Effectiveness of education for sustainability: the importance of an action-oriented approach

Abstract

Science education is increasingly integrating a focus on socio-scientific issues. Policy makers and scholars also suggest education for sustainable development (ESD) is important for tackling current and future sustainability issues. ESD may foster students’ action competence in sustainable development (ACiSD; knowledgeability, willingness, capacity expectations and outcome expectancy) regarding contributing to sustainability action. However, reports on effectiveness research relating to ACiSD as a learning outcome of action-oriented ESD are scarce. The current study explores (1) how early adolescents perceive their teachers’ ESD implementation and (2) whether perceived ESD (holism, pluralism, and action-orientedness) affects students’ self-reported ACiSD. We administered two questionnaires to 12-16 year-old secondary school students, tapping into (1) their self-reported ACiSD and (2) their perceptions of teachers’ ESD implementation efforts. Students’ ESD perceptions were measured through descriptive statistics. Next, multilevel linear models were estimated to explore whether ESD and its components affect students’ ACiSD. Our results suggest students did not distinctly perceive ESD implementation (esp. a participative approach). Holism and action-orientedness were neither perceived to be completely present nor completely missing. However, action-orientedness significantly affected students’ reported ACiSD. While confirming the challenge an ESD implementation poses, our results may support efforts made. Implications for education and teacher development are discussed.

Keywords:

• Education for sustainability (EfS
• ESD)
• instructional practices
• action competence in sustainable development (ACiSD)
• ESD effectiveness
• action-orientedness
• multilevel analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all participating schools and respondents for their constructive cooperation and feedback. We are also grateful for the help of all working students and colleagues involved in the data collections and digitalisation of the paper questionnaires. Finally, we are grateful for the encouraging comments and constructive suggestions received from the journal’s editor and anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics statement

The ethical guidelines and advice of the researchers’ institution were observed (the University of Antwerp Ethics Committee for Social and Human Sciences, approval number SHW_18_25).

Additional information

Funding

This study is part of the VALIES project and is funded by the Flanders Research Foundation (FWO) under grant agreement S010317N within the Strategic Basic Research program. Additionally, this study received financial support from BOF/IOF CALL 2021 Incentivizing EU FP & FWO SBO projects (SEP) FFB210338 from the Industrial Research Fund of the University of Antwerp.