there is a gap between university ambitions to teach climate change education, even where formal commitments and institutional incentives exist to encourage action. To explore this, acknowledgement of prior conceptual work is considered. A new matrix emerges, which conceptualizes the influences of organizational values, organisational culture, personal values and positionality-identity on the integration of climate change education into the curriculum. The role and influence of the researcher is addressed using an auto-ethnographic approach. A thematic analysis is applied to data collected from program leaders for an undergraduate curriculum review at a medium-sized university Business School, in north-west England. Five clusters are used to structure the results and explore the narrative, before applying these to the new matrix for illustrative purposes. The discussion suggests a lack of knowledge by staff or confusion over the communicated organizational values; an organizational culture that perceives sustainability and climate change are not priorities for the institution; and an attitude-behavior gap that can be attributed to personal values. In conclusion, organizational culture can be changed to increase the priority of sustainability and climate change through an objective in staff annual Personal Development Reviews, for example. Recommendations are made for further research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends and New Challenges in Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Education)

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Review

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17 pages, 549 KiB

Open AccessReview

Decarbonization in Higher Education Institutions as a Way to Achieve a Green Campus: A Literature Review

by Liziane Araújo da Silva, Ana Regina de Aguiar Dutra and José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4043; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054043 - 23 Feb 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2536

Abstract

Reducing the carbon footprint (CF) helps to meet the targets of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), with emphasis on SDG 13, which seeks urgent measures to combat climate change and its impacts. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) or universities, as organizations engaged in education, research, and community service, play an important role in promoting sustainable development. Thus, HEIs are increasingly interested in practices to reduce their CF, in addition to training professionals for this worldwide need. CF reduction is a tool to assess the sustainability and decarbonization of a campus that aligns with Green Campus (GC) initiatives. The objective of this study is to carry out a literature review of the current situation of CF reduction practices in HEIs and the move toward a greener campus, identifying the main sources of emissions according to the GHG Protocol and classification by scope. This article sought to identify the HEIs/universities with already-implemented decarbonization initiatives through the elaboration of a table. This study was based on a portfolio of 33 articles published up to February 2022 that analyze the CFs of HEIs and the implementation of green initiatives. Differences were identified in the methodology and data used by each university. The results show that the main reason for this is the lack of standardization regarding the time metric (year, semester), functional unit (student, employee, area), limitation of data collection (scope 1, 2, 3), and sources of emission and emission factors, mainly about Scope 3 (sometimes not considered in the calculations). However, despite the differences, the search for standardization was observed in the studied articles, as well as the expectation of reduction in the CF of HEIs over time. It also identified the efforts of HEIs in implementing green initiatives aimed at decarbonizing their campuses. It can be concluded that the CF of HEIs requires improvements and solutions to a series of challenges, including the definition of emission sources representative of Scope 3, the creation of a robust database of emission factors, and the development of tools and methodologies—with greater standardization—that cover the needs of the type of institution globally, and that can be used comparatively as an effective model by other HEIs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trends and New Challenges in Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Education)

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