Sustainability in education

The aim of the paper is to provide insight into how sustainability in education in schools is addressed within the<br/>research field of environmental and sustainability education (ESE), and insight into central discussions of purposes<br/>and teaching approaches in this field. The concluding discussion in the paper focuses on illuminating how the<br/>Nordic Bildung tradition has influenced the ESE research field.<br/>The paper is based on a discussion of findings from a literature review (Carlsson &amp; Lysgaard 2024). The review<br/>included peer reviewed journal articles as well as dissertations and reports identified as peer-reviewed electronic<br/>resources published in English or Scandinavian languages between January 1997 and December 2022, target<br/>population aged 7–15 (primary school, middle and lower secondary school). It was based on a systematic literature<br/>search of research journal articles was conducted in both international databases such as ERIC PRQUEST, and<br/>Scandinavian research databases. After a screening of duplicates 3634 citations (based on searches in English,<br/>Danish, Norwegian and Swedish), were imported to Covidence systematic review system, where a screening and<br/>selection process took place in two steps: first of title and abstract, where after the selected citations of 150 full<br/>texts where screened and the final selection of 104 studies were included in the literature review.<br/>Although sustainability generally is described as a contested concept in the literature, the three dimensions of the<br/>concept presented in the “Brundtland report” from 1987 - ecological, social and economic sustainability, are often<br/>outlined as a framework that can guide the schools work with sustainability. Nordic publications in the ESE<br/>research field often emphasize the value of going beyond primarily environmental dimensions and including the<br/>other dimensions when teaching sustainability in schools. They often also offer a critique of when the link between<br/>education and sustainable development is addressed as a political interest in continuing economic growth at the<br/>expense of social and ecological considerations. The literature review points out that one of the key questions in<br/>addressing sustainability in education is how to teach in/about/for sustainability based on existing knowledge and<br/>at the same time make room for uncertain knowledge about what challenges the future will bring.<br/>The literature generally emphasizes teaching approaches where pupils can ask open and wondering questions, and<br/>have opportunities for developing action experiences and experiences with participation. One of the main points in<br/>the literature review is that references to democratic formation and Bildung as an overall purpose of ESE, often is<br/>related to teaching across the school subjects, viewed as something that can be realized during periods of projector topic specific teaching. While references to behavior modification purposes are related to subject specific<br/>knowledge- and skills aims, integrated in the regular subject teaching on an ongoing basis. Thus, the organization<br/>of teaching in schools – cross disciplinary versus subjects specific – seems to influence which purposes<br/>sustainability in education is aimed at.<br/>