Improving sustainability teaching by grouping and interrelating pedagogical approaches and sustainability competences

Evidence from 15 Worldwide Higher Education Institutions

Bibliographic Data

ID12306271
AuthorsRodrigo Lozano (0000-0003-1441-7555, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development University of Gävle Gävle Sweden, corresponding author), María Barreiro‐Gen (0000-0001-6260-6727, Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development University of Gävle Gävle Sweden), Dalia D’amato (0000-0002-3992-7263, Department of Forest Sciences, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) Teachers' Academy University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland), Carmen Gago‐Cortés (0000-0002-5670-968X, Facultade de Economía e Empresa Universidade da Coruña A Coruña Spain), Claudio Favi (0000-0002-7176-0731, Department of Engineering and Architecture University of Parma Parma Italy), Ricardo Martins (0000-0002-3046-1700, Chemical, Food and Environmental Engineering Department Universidad de Las Americas Puebla Puebla Mexico), Ferenc Mónus (0000-0002-6177-4929, Institute of Psychology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary), Sandra Caeiro (0000-0002-6079-3554, Universidade Aberta Lisbon Portugal), Javier Benayas del Álamo (0000-0002-5906-9569, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Madrid Spain), Savindi Caldera (0000-0002-1263-2924, Cities Research Institute, School of Engineering and Built Environment Griffith University Brisbane Australia), Şevket Can Bostancı (0000-0002-1493-6147, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering European University of Lefke Mersin North Cyprus Turkey), Ilija Đjekić (0000-0002-8132-8299, Faculty of Agriculture University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia), José Mariano Moneva Abadía (0000-0003-1619-8042, School of Economics and Business University of Zaragoza Zaragoza Spain), Orlando Sáenz (0000-0003-1229-802X, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales Colombia), Bankole Awuzie (0000-0003-3371-191X, Department of Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology Central University of Technology Bloemfontein South Africa), Bartłomiej Gładysz (0000-0003-0619-0194, Faculty of Production Engineering Warsaw University of Technology Warsaw Poland)
Year2022
Volume31
Issue1
Pages349-359
Publication date2022-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSustainable Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0968-0802 • E-ISSN: 1099-1719
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sd.2396
OpenAlexW4294219426
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited22

There has been increasing research on pedagogical approaches, sustainability competences, and how to connect them in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper's aim is to provide deeper insights into the system of pedagogical approaches and sustainability competences, as well as how these interrelate. A survey was developed to investigate sustainability teaching in 15 HEIs. The survey was sent to educators of each HEI from which 668 responses were obtained. The responses were analysed in a five‐step process: (1) descriptive statistics; (2) Pearson correlations; (3) principal component analyses (PCAs) to detect groups; (4) Pearson correlations between the groups; and (5) regressions. The first step provided the base to carry out the PCAs, from which three groups for the pedagogical approaches (Universal, Social, and Environmental) and three for the sustainability competences (Extrospective‐social, Introspective‐personal, and Cogitative‐processual) were obtained. The correlations between the groups showed that: (1) the competences are closely interrelated; (2) the pedagogical approaches are somehow interrelated; and (3) the pedagogical approaches are somehow interrelated to the competences. The regressions showed that the Universal and Social groups would be most suitable to develop all the competences' groups. The Environmental group develops only the cogitative‐processual competences' group. The results served as bases to propose the Sustainability Teaching System (STS), which provides deeper insights into the system of pedagogical approaches and sustainability competences by grouping them, as well as showing directionality and strength. To improve sustainability teaching, it is necessary to understand the pedagogical approaches' groups and how they can develop the competences' groups

Descriptive statistics · Higher education · Knowledge management · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Sociology · Statistics · Sustainability · Computer Science · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Mathematics · Psychology · Sustainability in Higher Education · Sustainable Building Design and Assessment · Ecology

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