Integrating ESD Competencies into an Elective Course on Sustainable Consumption Behaviors: A Pedagogical Case Study

In recent years, education for sustainable development has assumed an increasingly important role in shaping the key competences needed to understand and adopt responsible consumption behaviors. In such a context, this article proposes an analysis of the way in which an elective course on Sustainable Consumption Behaviors, introduced recently into a university educational program at a higher education institution in Romania, can create opportunities for engaging students with knowledge and values related to sustainability. The article is built around a case study on the curricular design of the course, examined in relation to the conceptual framework of education for sustainable development and to the UNESCO competences. The analysis maps the teaching assessment activities onto the framework of key sustainability competencies proposed by UNESCO. It presents both the content and architecture of the course, as well as the thematic distribution of the choices made by students for the assessment tasks. The results indicate that students’ assessment choices were predominantly oriented toward applied topics closer to their everyday experiences: food waste, recycling, reuse, organizational practices for promoting sustainable consumption, and others. Overall, these results suggest that pedagogical approaches centered on practical relevance, critical reflection, and creativity may create favorable conditions for engaging with values associated with sustainability. Therefore, through this article, we highlight the real potential that such thematic elective courses could have in strengthening education for sustainable development and sustainable consumption in higher education.