Kalocsányiová, Erika ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3535-1084, Hassan, Rania, Obojska, Maria and Samuk, Sahizer (2025) Sustainability literacy in non-STEM Higher Education: Insights from a multilingual systematic scoping review of the European Higher Education Area. In: BERA Conference 2025, 9th - 11th September, 2025, University of Sussex.

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Abstract

Higher education institutions play a crucial role in fostering sustainability literacy, defined by the United Nations (2020) as the knowledge, competencies, and mindsets that help compel an individual to become deeply committed to building a sustainable future and allow them to make informed and effective decisions to this end (United Nations, 2020). Sustainability in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has been covered by several systematic reviews, including reviews focused on higher education contexts (e.g., Acosta Castellanos et al., 2021; Thürer et al., 2018). The literature on how to undertake education for sustainable development and foster sustainability literacy more widely in and through non-STEM disciplines however lacks a comprehensive synthesis. To cover this gap, we conducted a multilingual systematic scoping review funded by the Society for Research Into Higher Education (SRHE), the results of which will be presented in this conference contribution.
Systematic scoping reviews serve to chart the main sources and types of evidence pertaining to a specific subject area, and they typically encompass an extensive search and study identification strategy (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005). We conducted searches in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Turkish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Polish in several electronic databases and collections from 2010 to the present, including Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Education Research Complete, APA PsychInfo, CINAHL, Teacher Reference Center, Humanities International Complete, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Studies were also sought in country- and language-specific databases and on Google Scholar. We identified 6161 potentially relevant records, of which 92 studies met the inclusion criteria and will be reviewed in our contribution. These studies collectively involved 11,790 participants and assessed 9,992 university programmes and courses across 25 countries within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
Our review was guided by three core research questions:
• What is the extent and focus of existing research about integrating sustainability and sustainable development into non-STEM programme curricula?
• What are the competencies and knowledge to be acquired?
• How are teaching and learning processes designed and implemented to foster sustainability literacy?
In addition to addressing these questions, we will also highlight in our contribution several critical gaps in current research and the need to engage with knowledge produced in diverse languages and educational contexts to reduce potential bias in study selection and reporting in educational research. This concern is particularly significant given the prevalent geographical bias toward research produced in Anglophone countries, which may limit the current dialogue about higher education for environmental sustainability. Our review gathers perspectives and lessons from international scholarship and thus introduces new ways of thinking about and researching sustainability literacy in higher education. The insights presented will be valuable for researchers, policy makers, and teaching staff in non-STEM programmes who wish to embed sustainability in their courses and lead their students to think critically about the impact they can have within their field of expertise.

Item Type:	Conference or Conference Paper (Speech)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Higher Education, systematic review, sustainability literacy
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) L Education > L Education (General) L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Educational Development Unit Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development > Centre for Thinking and Learning
Last Modified:	12 Sep 2025 16:59
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/51023

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