The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development clearly reflects the urgency to embed the principles of education for sustainable development (ESD) into all levels of education. ESD, understood as an integral part of quality education and all educational institutions, from preschool to higher education and in nonformal and informal education, can and should foster the development of sustainability competencies. This Special Issue entitled “Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development” responds to this urgency and the papers presented deliver recent developments in the field of ESD competencies. They focus on various perspectives: systematic literature reviews; curriculum developments; meta-analysis of the interrelation between sustainability content, competencies developed and pedagogical approaches used; testing and validation of evaluation tools and processes for sustainability competencies; and the development of conceptual models focused on different subject areas and educational levels (higher education, primary education, rural schools, external support services to schools, and extracurricular activities). The contributions indicate how the field of ESD competencies in the area of sustainability has become a major focus in recent years. Further research efforts need to be put into operationalizing sustainability competencies and developing tools to measure and evaluate students’ and educators’ competencies development.

Goal 4 of the Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs) is aimed at working towards quality in education. Universities have an important role in teaching sustainability principles. Yet, which methods are effective for engaging students in understanding the importance of sustainable development and introducing them to new perspectives to make changes? The methodology of the flipped classroom is a possible alternative for the pedagogic renovation. This is known as an information-based environment in which teachers provide a variety of learning resources so that students can complete the knowledge transfer process before the class. Once inside classroom, teachers and students can complete the internalization of knowledge by answering questions, and through collaborative consultations and interactive exchanges, among others. A survey of 154 students taught by flipped classroom methodology was conducted in order to analyze whether this helps with learning about sustainable development. The results show the active and reflexive learning from flipped classroom methodology makes students more committed to sustainable development. This research would be useful to anyone interested in applying the flip the class teaching methodology as an integrated form of thinking and training in the curriculum of sustainable development for higher education students.

This paper aims to present a narrative of the outcome of an extensive historical literature review of global policy development and processes concerning the emergence, efficacy, and eminence of susta...

Conventional educational settings struggle with enabling students to acquire competence in collectively solving sustainability problems. Such competen…

La educación en la transición a la Sostenibilidad

Education for sustainable development is an evolving concept aimed at providing an understanding of the relationship between sustainable development issues and the development of knowledge, skills, perspectives and values, which will enable people of all ages to commit themselves to creating a sustainable future. The aim of the study is the development of a widely applicable model of e-learning, which consists of seven consecutive levels of professional and personal development and is conceptually associated with a self-regulation strategy. The methodological core of such model creation is the theory of niche construction. Its application to the understanding of the systemic educational process allowed the assumption that, under the evolutionary pressure of the educational environment, a person is engaged in self-learning and self-development processes. Thus, needing to adapt to the educational niche’s interaction, the individual affects its development through active inclusion in the training process, showing a personal evolutionary impulse. The system, in turn, affects one’s individual growth through the socialization of his/her personal and professional qualities. The scientific novelty of this article lies in the proposed widely applicable, presumably universal model of distance education, which consists of seven levels of professional development. The results show progress in students’ mastery of skills, which are an integral part of education for sustainable development (ESD), namely, foresight, critical thinking and reflection, systemic thinking, building partnerships, and participating in decision-making. This article also demonstrates the existing functionality of platforms that technologically support the educational process, indicates their strengths and defines areas for further improvement and development within the framework regarding the concept of education for sustainable development. The study outcomes confirm the effectiveness of a universal distance education model for the stable professional growth of tourism and hospitality staff. Thus, it is advisable to implement the model’s conceptual structure into educational programs of modern e-learning systems. Supposed universality of the model opens up the possibility of its use in almost all fields for training personnel.