Sustainability in the University: A Study of Its Presence in Curricula, Teachers and Students of Education

Abstract

This work forms part of the R + D + i ‘Training project in Spanish universities for professionals as agents of change in order meet the challenges facing society’ (Educación e Innovación Social para la Sostenibilidad (EDINSOST) 2017–2019). The purpose is to analyse the presence of sustainability in terms of curriculum content and training in competence for students, teachers and the curricula of Science of Education degree courses at the University of Seville. In this context, the curricula of the Degree in Early Childhood Education, Primary Education and Pedagogy have been analysed. Two questionnaires have been drawn up, and four reflection groups have been created—in which, a total of 49 teachers and 170 students have participated. The results show that there is a low presence of sustainability in Science of Education degree courses. The teachers express the opinion that they are engaged in sustainable initiatives and have an interest in ethical models. The students express a high degree of interest in receiving sustainability training. Findings provide information for introducing innovation into the university curriculum and the training of teachers and students in order to improve their competency in sustainability.

What Does Education for Sustainable Development Offer in Initial Teacher Training? A Systematic Review

“…However, there is a deficit in the development of the professional competences needed to implement ESD in their future professional practice and thus contribute to the social welfare of the environment (Odell et al, 2020). The future teacher must be a committed citizen, capable of leading the new challenges posed by society (Merrit et al, 2019), and must therefore have a series of professional skills related to the development of a fairer, more sustainable and economically viable society (Álvarez et al, 2019;Solís et al, 2019;Muñoz et al, 2020), these being the ones that are needed:…”

Socio-Environmental Problematic, End-Purposes, and Strategies Relating to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the Perspectives of Spanish Secondary Education Trainee Teachers

“…There are still few works centered on the transdisciplinary analysis of contents of sustainability in university study plans within Spain [23] and few initiatives in the strategic plans in this country [24]. The investigations that are available confirm that the concept of sustainability is present in higher education in Spain, though especially scarce in qualifications relating to the educational sciences [25]. They noted a remarkable disparity both in the number of subjects related to the concept and in its level of treatment in the different university institutions [26].…”

The Sustainability Matrix: A Tool for Integrating and Assessing Sustainability in the Bachelor and Master Theses of Engineering Degrees

“…In his paper, some ideas are put forward to enhance creativity and environmental sustainability in technology education by means of an approach based on ecodesign capability. Our own experience [32,33] indicates that the best way to introduce professional competencies such as communication, teamwork, ethics or sustainability is by integrating them into the curriculum, which is the way sustainability has been introduced into Higher Education curriculums in our country, as shown by the analysis of Miñano et al [34] about the inclusion of sustainability competencies into Informatics and Industrial degrees, and Solís-Espallargas et al [35] about their inclusion in Education degrees.…”