The educative potential of encountering and attending to losses in sustainability transitions

The aim of this article is, through theory, research and practical experiences, to discuss how informal teaching and learning situations exemplified by activities including music plays a part in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The theoretical frame in this article is based on perspectives on informal teaching and learning in music and in general (Green 2002, 2008; Henze, 2009; Folkestad, 2006; Mak, 2007). The tradition in Norwegian ECEC centers has been based on informal learning processes mainly through social interaction, play, dialogs, aesthetical and outdoor activities in everyday life. ECEC teachers challenged to articulate Informal teaching and learning as professional educators. In light of that statement it is introduced, theoretical perspectives and studies of professions (Abbott, 1988; Grimen, 2008; Heggen, 2008; Polanyi, 2002). The author describes and discusses opportunities of music in ECEC centers and how music can contribute learning in informal learning situations. The discussion refers narrative episodes from observations of ECEC practice. Methodology is based on thematic analysis inspired of Riessman (2008) and Polkinghorne (1995).

INTRODUCTION In response to concerns about global warming and climate change (Letcher, 2009), the perceived estrangement of humanity from the natural world (Louv, 2008), and fears that the carrying capacity (1) of the earth will soon reach its limits (Orr, 1992), a growing number of educational scholars have proposed a re-orientation of schooling around the concept of sustainability and its themes (Orr, 1992; Bowers, 1995; Gruenewald & Smith, 2007; Jickling & Wals, 2008; Smith, 2002, 2010; Smith & Williams, 1998; Sobel, 2004; Sterling, 2004). Termed sustainability education, (2) this approach to schooling works to help students acquire the knowledge, values, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs they will need to work toward a more just and ecologically sustainable world (Smith, 2010). More than environmental education, which focuses on the study of natural systems (how they function and how to manage them) (Palmer, 1998), sustainability education incorporates topics and themes related to social, political, cultural, and economic systems, in an effort to help students recognize the complex relationship between humanity and the natural world. Sustainability education also works to examine many of the ideological principles and values found in Western society (e.g., the concepts of dualism and anthropocentrism; the equation of progress with unlimited economic growth), so that students may develop new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving (e.g., thinking systematically, and recognizing that economic growth is bounded by ecological limitations) (Coates, 2008). Although numerous efforts to enact sustainability education have been made around the world, a single, replicable model of sustainability education fails to exist. Sterling (2004) attributes this actuality to the emphasis environmental and sustainability education places on diversity. McKeown-Ice (2000) acknowledges that diversity is a key component of environmental and sustainability education and explains that a single, replicable model of sustainability education would be entirely inappropriate [given its highly localized nature] (p. 12). Without a model to follow or adapt, educators looking to enact sustainability education are left to decide for themselves what this orientation towards education and the school curriculum should look like. Such a process is challenging. It calls for--among other things--an examination of the core knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, skills and behaviors that individuals are expected to possess as inhabitants of a sustainable world. It also calls for an assessment of how one's conceptualizations fit within the traditional and contemporary aims of the field. The purpose of this case study was to examine how the founding members of a secondary charter school designed a comprehensive model for schooling around the concept of sustainability. By focusing on how the founding members created their school, I intended to document both the processes and complexities involved. REVIEW OF LITERATURE A majority of the research conducted on environmental and sustainability education has focused on the effectiveness of this approach to schooling (Lieberman & Hoody, 1998; National Environmental Education Training Foundation, 2000; Volk & Cheak, 2003; Athman & Monroe, 2004; American Institutes of Research, 2005; Chawla, 2007; Power, 2004). This makes sense given that the field is working hard to justify itself and its intentions (Gruenewald & Mantaew, 2007, as cited in Stevenson, 2007; Smith, 2010; Sterling, 2004). Another area of inquiry for the field has been on challenges to program implementation. In particular, several studies have documented the challenges involved with implementing environmental education and sustainability-based programming in the public school setting (Cotton, 2006; Paul & Volk, 2002; Plevyak, Bedixen-Noe, Roth, & Wilke, 2001; Stevenson, 2007; Summers & Kruger, 2003). …

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present education as a driver of transformation amid increasing environmental challenges and inequality. This study maps the global research landscape connecting environmental education and sustainable development through a bibliometric analysis of 2139 English-language articles and reviews in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC; 1990–2024). It identifies leading outlets, institutions, countries/regions, and thematic structures, revealing three growth phases: exploratory (1990–2000), consolidation (2001–2015), and SDG-era expansion (2016–2024). Keyword networks emphasize environmental education, sustainability, ESD/EfS/EEfS, climate change, pro-environmental behavior, curriculum, and teacher education. Geography acts as a bridging discipline, strengthening spatial thinking, place-based inquiry, and local–global linkages. Alignment with SDGs was strongest for Goals 4 and 12–15, whereas Goals 5, 10, 16, and 17 remained underrepresented, revealing equity and governance gaps. Building on International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education (IRGEE) 1992–2009 themes, the analysis highlights continuity in teacher education, sustainability, and GIS/digital tools, alongside post-2010 shifts toward interdisciplinary, SDG-led, future-focused pedagogies oriented toward problem-solving. These findings have practical implications for curriculum design, assessment, and teacher learning, offering a concise, data-rich roadmap of research trends, gaps, and future directions for environmental and sustainability education.

Sickness absence is a common ''prescription'' in health care in many Western countries. Despite the significance of sick-listing for the life situation of patients, physicians have limited training in how to handle sickness-certification cases and the research about sickness-certification practices is scarce. Gain knowledge on physicians' learning regarding management of sickness certification of patients in formal, informal, and non-formal learning situations, respectively, and possible changes in this from 2004 to 2008. Data from two comprehensive questionnaires to physicians in Sweden about their sickness-certification practice in 2004 (n = 7665) and 2008 (n = 36,898); response rates: 71% and 61%, respectively. Answers from all the physicians ≤64 years old and who had sickness certification tasks (n = 4019 and n = 14,210) were analysed. ratings of importance of different types of learning situations for their sickness-certification competence. Few physicians stated that formal learning situations had contributed to a large or fairly large extent to their competence in sickness certification, e.g. undergraduate studies had done that for 17%, internship for 37%, and resident training for 46%, respectively. Contacts with colleagues had been helpful for 65%. One-third was helped by training arranged by social insurance offices. There was a significant increase between 2004 and 2008 in all items related to formal and non-formal learning situations, while there were no changes regarding informal learning situations. This study of all physicians in Sweden shows that physicians primarily attain competence in sickness certification in their daily clinical practice; through contacts with colleagues and patients.

Higher education (HE) has a key role in educating graduates as decision makers and change agents; however, sustainability education (SE) remains on the fringes of mainstream curricula and is conducted on an ad hoc basis. The context of this research is five connected studies that aimed to investigate the influence of SE on tertiary students’ views, knowledge, behaviour, and agency to contribute to sustainability transitions. The mixed-methods study investigated learning for sustainability by focusing on key elements of the “learning system”, namely the learner’s personal context, the teaching context (SE compared to regular education) and learning outcomes. The research was guided by a unique conceptual framework that linked theories in education and learning, environmental psychology, and sustainability transitions. The influence of educational interventions was assessed using online pre-post surveys that consisted of well-established instruments and open-ended questions. Key transversal findings are resistance to SE, converging views and attitudes towards an “anthropocentric environmentalist” perspective, limited empowerment and occasional disempowerment from SE, a focus on personal behaviour change rather than professional action/agency, and a limited incidence of wider agency. Cumulative and deeper learning for sustainability occurred with repetition of SE and a greater connection to a student’s lifeworld. The current ad hoc approach to SE in HE is ineffective in creating widespread agents for change. Influences that foster transformative learning for sustainability and the development of competency and agency for sustainability are identified, and recommendations are provided for educational policy and praxis to enhance student learning and agency for sustainability transitions.

Climate change presents a multifaceted challenge with profound implications across various sectors, necessitating a comprehensive response from educational institutions. This study aims to investigate the perspectives of graduate and professional students at The Ohio State University (OSU) regarding sustainability education within their curriculum and the impact of educational symposiums related to sustainability and climate change. Utilizing a questionnaire at an interprofessional sustainability-focused event, we gathered insights into students' viewpoints on climate change and sustainability, identified potential gaps in integrating these topics into higher education, and observed the role of topic-focused seminars in educational settings. Thirty-six graduate and professional students completed a 28-item questionnaire related to sustainability and climate education after a sustainability-focused event. Only 25% of students felt their academic program offered adequate engagement with climate change, and over 70% of students were either unaware of or did not believe that their specific programs' learning objectives included content related to sustainability and climate. Additionally, 47% did not feel adequately prepared to effectively navigate sustainability-related challenges within their profession. After the event, 94% of students felt that more interprofessional events are needed to better educate students on the effects of climate change on their respective careers. Additionally, 94% of students reported feeling more confident about integrating sustainability into their future professions and felt inspired to lead workshops or webinars of their own. This study highlights the pressing need for enhanced integration of sustainability and climate change education within graduate and professional curricula at academic institutions, while underscoring the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and the role of large-scale educational events in fostering students' understanding and engagement with climate-related topics.

Concerns about the effects of climate change have led to an interest in identifying ways to foster sustainability transitions. In the Global North, a key approach is to eventually eliminate dependence on carbon emitting energy while moving towards renewable sources, including wind power. Since wind farms require vast amounts of land, inevitably this explains the presence of such installations in many rural regions. This situation has alarmed various stakeholders, including those involved in tourism, who see such developments as threats to idyllic notions of rurality and, by default, to the transformation of the countryside for visitor experiences. Through a series of case studies in rural Sweden, we explore the attitudes of tourists towards the presence of wind farms in the landscape. Overall, study respondents recognize the need for such installations since most accept the necessity to embark on sustainable energy transitions. In this way, they understand that many parts of rural Sweden are transforming into spaces where sustainable energy future must be negotiated. Ultimately, sustainability transitions lead to the rethinking of conventional perceptions around rural space and tourism. We suggest that geographical research on sustainability transitions in tourism should account for conceptions of rurality that involve assemblages of imagination, place framing, and power relations in sustainability transitions. This conceptualization is necessary for achieving just and sustainable energy futures.

The challenges of sustainable development (and climate change and peak oil, in particular) demand system-wide transformations in sociotechnical systems of provision. An academic literature around coevolutionary innovation for sustainability has recently emerged as an attempt to understand the dynamics and directions of such sociotechnical transformations, which are termed ‘sustainability transitions’. This literature has previously focused on market-based technological innovations. Here we apply it to a new context of civil-society-based social innovation and examine the role of community-based initiatives in a transition to a low-carbon sustainable economy in the UK. We present new empirical research from a study of the UK's Transition Towns movement (a ‘grassroots innovation’) and assess its attempts to grow and influence wider societal sociotechnical systems. By applying strategic niche management theory to this civil society context, we deliver theoretically informed practical recommendations for this movement to diffuse beyond its niche: to foster deeper engagement with resourceful regime actors; to manage expectations more realistically by delivering tangible opportunities for action and participation; and to embrace a community-based, action-oriented model of social change (in preference to a cognitive theory of behaviour change). Furthermore, our study indicates areas where theory can be refined to better explain the growth and broader impacts of grassroots innovations—namely, through a fuller appreciation of the importance of internal niche processes, by understanding the important role of identity and group formation, and by resolving how social practices change in grassroots innovations.

PurposeSustainability is a major concern in education policies. This paper aims to describe how alternative economic education including concepts of the circular economy (CE), cradle to cradle (C2C) and zero waste can be addressed by teacher education. The author asks to what extent such alternative concepts contribute to sustainability education and transitions and empower students and future teachers, through fieldtrips.Design/methodology/approachFieldtrips to three extracurricular learning places in Graz (Austria) – a plastic waste disposal facility, an upcycling design atelier and a supermarket without packaging – were organized as part of a university seminar on economy and sustainability. Based on student essays reflecting the fieldtrips, this praxeological paper provides insights on how students perceive awareness-raising and innovative responses to mass consumption, recycling/upcycling and waste prevention issues.FindingsIncluding altermatic economic frameworks, such as CE/C2C and zero waste, into teacher education contributes to reflections on the economic growth paradigm and promotes more sustainable futures. In various statements, students highlighted social-ecological change and awareness-raising. They rather focussed on recycling, upcycling and (plastic) packaging than on the problematic eco-efficiency of downcycling.Originality/valueAlternative economic concepts can be addressed and critically reflected in sustainability education, even if rarely taught. Although the extracurricular learning places described offer partial solution from the perspective of degrowth, they can serve as an eye-opener and promote alternative economic education, where students can share experiences, knowledge and creative ideas to engage in sustainability transitions.

The goal of environmental education, according to UNESCO’s Belgrade Charter is to educate the public so that they are aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its associated problems in order to have the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations, and commitment to solve current and future problems. This set of abilities is referred to as environmental literacy. Environmental education curriculum in schools began in the United States in the late nineteenth century as nature studies. It was transformed into conservation education in the 1930s in response to the ecological disaster of the dust bowl. Environmental education in its current form began in the late 1960s and 1970s with the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency. There are a number of positive effects of including environmental topics in school science curricula, such as increasing students’ motivation to learn; connecting the school subjects to students lives; and providing a context of the engagement in the practices of science. However, environmental science typically appears in school curricula in a non-coherent scattering of topics in the traditional science courses: biology, chemistry, and physics. The exceptions are special courses such as Advanced Placement Environmental Science, and magnet, charter, or private schools that have an environmental focus. In addition to school settings, environmental education takes place in informal settings such as aquariums, museums, and zoos; science and nature centres; boys’ and girls’ clubs and scouting; and afterschool and summer programmes. There are areas of focus in environmental education that have received particular attention in recent years. They include environmental justice, climate change, and education for sustainability. Education for environmental justice helps people to learn about and act to eliminate unfair treatment of marginalised or impoverished groups in regard to environmental regulation, and laws. Climate change education brings to the forefront the learning of climate science, and ways to mitigate the production of greenhouse gases and the effects of global warming. Education for sustainability tackles the somewhat conflicting goals of increasing the quality of life for all people and doing so in a way that can be sustained for generations into the future, while considering not only the environment but economic and social policies as well. As with more general approaches to environmental education, these special topics are usually not addressed in school curricula or in ways that are piecemeal and even capricious.

Sustainability education in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland) relates to fields such as education for sustainable development, environmental education, and the bridging concept of environmental and sustainability education as used in both Nordic and European research communities. It also draws upon insights from, for example, climate change education, science education, and outdoor education but stresses that the key concept is sustainability and its role in the educational landscape across research, practice, and policy in the Nordic countries. Sustainability education in the Nordic countries covers a wide spectrum, as the countries share similarities in national and regional approaches to education, curriculum, and pedagogy but continue to be informed by different cultural and geographical reference points regarding how and why sustainability should be part of the full range of formal, nonformal, and informal educational approaches and activities. From early childhood to all branches of lower, secondary, vocational, and higher education and lifelong learning activities, it is possible to find emphases that link to sustainability agendas and their role in education in the Nordic countries. By the mid-2020s, sustainability education in the Nordic countries was marked by strong theoretical traditions such as action competence and pluralist teaching traditions and by the rapid development of the field. Interest in aspects of policy, practice, and research has been strengthening since the late 2010s across the Nordic countries, as sustainability is stressed as a crucial factor across all levels of education in policy and legislature. This has led to a revitalization of established approaches and inspiring development in, for example, Norway, Iceland, and Finland, as the need for more knowledge and applicable approaches leads to educational, didactic, and pedagogical experimentation and the development of new standards in sustainability education. The traditional link among issues inherited from environmental education and critical approaches that infuse Bildung (formation in and through education) in democracy and participation continues to be a guiding characteristic among the established and emerging approaches to sustainability education in the Nordic countries.

Sustainability education often aims to empower individuals to help lead society toward more environmentally and socially responsible ways of living. This paper offers an alternative approach to addressing the challenges of adult learning in sustainability transitions. Rather than learning for sustainability, the processes of learning from sustainability discourses are explored. The paper provides conceptual and methodological insights into using a biographical approach to advance research in adult education and social change. Two empirical examples are provided to illustrate how individuals reframe sustainability and turn it from a public concern to a personal one, thereby developing a sense of agency. The concept of biographical learning is central, as it suggests that narrating and reflecting on one’s life trajectory in the broader context of sustainability discourses can facilitate learning to understand, address, and remain an actor of one’s own life in these times of rapid social change.

A new role for anaesthetists in environmentally-sustainable healthcare.

During the last decade there has been an awakening interest in considering not only formalised learning situations within institutional settings, but also all the various forms of informal musical learning practices outside schools. Informal musical learning outside institutional settings has been shown to contribute to important knowledge and aspects of music education. In this article, I will examine research studies which in different ways focus on formal and informal learning situations and practices or formal and informal ways of learning. I will consider the relationship between music education as praxis (music pedagogy) and as research, and the relationship between these two facets of music education and the surrounding society. I will identify four different ways of using and defining formal and informal learning, respectively, either explicitly or implicitly, each one focusing on different aspects of learning: (i) the situation, (ii) learning style, (iii) ownership, and (iv) intentionality. Formal – informal should not be regarded as a dichotomy, but rather as the two poles of a continuum; in most learning situations, both these aspects of learning are in various degrees present and interacting. Music education researchers, in order to contribute to the attainment of a multiplicity of learning styles and a cultural diversity in music education, need to focus not only on the formal and informal musical learning in Western societies and cultures, but also to include the full global range of musical learning in popular, world and indigenous music in their studies.

Environmental and climate change education in Romania from the perspective of international and national strategies in the field. On any society’s way towards sustainable development education plays a fundamental role, by providing knowledge and shaping attitudes. Over the last decades, the education for sustainable development has been increasingly addressed by specific policies at different levels – international, European, national. In this context, this paper aims to briefly review strategies/programs/plans regarding the education for sustainable development at all these levels, with a focus on those in Romania. In order to do this, we surveyed the websites of the UN, the EU, the Ministry of Education and Research of Romania, and read the representative documents on the subject, with the aim of situating developments in the field in Romania in a more general framework, and identifying specific national elements. If internationally, concerns and policies in this field are well-established, in Romania they only date back to the year 2018, as a response to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, culminating in 2022 in the development of a strategy for environmental and climate change education. As a way to implement this strategy, the “Green Week” program was introduced in all primary and secondary schools in the country. Keywords: education for sustainable development, environmental education, climate change, education for environmental sustainability, Romania