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Student sustainability consciousness: Investigating effects of education for sustainable development in Sweden and beyond
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Education for sustainable development (ESD) has been launched worldwide to empower young people by providing them with action competence for a sustainable future. ESD certifications are commonly used by schools as support in their ESD implementation efforts. To date, scholarly attention to and critical reflection on the effects of such certification on students’ perceptions of sustainability have been limited.
This dissertation focuses on this gap in ESD research through five large-scale studies of which four were conducted in Sweden (N=2413) and one in Taiwan (N=1741). Questionnaire instruments measuring students’ sustainability consciousness (SC) and experiences of ESD were developed for the project. The findings reveal that the effect of ESD certifications on students’ SC is limited. The results also show positive effects of ESD on students’ SC in the form of the teaching approaches based on holism and pluralism, regardless whether schools were ESD certified or not. Moreover, results also reveal that in the certified schools the general adolescent dip and gender gap in student SC were reinforced. Given the findings, this dissertation can give more generalizable empirical guidance for schools and certifying organizations to further reorient education towards ESD.
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... The students' increased awareness aligns with findings in ESD literature, which emphasizes that awareness is foundational for fostering sustainable behaviors [6], [57], [58]. By instilling awareness of environmental issues, the lessons align with the goals of sustainability education to inspire students toward lifelong ecological consciousness [59], [60]. Furthermore, Olsson et al. [7] noted that ESD positively impacts students' perceived action competence, although it may require sustained reinforcement over time. ...
... Furthermore, Olsson et al. [7] noted that ESD positively impacts students' perceived action competence, although it may require sustained reinforcement over time. This suggests that to deepen environmental awareness, sustainability education should be a continuous and embedded aspect of the curriculum [59], [61], [62]. ...
Purpose of the study: This study investigated the impact of sustainability-integrated lessons in ecology on Grade 11 students' conceptual understanding, attitudes, and perceptions toward sustainable development. Methodology: An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed, involving quantitative data collection followed by qualitative exploration. A purposive sampling technique was used to select one intact class of 38 Grade 11 students, ensuring that both male and female students were represented. Pre- and post-tests assessed students' conceptual understanding, while attitude scales measured shifts in sustainability attitudes. Qualitative data, gathered from student-written journals, provided insights into personal reflections and behavioral intentions. Main Findings: Results demonstrated significant (p<0.001) gains in students' conceptual understanding and attitudes toward sustainability, regardless of gender. Qualitative analysis revealed students' increased sense of personal responsibility, community involvement, and environmental awareness. Novelty/Originality of this study: The present study addresses a gap in the local curriculum by investigating the impact of lessons that integrate sustainability principles into ecology education. The study findings underscore the value of embedding sustainability concepts in ecology education through active and experiential learning, fostering knowledge, positive attitudes, and a commitment to sustainable practices among students, empowering them to be proactive environmental stewards in their communities.
... Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire (SCQ), der das Nachhaltigkeitswissen (NW), die Nachhaltigkeitseinstellung (NE) sowie das Nachhaltigkeitsverhalten (NV) abfragt. Bisherige Studien, die den SCQ verwenden, fokussieren auf den Bereich BNE(Olsson 2018). Bei schwedischen Schüler*innen konnten damit bereits geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede festgestellt werden: Schülerinnen zeigten in allen drei Dimensionen höhere Mittelwerte(Olsson 2018), was auch in Studien zum Umweltbewusstsein der Fall war (BMU 2019, S. 71). ...
... Bisherige Studien, die den SCQ verwenden, fokussieren auf den Bereich BNE(Olsson 2018). Bei schwedischen Schüler*innen konnten damit bereits geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede festgestellt werden: Schülerinnen zeigten in allen drei Dimensionen höhere Mittelwerte(Olsson 2018), was auch in Studien zum Umweltbewusstsein der Fall war (BMU 2019, S. 71). Chrebah (2009) konnte solche Geschlechtsunterschiede zwar bei der Einstellung, nicht allerdings beim Verhalten von Studierenden feststellen. ...
Das Konzept der Nachhaltigkeit erfährt in den letzten Jahren zunehmend Aufmerksamkeit in allen Lebensbereichen. Ob es um Stories zum Klimaschutz auf Instagram, Erklärvideos zur Kreislaufwirtschaft auf YouTube oder Tweets zur Armutsbekämpfung auf Twitter geht - längst hat das Thema auch Einzug in die aufmerksamkeitsstarke Welt von Social Media gefunden. Diese bieten bisher nie dagewesene Möglichkeiten der digitalen Vernetzung und des informellen Lernens. Dadurch rücken sie Nachhaltigkeit verstärkt aus der wissenschaftlichen Nische in den öffentlichen Diskurs.
Dieser Sammelband verbindet die bisher zumeist getrennt gedachten Bereiche Nachhaltigkeit und Social Media. Welche nachhaltigen Themen dominieren in den sozialen Netzwerken? Wie werden diese in Facebook rezipiert und auf YouTube diskutiert? Welchen Einfluss hat die Darstellung von ressourcenschonendem Verhalten bei Instagram auf den privaten Alltag? Diesen und weiteren spannenden Fragen wird in diesem Kompendium auf den Grund gegangen. Zwölf innovative Beiträge aus unterschiedlichen Fachdisziplinen untersuchen verschiedene Social Media hinsichtlich der Darstellung und Kommunikation von Nachhaltigkeitsthemen und zeigen, welche Chancen, aber auch welche Herausforderungen sich durch die Verbindung beider Themenkomplexe ergeben. Damit wird ein Beitrag zum wissenschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Diskurs beider Bereiche geleistet und die Nachhaltigkeitsforschung im digitalen Raum gestärkt.
... The concept of sustainability consciousness (SC) according to Olsson,[10] refers to the experience or awareness of sustainability phenomena; they comprise perceptions and experiences-like sensations, ideas, and behaviors-that we frequently identify with ourselves. Gericke et al. [11] claimed that awareness is sometimes confused with knowledge, implying that if something is conscious, it is also known. ...
... Despite possessing knowledge, individuals may not always translate it into sustainable attitudes or behaviors, as noted by Mahat et al. (2017) and Heeren et al. (2016). Olsson et al. (2018) argued that emotional and attitudinal factors also significantly influence behaviors related to sustainability. The complexity of attitudes toward sustainability is explored by Luthans (2021), who categorizes them into informational (awareness of sustainability), behavioral (actions taken), and emotional aspects (feelings about sustainability). ...
Sustainability refers to both the planet’s health and humanity’s future well-being, encompassing actions humans take to prevent the depletion of natural resources. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) plays a vital role in course curricula by helping students develop critical thinking, decision-making, socio-emotional, and behavioral skills. This study examined the awareness and behavior of BS Management Accounting (BSMA) students regarding the three pillars of sustainability as well as the relationship between sustainability education and their awareness and behavior. Using the Knowledge-Attitudes-Practices (KAP) and Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior (KAB) frameworks, this quantitative descriptive research collected data from 349 out of 399 BSMA students (87.47% participation rate) enrolled during SY 2023–2024 at the University of Saint Louis, Northern Philippines. The results revealed that students were generally aware of sustainability and exhibited positive attitudes toward sustainable practices. Enrollment in the SASA 1013 course significantly increased sustainability awareness, but neither year level nor course enrollment had a significant impact on actual sustainability behavior. This study offers insights into the relationship between students’ sustainability awareness and their behavior across the three sustainability pillars. The novelty of this research lies in its focus on BSMA students and the specific role of the SASA 1013 course in fostering sustainability awareness. The study concludes with recommendations for curriculum development and policy initiatives to further promote students’ long-term sustainability awareness and behavior.
... One study found that universities lacked adequate on-campus activities and that only 38% of the students took part in such events (Khan et al., 2020). Previous studies show that in Sweden and Taiwan where transformational teaching methods are being used, students join environmental sustainability projects voluntarily (Wamsler et al., 2018;Olsson, 2018). Moreover, the students who participated in the voluntary activities perceived that the sessions had a positive influence on environmental learning (Wamsler, 2020). ...
This study explored university students’ pro-environmental knowledge and self-reported pro-environmental behaviours, and the influence of environmental education on their knowledge, beliefs and behaviour. This study also investigated the difference in forming pro-environmental behaviours across gender types and academic majors. The Theory of Planned Behaviour was used to frame the study and to understand if knowledge and beliefs translate into pro-environmental behaviours. A mixed-method approach was taken to achieve the research objectives. The participants comprised of 226 undergraduate students from a leading university in Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire and interview protocol were used to collected data. Descriptive statistical analysis, t-tests, One-way ANOVA, post-hoc tests and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data sets. The results of the study showed that knowledge gained from formal environmental education does not translate to pro-environmental behaviours. This study highlights the need to promote pro-environmental behaviour in university settings by eliminating obstacles to pro-environmental actions.
... Public awareness of environmental quality and sustainability will be manifested in environmentally conscious behavior or environmentally friendly behavior (Hendryx et al., 2013;Hendryx & Ahern, 2008). It is hoped that environmental problems will decrease with the spread of environmental education in various educational institutions from high schools to universities, especially with the increasing number of institutions implementing proenvironmental programs (Olsson, 2018;Schüßler et al., 2019;Steg & Vlek, 2009;Szczytko et al., 2018;Ulutas & Köksalan, 2017). Environmental education material has been included in the curriculum in almost all countries (Afandi, 2013;Hudson, 2001;Sawitri, 2016). ...
Spirituality-based environmental literacy (SEL) influences ecological knowledge, environmental expectations, cognitive abilities, and environmental-related behavior. In this regard, this research aims to determine SEL among prospective biology teacher throughout Indonesia. This study included a cross-sectional survey. The target respondents are students of education study programs in the field of biology who come from various institutions in Indonesia. Gender aspects, study program accreditation status, and semester-level are positioned as respondent characteristics whose impact on environmental literacy is analyzed. The sample size is 632 students. The data collection instrument used was the ELIS. The data collection process is carried out online. Data was analyzed using SPSS. We discuss the results of different tests based on gender, different tests based on accreditation, and different tests based on semester-level. This research provides unique results. Women have higher levels of SEL than men. There are significant differences between men and women in terms of environmental literacy, although references do not always support this. Accreditation status does not support differences in SEL levels. Furthermore, the semester-level (final semester) has a higher SEL, but that is only in the knowledge aspect. On that basis, we suggest several aspects to consider in future research.
... Environmentally friendly behavior will be manifested as the result of public awareness of environmental quality and sustainability (Hendryx et al., 2013;Hendryx & Ahern, 2008). Evidently, environmental issues are expected to decrease as environmental education spreads in various educational institutions ranging from high schools to universities, particularly as the number of institutions implementing pro-environmental programs tends to increase (Olsson, 2018;Schüßler et al., 2019;Steg & Vlek, 2009;Szczytko et al., 2018;Ulutas & Köksalan, 2017). Almost all countries have included environmental education materials in their curricula (Afandi, 2013;Hudson, 2001;Sawitri, 2016). ...
Environmental attitude should be possessed by students as an effort to manage their relationship with environmental problems. However, there has never been any study on the environmental attitudes of prospective biology teachers in Indonesia. This study aims to discover the environmental attitude of the prospective science teachers throughout Indonesia. This cross-sectional survey study analyzes the aspects of gender, grade point average (GPA), college status, and study status which are positioned as the character of the respondent whose impact on the students’ environmental attitudes are analyzed in this study. The target population size of this study is 1300 people. Thus, based on Krejcie and Morgan Table, the minimum sample size with a confidence level of 95% and margin error of 5% is 1235 students. The data collection instrument used in this study is the Environmental Attitude Inventory/EAI questionnaire which has been validated by bilingual experts and transformed into an online questionnaire by means of Google Form. SPSS software was used to examine the data. The results indicate that there is no significant difference in EA scores based on gender, GPA factor, and university status background. The difference in EA scores is affected by whether or not students have taken courses related to the environment ownership. The researchers believe that it is critical to ensure that the course materials concerning environmental education are properly planned and implemented. Courses should be supplemented with themes on environmental issues ranging from local to global scope.
... In other words, human behavior is the main factor that causes environmental damages [10]. Therefore, one of the responses executed in dealing with these problems is to activate environmental education [11] and internalize it in school programs in the hope of reducing the rate of ecosystem damage [12]. ...
Environmental damages in Indonesia, in the past few decades, have been increasing as well as worrying. One of the responses emerged in dealing with these problems is to intensify environmental education. Internalization of environmental education within school curricula, in Indonesia, is executed through the Adiwiyata program. This study aims to describe the achievements, obstacles, and sustainability of Adiwiyata school’s contributions to environmental conservation in Malang City. This research is a descriptive research. The research location is at SMAN 2 Malang City which has the status as an independent Adiwiyata school since 2017. Data collection was carried out by interview, observation and literature study methods. The results of the study indicate that environmental conservation is carried out not only in the internal context of the school. Environmental conservation is mainly focused on the sustainability of Brantas watershed. External parties involved in this project consist of the non-profit organization JKPKA, civil society, and stakeholders. There are several obstacles faced during the implementation of environmental conservation which are dominantly derived from the technical realm, namely parents’ permitting issue and the locations. Strengthening of shared perceptions is indeed taken by the school to maintain the sustainability of environmental education.
... Sustainability consciousness is a complex construct that encompasses the psychological components of knowledge, attitude, and behavior and their interaction with environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainable development (133,134). The only paper in our review database that explicitly applied the original sustainability consciousness scale by Berglund and Gericke (135) is the study by Lammers et al. (66). ...
Consuming insects is a possible alternative to meat consumption that has few detrimental impacts on the environment and human health. Whether novel foods made from insects will become established in Western societies in the coming years depends largely on their acceptance by the respective populations. Numerous studies on the acceptance of insects as a novel food have already been conducted. In this systematic review, the main findings of quantitative, experimental, and tasting studies on the acceptance of insects as a novel food are summarized. The present paper is designed to serve as an orientation for practitioners in the food industry and provides information useful for the design of marketing strategies and target group-oriented product development. In addition, we highlight in which fields future studies could be conducted to further improve the understanding of the acceptance of insects as food in Western societies.
Previous invitations to queer environmental education research and practice have fallen largely silent. This paper seeks to address that silence by orientating ecopedagogy toward a phenomenology of queer experience. Inspired by the utopian promises of the “It Gets Better Project” and ecopedagogy generally, the author suggests that queer phenomenology can offer new insights into ecopedagogy. The hope of a queer ecopedagogy lies in its inclusion of diverse beings and its celebration of (dis) orientating experiences that might lead to more egalitarian and democratic futures.
Environmental education programs neglect the aspect of prosocial behavior as a correlate of pro-environmental behavior. This article examines the possible benefits of increasing the emphasis on prosocial behavior as a way to reinforce environmental education. In our study, prosocial behavior was positively related to pro-environmental behavior (r = 0.34, p < 0.001), and even a combined scale consisting of prosocial and pro-environmental behavior items showed an acceptable reliability (separation reliability = 0.82, at the level of the separated scales), which implies that prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors are a similar class of behavior. We can assume that the two underlying propensities (prosocial behavior and pro-environmentalism) are probably only two facets of an overarching common propensity that supports both kinds of behavior. Therefore, promoting one facet will, through its relationship with the other facet, also foster the respective other facet. Even more so, it might be most effective to relate to both propensities equally.
The focus of this study is the attitudes towards wolves in Sweden among upper secondary students.
This socio-scientific issue (SSI) involves many aspects, such as ethical, political and biological aspects,
and provides a context to study students’ informal argumentation. The different arguments used
by the students were analyzed using the framework of the SEE-SEP-model. A questionnaire probing
attitudes to the existence of wolves in the neighbourhood was distributed to 352 upper secondary
students. 18 students were interviewed in focused group-interviews (in pairs). The results showed that
55% of the students showed a negative attitude towards the existence of wolves in the neighbourhood.
The analysis of the different aspects of arguments used by the students in the interviews showed
that arguments based on value were more dominant (60%) than arguments based on knowledge
(30%), and arguments based on personal experiences (10%).
In this paper, the concept of sustainability consciousness, an individual's experience and awareness of sustainable development, is introduced. Based on UNESCO's definition of sustainable development, a sustainability consciousness questionnaire (SCQ) is theoretically and empirically developed. Using the data of 638 respondents from Sweden aged 18–19 years old, the scale is developed in two versions. The long version (SCQ‐L) can be used to measure individuals' environmental, social and economic knowingness, attitudes and behaviour (nine valid and reliable subscales), in addition to the second order constructs of sustainability knowingness, sustainability attitudes and sustainability behaviour, as well as the third order construct, sustainability consciousness. For the short version (SCQ‐S) 27 items were identified that can be used to measure the second and third order constructs. Both versions of the scale present excellent psychometric quality. Possible applications of the questionnaire instruments in the context of evaluation of sustainability policies, practices and stakeholder engagement are discussed.
The promotion of environmental knowledge is viewed as a fundamental component of environmental education and a necessary prerequisite to ecological behaviour; however, it has little effect on actual behaviour. Nature-based environmental education, which combines the acquisition of environmental knowledge with the promotion of an intrinsic driver, namely connectedness to nature, is proposed as a holistic approach to increase ecological behaviour. This paper evaluates the effect of participation in nature-based environmental education in 4th to 6th graders (N = 255). As expected, increased participation in nature-based environmental education was related to greater ecological behaviour, mediated by increases in environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature. While both factors were similarly predicted by participation in nature-based environmental education, connectedness to nature explained 69% and environmental knowledge 2% of the variance in ecological behaviour. However, the design of our data do not evidence the causality of these relations, which are solely based on theoretical assumptions supported by literature. Nevertheless, the importance of fostering both environmental knowledge and connectedness to nature as complementary drivers of ecological behaviour, as offered by nature-based environmental education, should be researched further as a highly promising approach to fostering ecologically-motivated individuals.
This study extends previous environmental education research on gender differences by investigating the gender gap between boys' and girls' sustainability consciousness. The issue of whether the gender gap in environmental education can be identified also in sustainability education is addressed. It has been suggested that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a teaching approach that could play a key role in diminishing the gender gap. However, the possible gender-specific effect of an ESD-oriented teaching approach is empirically untested. A survey instrument was used to detect the hypothesized gender gap in students' sustainability consciousness on a sample of 2,413 Swedish students aged 12–19. Findings reveal a gender gap in students' sustainability consciousness. The gender gap increases throughout the age span and is amplified in ESD-oriented schools.
We present results from a large-scale study performed in Flanders, focusing on the effectiveness of the eco-schools project. We surveyed 2152 students and 1374 teachers in 101 primary and secondary schools that are actively engaged in the eco-schools program at different stages (including control schools), focusing on their environmental values, knowledge and motivation. The results show that as the schools progress in becoming a certified eco-school, their students’ environmental outcomes change; the eco-schools project thus clearly has an educational impact. The main effects are observed for theoretical knowledge, and to a lesser extent, applied knowledge. We also observed a drop in utilization values and in amotivation. On the other hand, the controlled motivation of students is stimulated by the project as it is implemented, suggesting that students act pro-environmentally due to external pressures rather than because of intrinsic reasons. We also explicitly moved beyond comparing schools based on their eco-schools labels and studied the process factors that contribute to learning outcomes. Our results highlight the importance of the approach to didactics for environmental education, the making of environmental education policy in the schools, and the presence and use of natural green elements at the school campuses. For each of these school-level variables, the impact on students’ environmental learning outcomes are studied and discussed.