Analysis of the presence of sustainability in Higher Education Degrees of the Spanish university system

Abstract

This paper analyzes the extent to which sustainability is present in the curricula of the 16 Education Degree programs belonging to the EDINSOST project: 6 Early Childhood Education Degrees, 7 Primary Education Degrees, 2 Pedagogy Degrees and 1 Social Education Degree. The results obtained suggest that sustainability is present in all Degrees, but not uniformly so. A great disparity is observed in the number of subjects that develop sustainability, with an average of 22.63 subjects per Degree. The competency most present is the ‘Application of ethical principles related to the values of sustainability in personal and professional behaviors,’ while the least present is ‘Sustainable use of resources and prevention of negative impacts on the natural and social environment.’ Sustainability is not developed uniformly in the different universities either. Three universities (UAM, UCA and UIC) develop sustainability competencies at 100%, while others such as the USAL do so at only 50%.