Since the incorporation of competence-based learning in the European Higher Education Area, advancing competence-oriented assessment tools in sustainability is both a challenge and a necessity. The purpose of this study is the design and validation of an instrument to assess learning about sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals among students in the Bachelor’s Degrees in Education at the University of Salamanca and the University of Seville, spain.
The procedure for designing, validating, creating and exploring the instrument is described in five phases. An 18-item ad hoc questionnaire was designed to analyse students’ self-conceptions about the development of four sustainability competencies. Six competency units and three levels of acquisition were identified: knowledge (conceptual learning), know-how (practical skills) and doing (demonstration in action and transferability to real-life situations). The sample included 188 students from the two universities.
The learning of sustainability competencies by pupils is not very significant in relation to the social and environmental demands required now and in the near future to restore planetary balance. This paper provides a valid and reliable instrument for assessing sustainability competencies and for finding out what university students in the Bachelor’s Degree in Education know about sustainability. Furthermore, it argues that fostering coherent and quality learning about sustainability requires educational institutions to work on sustainability in their day-to-day work, permeating all activities and actions carried out.
An empirical study investigated the perceptions of first-year Gracods education students on the acquisition of four sustainability competencies, considering three levels of acquisition (Knowing, Knowing how to do and Doing). This study provides insights into education for sustainable development (ESD) teaching and learning approaches and the assessment of ESD outcomes. It also points out the importance of operationalising sustainability competencies in an assessment tool that can help measure their development. It gives a glimpse of how current pedagogical approaches contribute or not to the development of sustainability competencies. This is crucial to adjust teaching methodologies, making them more participatory, integrative and linked to the socio-environmental reality that future teachers will face, highlighting the urgency for future teachers to develop solid competencies to face environmental challenges.
