Teaching Sustainability in European Higher Education Institutions: Assessing the Connections between Competences and Pedagogical Approaches

TLDR

Higher education has increasingly integrated sustainable development into curricula, yet the link between pedagogical approaches and the cultivation of sustainability competences remains underexplored. This study aimed to examine how sustainability is taught, which competences are developed, and which pedagogical approaches are employed across European higher education institutions. A survey grounded in the “connecting sustainable development pedagogical approaches to competences” framework was distributed to over 4,000 contacts, yielding 390 complete responses (9.8 %). Results revealed that the social dimension was addressed in only 18 % of cases, while economic, environmental, and cross‑cutting dimensions were similarly covered; correlation analyses linked stronger pedagogical approaches to higher competence levels and greater sustainability contributions, informing an updated framework for more effective competence development.

Abstract

There has been considerable progress in the incorporation of sustainable development (SD) into higher education institutions’ curricula. This has included research on competences for SD and pedagogical approaches used; however, there has been limited research on the connection between how pedagogical approaches are used and how they may develop sustainability competences. A survey was developed, based on the ‘connecting sustainable development pedagogical approaches to competences’ framework, to investigate sustainability being taught, sustainability competences developed, and pedagogical approaches used in European higher education institutions. The survey was sent to a database of more than 4000 contacts from which 390 complete responses (9.80%) were obtained. The results show that the social dimension was the least addressed at 18% of responses, while the economic, environmental, and cross-cutting dimensions were addressed almost equally. The correlation analyses showed a relation between the contribution to sustainability and the strength of competences, and between the strength of competences and the strength of pedagogical approaches. The results from the survey helped to update the theoretical framework, which provides a more precise perspective on how sustainability competences can be better developed in class, and how to better develop all the sustainability competences.