Search Results (743)

(1) Background: Education serves as a catalyst for social transformation toward sustainability, yet limited empirical evidence exists regarding primary education’s contribution to regional sustainable development, particularly in island contexts facing unique environmental and economic pressures. This study examined primary education teachers’ perceptions, practices, and challenges in implementing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Zakynthos, Greece. (2) Methods: A triangulated quantitative approach surveyed a representative sample of 105 primary education teachers from the Zakynthos Primary Education Directorate using a 28-item structured questionnaire assessing ESD knowledge, teaching practices, barriers, and improvement strategies. Teacher questionnaire data were triangulated with KEPEA (Center for Environmental Education and Sustainability) program documentation (103 programs, 2020–2025) and school implementation records from 75 participating schools. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann–Whitney U tests, Kruskal–Wallis tests, and Spearman correlations. (3) Results: Most teachers (65.7%) reported adequate knowledge of sustainable development concepts, with 75.3% incorporating ESD into teaching practice often or very often. Triangulation revealed convergent findings: environmental sustainability dominated teacher perceptions (67.3%) and KEPEA programming (78.4%), while economic sustainability received limited attention (18.1%). Female teachers demonstrated significantly higher ESD knowledge (U = 892.5, p < 0.05, r = 0.34). The majority (98.1%) considered ESD integration important, yet only 48.5% felt adequately prepared to teach sustainability topics. A notable attitude-action gap emerged: while 86.6% valued community partnerships, only 47.6% engaged frequently, and KEPEA documented 33.7% of formal collaborations. Primary barriers included insufficient curriculum time (61.9%) and limited resources (51.4%). Teachers identified training programs (71.4%) and access to educational materials (71.4%) as priority interventions. (4) Conclusions: Primary education teachers in Zakynthos demonstrate strong commitment to ESD but face structural barriers limiting implementation effectiveness. The environmental-economic imbalance suggests a need for professional development, integrating economic sustainability concepts through place-based approaches relevant to the island’s tourism-dependent economy. The attitude-action gap in partnerships indicates structural rather than attitudinal barriers requiring policy intervention. Findings support targeted teacher training, curriculum reform, and strengthened school-community collaboration to enhance ESD’s contribution to regional sustainable development. Full article

Education systems worldwide face a growing pressure to align with Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 by embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into school life. This study examines how primary school headteachers in Cyprus interpret and enact sustainable leadership to advance ESD within a small, highly centralised system. Drawing on sustainable and distributed leadership theories and a whole-school lens, the study employed semi-structured interviews with ten headteachers from diverse regions (urban, rural, and semi-rural). Reflective thematic analysis identified four patterns: (1) leaders sought a strategic integration of ESD into planning and culture; (2) empowerment and participation were pursued through teacher working groups, student eco-councils, and community partnerships; (3) systemic constraints, a rigid curriculum, limited autonomy, and scarce professional development produced a policy–practice gap; and (4) leaders relied on adaptive, collaborative micro-practices to sustain momentum. The findings suggest that, in Cyprus, sustainable leadership operates as a values-based stewardship enacted through ‘quiet activism’. The study highlights implications for leadership development, such as reflexivity, systems thinking, and ethical reasoning, as well as policy design, such as time, autonomy, and structured support for whole-school ESD, in small-state contexts. Full article

Background/Objectives: In light of the concerning research data on students’ mental health, it is essential to provide high-quality programs that support children and young people in strengthening their psychological well-being. To address this need, the three-year Erasmus+ KA3 international project PROMEHS: Promoting Mental Health at Schools was developed. The project involved universities and education policy representatives from seven European countries, Italy (project leader), Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, and Romania. Its core activities included the development of the PROMEHS curriculum, grounded in three key components: social and emotional learning, resilience, and the prevention of behavioral problems, alongside a rigorous evaluation of its implementation. The main research aim was to test the effect of PROMEHS on students’ and teachers’ mental health. Methods: In Croatia, the curriculum was introduced following the training of teachers (N = 76). It was implemented in kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools (N = 32), involving a total of 790 children. Using a quasi-experimental design, data were collected at two measurement points in both experimental and control groups by teachers, parents, and students. Results: The findings revealed significant improvements in children’s social and emotional competencies and resilience, accompanied by reductions in behavioural difficulties. These effects were most evident in teachers’ assessments, compared to parents’ ratings and student self-reports. Furthermore, teachers reported a significantly higher level of psychological well-being following implementation. Conclusions: Bearing in mind some study limitations, it can be concluded that this study provides evidence of the positive effects of PROMEHS in Croatian educational settings. Building on these outcomes and PROMEHS as an evidence-based program, a micro-qualification education was created to ensure the sustainability and systematic integration of the PROMEHS curriculum into Croatian kindergartens and schools. Full article

The rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has intensified a pedagogical dilemma: while AI tools can increase immediate classroom engagement, they do not necessarily foster the self-regulated learning (SRL) capacities required for ethical and reflective professional practice, particularly in human-service fields. In this two-time-point, pre-post cohort-level (repeated cross-sectional) evaluation, we examined a six-week AI-integrated curriculum incorporating explicit SRL scaffolding among social work undergraduates at a Taiwanese university (pre-test N = 37; post-test N = 35). Because the surveys were administered anonymously and individual responses could not be linked across time, pre-post comparisons were conducted at the cohort level using independent samples. The participating students completed the AI-Enhanced Learning Attitude Scale (AILAS); this is a 30-item instrument grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model, Attitude Theory and SRL frameworks, assessing six dimensions of AI-related learning attitudes. Prior pilot evidence suggested an engagement regulation gap, characterized by relatively strong learning process engagement but weaker learning planning and learning habits. Accordingly, the curriculum incorporated weekly goal-setting activities, structured reflection tasks, peer accountability mechanisms, explicit instructor modeling of SRL strategies and simple progress tracking tools. The conducted psychometric analyses demonstrated excellent internal consistency for the total scale at the post-test stage (Cronbach’s α = 0.95). The independent-samples t-tests indicated that, at the post-test stage, the cohorts reported higher mean scores across most dimensions, with the largest cohort-level differences in Learning Habits (Cohen’s d = 0.75, p = 0.003) and Learning Process (Cohen’s d = 0.79, p = 0.002). After Bonferroni adjustment, improvements in the Learning Desire, Learning Habits and Learning Process dimensions and the Overall Attitude scores remained statistically robust. In contrast, the Learning Planning dimension demonstrated only marginal improvement (d = 0.46, p = 0.064), suggesting that higher-order planning skills may require longer or more sustained instructional support. No statistically significant gender differences were identified at the post-test stage. Taken together, the findings presented in this study offer preliminary, design-consistent evidence that SRL-oriented pedagogical scaffolding, rather than AI technology itself, may help narrow the engagement regulation gap, while the consolidation of autonomous planning capacities remains an ongoing instructional challenge. Full article

The integration of complex system concepts and sustainability in chemical engineering education is often limited to elective or separate courses rather than their integration into the core curriculum. This pedagogical gap can lead to graduates who lack a holistic understanding of the intricate interplay between industrial processes and the Earth’s ecological limits, and the feedback loops required to address complex global challenges. This paper presents a transformative approach to close this gap by embedding the Planetary Boundaries framework and system thinking across core chemical engineering courses, such as Material and Energy Balances, Reaction Engineering, and Process Design, and extending this integration to capstone projects. The framework treats the curriculum itself as an interconnected learning system in which key systems concepts are revisited and deepened through contextualized examples and digital modeling tools, including process simulators and life-cycle assessment. We map each boundary to illustrative process examples and learning activities and discuss practical implementation issues such as curriculum crowding, educator readiness, and data availability. This approach aligns with outcome-based education goals by making system thinking and absolute sustainability explicit learning outcomes, preparing future chemical engineers to design processes that respect planetary limits while balancing technical performance, economic feasibility, and societal needs. Full article

The maritime sector is undergoing a profound transformation driven by disruptive technologies and global decarbonization objectives, placing new demands on Maritime Education and Training (MET) systems. Equipping maritime professionals with competencies for low-carbon shipping is now as critical as technological advancement itself. This study examines how disruptive technologies can be effectively integrated into MET frameworks to support environmental sustainability, using Panama as a representative case study of a major flag and maritime service state. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining a structured literature review, expert surveys, and a multi-criteria decision-making analysis based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The findings reveal a significant misalignment between existing MET curricula and the competencies required for decarbonized maritime operations. Key gaps include limited training in alternative fuels, emissions measurement and reporting, energy-efficient technologies, digital analytics, and regulatory compliance. Stakeholders also reported fragmented training provision, uneven access to emerging technologies, and weak coordination between academia, industry, and regulators, particularly in developing contexts. The results highlight the urgent need for curriculum reform and stronger cross-sector collaboration to align MET with evolving technological and regulatory demands. The study provides an applied, evidence-based framework for MET reform, with insights transferable to other systems facing similar decarbonization challenges. Full article

Physical Education (PE) is envisioned differently across generations, yet these perspectives can be aligned with contemporary curriculum reform. Guided by Strauss–Howe generational theory and Turkey’s 2025 Türkiye Century Education Model, this qualitative study examines lesson design preferences among teachers (Generations X and Y) and students (Generation Z). Thirty-two purposively selected participants from provinces identified by Ministry success indicators completed semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed through directed content analysis alongside thematic analysis. Findings indicate convergence on gamified, technology-supported, and individualized PE with process-oriented, fair assessment. Teachers endorse this vision while foregrounding constraints associated with infrastructure, time, space, and class size. The emergent profile mirrors the 2025 curriculum’s virtue–value–action orientation and its literacy and socio-emotional competencies. Four priorities translate the framework into implementable design: (i) multi-evidence assessment that captures performance and growth, (ii) systematic differentiation via station-based and modular activity designs, (iii) short feedback cycles coupled with structured student-voice mechanisms, and (iv) strengthened school digital infrastructure with targeted professional learning to build digital pedagogical competence. Overall, the study articulates a generationally informed, feasible architecture for PE that bears implications for curriculum development, teacher education, and school improvement. Full article

Global climate change has emerged as a critical challenge for human society in the 21st century. As hubs of population and economic activity, urban and rural areas are increasingly exposed to complex and compounded disaster risks. To systematically evaluate the role of educational intervention in climate adaptability capacity building, this study employs a case study approach, focusing on the “Climate Change Adaptation Education and Teaching Alliance Program” launched in Taiwan in 2014. Through a comprehensive analysis of its institutional structure, curriculum, alliance network, and practical activities, the study explores the effectiveness of educational innovation in cultivating climate resilience talent. The study found that the program, through interdisciplinary collaboration and a practice-oriented teaching model, successfully integrated climate adaptability content into 57 courses, training a total of 2487 students. Project-based learning (PBL) and workshops significantly improved students’ systems thinking and practical abilities, and many of its findings were adopted by local governments. Based on these empirical results, the study proposes that urban and rural planning education should be promoted in the following ways: first, updating teaching materials to reflect regional climate characteristics and local needs; second, enhancing curriculum design by introducing core courses such as climate-resilient planning and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration; third, enriching hands-on learning through real project cases and participatory workshops; and fourth, deepening integration between education and practice by establishing multi-stakeholder partnerships supported by dedicated funding and digital platforms. Through such an innovative educational framework, we can prepare a new generation of professionals capable of supporting global sustainable development in the face of climate change. This study provides a replicable model of practice for education policymakers worldwide, particularly in promoting the integration of climate resilience education in developing countries, which can help accelerate the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG11) and foster interdisciplinary collaboration to address the global climate crisis. Full article

Even though environmental health and climate change are rapidly intensifying the severity of determinants of disease and inequity, training for health professionals in these areas remains fragmented across Europe. To address this gap, the European Medical Association (EMA), in collaboration with the European Network on Climate and Health Education (ENCHE), the International Network on Public Health and Environment Tracking (INPHET) and University College London, convened a one-day hybrid roundtable in London on 17 September 2025, focused on “Preparing Health Professionals for Environmental Health and Climate Change: A Challenge for Europe”. The programme combined keynote presentations on global and European policy, health economics and curriculum design with three disease-focused roundtables (respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological conditions), each examining the following topics: (A) climate and environment as preventable causes of disease; (B) healthcare as a source of environmental harm; and (C) capacity building through education and training. Contributors highlighted how environmental epidemiology, community-based prevention programmes and sustainable clinical practice can be integrated into teaching, illustrating models from respiratory, cardiovascular, surgical and neurological care. EU-level speakers outlined the policy framework (European Green Deal, Zero Pollution Action Plan and forthcoming global health programme) and tools through which professional and scientific societies can both inform and benefit from European action on environment and health. Discussions converged on persistent obstacles, including patchy national commitments to decarbonising healthcare, isolated innovations that are not scaled and curricula that do not yet embed sustainability in examinable clinical competencies. The conference concluded with proposals to develop an operational education package on environmental and climate health; map and harmonise core competencies across undergraduate, postgraduate and Continuing -professional-development pathways; and establish a permanent EMA-led working group to co-produce a broader position paper with professional and scientific societies. This conference report summarises the main messages and is intended as a bridge between practice-based experience and a formal EMA position on environmental-health training in Europe. Full article

Growing interest in food sustainability education aims to increase awareness of food distribution systems, environmental degradation, and the connectivity of sustainable and ethical food practices. However, recent scholarship has questioned whether such pedagogical efforts are meaningfully internalized by students or lead to sustained behavioral change. Prior studies document persistent gaps in students’ understanding of sustainability impacts and the limited effectiveness of existing instructional approaches in promoting transformative engagement. To address these concerns, the Food Ethics, Sustainability and Alternatives (FESA) course was implemented with 21 undergraduate and graduate students at Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ, USA). Course outcomes were evaluated using a mixed-methods design integrating qualitative analysis with quantitative measures informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior, to identify influences on students’ attitudes, and a Transtheoretical Model (TTM) panel survey to address progression from awareness to action, administered pre- and post-semester. Qualitative findings revealed five central themes: increased self-awareness of food system contexts, heightened attention to animal ethics, the importance of structured classroom dialogue, greater recognition of food waste, and increased openness to alternative food sources. TTM results indicated significant reductions in contemplation and preparation stages, suggesting greater readiness for change, though no significant gains were observed in action or maintenance scores. Overall, the findings suggest that while food sustainability education can positively shape student attitudes, the conversion of attitudinal shifts into sustained behavioral change remains limited by external constraints, including time pressures, economic factors, culturally embedded dietary practices, structural tensions within contemporary food systems, and perceptions of limited individual efficacy. Full article

The paper introduces ‘transformative’ curriculum initiatives such as education for sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship education (GCED), which address ‘macro’ challenges such as climate change, together with ‘holistic’ approaches to student learning such as ‘social and emotional learning’ (SEL) and education for ‘life skills’, ‘21st century skills’, ‘transversal competencies’, AI-related ethics, and ‘health and well-being.’ These are reflected in Section 6 of the 2023 UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development. It is suggested that such broad goals put forward at global policy level may serve as inspiration for national context-specific programming, while also needing better integration of national insights and cultural differences into global discourse. The paper aims to provide insights to education policy-makers responsible for national curriculum, textbooks and other learning resources, teacher training and examination processes, helping them to promote the human values, integrity and sense of agency needed by students in a time of multiple global and personal challenges. This requires an innovative approach to curricula for established school subjects and can be included in curricula being developed for AI literacy and related ethics. Research into the integration of transformative and holistic dimensions into curricula, materials, teacher preparation, and assessment is needed, as well as ongoing monitoring and feedback. AI-supported networking and resource sharing at local, national and international level can support implementation of transformative and holistic learning, to maintain and strengthen the human dimensions of learning. Full article

Medical students experience fluctuations in their motivation, influenced by various factors, including curricular rigor, mental health, and institutional factors. Based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Four Pillars of Academic Engagement (HPEE), this study, conducted at a private Mexican university, examined motivational variation according to academic year, curricular impact, gender differences, and its relationship with mental health. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted using qualitative tools for contextualization (n = 1326). Mann–Whitney U tests, Kruskal–Wallis tests, logistic regression, and psychological network analysis were performed. Results: Motivation showed cross-sectional variation: high in preclinical years 1 and 2, decreasing in clinical years 3 and 4 (p < 0.001), and rebounding in year 6. The reformed curriculum (elective subjects, student-centered active learning) resulted in greater motivation (OR = 10.68, p < 0.001). Women tended to have slightly higher motivation (p = 0.050), higher grade point averages (p < 0.001), but also greater stress (p < 0.001). Network analysis revealed that intrinsic achievement (centrality = 1.11) and curiosity about knowledge (predictability = 84.5%) are the main drivers, while demotivation was linked to the later years. The qualitative part of the study showed altruism/curiosity as the main motivators; mistreatment/workload (demotivators). Conclusions: Motivation is context-sensitive, peaks in the preclinical stage, and recovers with autonomy but is vulnerable during clinical immersion. Autonomy in course selection, active student-centered pedagogies, and gender-sensitive support foster sustained participation. The centrality of intrinsic factors in the network highlights that achievement motivation and knowledge are general and independent motivators. Qualitative data reveal systemic barriers. Stage-specific interventions, such as mentoring, student support programs, and reporting mistreatment, can be crucial for strengthening resilience and performance. Longitudinal and multi-institutional studies are needed to validate the causality and generalizability of this study. Full article

The contribution that the inclusion of CS in the curriculum can make to address SDG 4—Quality Education—which fosters convergence between Science Education and Education for Sustainable Development, essential for addressing the sustainability challenges currently facing humanity, has been widely recognized. This recognition is driving the inclusion of CS in formal education. However, to ensure that the use of CS in formal education contributes to this objective, a systematic and rigorous evaluation of its benefits in terms of participants’ learning outcomes (LO) is necessary. This study presents a systematic review of the published literature on CS projects implemented in compulsory education to examine whether students’ LO from participation in CS projects are evaluated, and if so, how this evaluation is performed. The results indicate a lack of systematic evaluation of LO from participating in CS projects. Moreover, although in 79% of cases, where some LO is evaluated, the evaluation reported positive results, in most of them, the results may have been influenced by the voluntary or mandatory nature of participation in the projects and the design of the evaluation itself. This may bias the results, leading to an over-optimistic view of the contribution of CS to SDG 4. In order to obtain solid evidence of the benefits, or lack thereof, for learners of participation in CS activities, which can guide the designers and educators in improving the CS projects to maximize their educational and sustainability impacts, some recommendations for future studies are presented. Full article

Leadership speeches delivered within the United Nations and UNESCO play an active role in shaping global policy discourse. As widely circulated texts, they influence how policymakers understand sustainability, responsibility, and education by defining global challenges, allocating responsibility, and communicating shared priorities. This study examines how these concepts are articulated in selected leadership speeches delivered between 2022 and 2025. The analysis adopts a pragmatic framing approach informed by non-linear pragmatic theory. It focuses on six interrelated dimensions: problem definition, causal responsibility, treatment responsibility, value framing, future-oriented framing, and education-specific framing. The findings show that sustainability is consistently framed as a complex ethical challenge linked to climate change, social inequality, and global injustice. Responsibility is presented as shared but uneven, with greater obligations assigned to high-income countries, international institutions, and education systems. Education is addressed both directly, through references to curriculum reform, teacher preparation, and higher education leadership, and indirectly as a means of supporting climate resilience, ethical technological development, and global citizenship. Overall, the study demonstrates that leadership speeches function as influential discursive sites through which sustainability narratives are advanced and priorities for Education for Sustainable Development are communicated, highlighting the value of pragmatic framing for research on international sustainability communication. Full article

Fault-tolerant control in safety-critical industrial systems demands adaptive responses to equipment degradation, parameter drift, and sensor failures while maintaining strict operational constraints. Traditional model-based controllers struggle under these conditions, requiring extensive retuning and dense instrumentation. Recent safe multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) frameworks with control barrier functions (CBFs) achieve real-time constraint satisfaction in robotics and power systems, yet assume comprehensive state observability—incompatible with sensor-hostile industrial environments where instrumentation degradation and contamination risks dominate design constraints. This work presents a safety-aware multi-agent deep reinforcement learning framework for adaptive fault-tolerant control in sensor-lean industrial environments, achieving formal safety through learned implicit barriers under partial observability. The framework integrates four synergistic mechanisms: (1) multi-layer safety architecture combining constrained action projection, prioritized experience replay, conservative training margins, and curriculum-embedded verification achieving zero constraint violations; (2) multi-agent coordination via decentralized execution with learned complementary policies. Additional components include (3) curriculum-driven sim-to-real transfer through progressive four-stage learning achieving 85–92% performance retention without fine-tuning; (4) offline extended Kalman filter validation enabling 70% instrumentation reduction (91–96% reconstruction accuracy) for regulatory auditing without real-time estimation dependencies. Validated through sustained deployment in commercial beverage manufacturing clean-in-place (CIP) systems—a representative safety-critical testbed with hard flow constraints (≥1.5 L/s), harsh chemical environments, and zero-tolerance contamination requirements—the framework demonstrates superior control precision (coefficient of variation: 2.9–5.3% versus 10% industrial standard) across three hydraulic configurations spanning complexity range 2.1–8.2/10. Comprehensive validation comprising 37+ controlled stress-test campaigns and hundreds of production cycles (accumulated over 6 months) confirms zero safety violations, high reproducibility (CV variation < 0.3% across replicates), predictable complexity–performance scaling ($R^2=0.89$), and zero-retuning cross-topology transferability. The system has operated autonomously in active production for over 6 months, establishing reproducible methodology for safe MARL deployment in partially-observable, sensor-hostile manufacturing environments where analytical CBF approaches are structurally infeasible. Full article