Educational research has been highlighting the importance of defining key competencies and learning outcomes related to education for sustainability as a reference for the transparent evaluation of students’ learning in this domain. Drawing on a reference framework that identifies five key competencies in sustainability (i.e., systems-thinking competency, anticipatory competency, normative competency, strategic competency, and interpersonal competency), the study reported in this paper aims to understand whether, how, and to what extent these competencies are present in doctoral theses in Higher Education published in Portugal in the past ten years. To address this objective, a qualitative study framed in an interpretative paradigm was conducted, and a literature review was used as a preferential research method to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge. The retrieved documents were treated using deductive content analysis, which was performed using WebQDA software. Results of the analysis show that the competencies considered in the reference framework are present in research on education for sustainability carried out in recent years in Portugal, with a greater emphasis on strategic and anticipatory competencies. Findings suggest that it is important to continue to conduct research on these competencies to successfully integrate them into educational curricula and teacher education programs.

Purpose: The research aims to evaluate whether this educational approach is being implemented in a Portuguese public university and looking for explicit references to education for sustainable development (ESD) in the online descriptions of course units (CU). Design/methodology/approach: The research design adopted for this qualitative research follows the principles of a case study with exploratory, multiple and collective features. Findings: It was possible to find direct matches with key ESD expressions in fifteen of CU. In addition, nine CU were identified in the second stage of analysis of the teacher training master programmes. Research limitations/implications: One of the limitations of this study which the authors identified, and which was responsible for considerably reducing the probability of finding matches, was that only results in which the key expressions appeared in the description of the CU in exactly the same form as in the research instrument were recorded. Practical implications: The need for an educational programme for teachers to be developed and implemented in the near future. Social implications: A training workshop will be proposed with the main aim of supporting teaching staff in making the necessary shift in their pedagogical practices to include a ESD orientation in their CU. Originality/value: The instrument eveloped that appears in Appendix - Analysis Tool with key ESD expressions.

Neste artigo temos como principal finalidade contribuir, através da análise reflexiva de perspetivas avançadas por diferentes autores (Allal, 2004; Alonso, 2006; Escamilla, 2009; Jonnaert, 2002; Le Boterf, 2005; Legendre, 2000; Perrenoud, 1999, 2001; Roldão, 2005a; Rychen & Tiana, 2005; entre outros),para a clarificação da noção de competência, assumindo uma perspetiva integrada e sistémica do conceito. Pretendemos, deste modo, colaborar para o esclarecimento de uma perspetiva global e integradora desta noção, que assuma as suas múltiplas dimensões, conteúdos e elementos no sentido da sua utilização partilhada, de modo mais incidente no domínio da Educação. Para tal, após uma curta introdução, o presente artigo defende a importância da clarificação conceptual da noção de competência, apresenta uma breve evolução do conceito e sistematiza as principais divergências e convergências encontradas nos entendimentos avançados pelos autores analisados.Palavras-chaveCompetência; Evolução do conceito; Perspetiva integrada e sistémica

Quality education is an indispensable element for the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as it equips all children with the essential skills to promote sustainable development within the context of their lifestyles, in line with the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4). This will have to be an innovative education, not only in the contents and guidelines to be followed but also in the educational strategies and resources to be used. This article aims to present and describe the methodology used to develop the digital educational resource (DER) “Sustainability at Play,” a serious game intended for primary education and based on the concept of the ecological footprint. This DER was developed through educational design research (EDR) by a multidisciplinary team within a project to create Digital Educational Resources for Primary Education. The EDR approach was organized in four phases—Phase I—Problem Analysis, Phase II—Exploration of Possible Solutions, Phase III—Design, and Phase IV—Reflection—allowing for an iterative DER development process shared by different participants (researchers, illustrators, web designers, primary school teachers and students). As a result, this study enabled not only the development of an innovative DER to work on issues related to education for sustainability in primary school but also the understanding and validation of the suitability of the EDR methodology for the development of this type of educational resource.

This study aims to identify and characterize the understanding of the concept of Sustainable Development in the official scientific educational documents of basic education in Portugal. Methodologically, it is a qualitative study that fits into the interpretive paradigm; its implementation is based on an interpretative-descriptive strategy of exploratory nature. The study involved the organization of the analysis corpus and the subsequent content analysis of the selected documents. The documents included in this corpus are the official educational documents on the teaching and learning of Natural Sciences in Basic Education (1st to 9th grade—ages 6 to 15): the Essential Learning and two transversal documents (the Student Profile on Leaving Compulsory Schooling and the Environmental Education Framework for Sustainability). The obtained results show that these documents frame and guide the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development, in all its dimensions, throughout basic education. However, this does not happen in an equitable way, neither in all documents nor in all years of schooling.

Science education plays a key role in promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the training of informed and participatory citizens committed to the management of our planet and its resources. This work presents the design and assessment of an In-Service Teacher Education Program (ISTEP) through an Educational Design Research approach aiming at developing skills that make it possible to operationalize the experimental practical teaching of science topics, within the scope of ESD, in an articulated, coherent, and progressive way throughout Basic Education. It was implemented with 14 teachers from the three cycles of Portuguese Basic Education (ages 6–15), and focused on “Soils”. An integrated set of activities and respective didactic resources were co-built (the trainer-researcher with the in-service teachers) with a progressive, systematic, and sequential vision of the “Soils” theme. The content analysis of the teachers’ answers to questionnaires and during the final reflection point to an improvement in their practices regarding the ability to plan and design didactic resources on science topics from a Sustainable Development perspective. This ISTEP can be adapted to other themes and educational contexts, namely through close cooperation on education issues, which is one of the lines of action of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.