The labor market is facing accelerating changes due to ecological challenges and the related increasing efforts towards sustainable development. Preparing learners for the world of work now requires an understanding of what skills workers will need to adequately address these changes. To deal with this issue, the research community has started to define “sustainability competences” and “green skills” to support educationalists and decision-makers to better manage the impact of sustainability on future jobs. However, in the current literature, the difference between “sustainability competences” and “green skills” is not clear. The aim of this article is to highlight the differences between the two concepts in order to support the dialogue between the various disciplines that address these topics. This paper is a scoping review that provides an outline of the scientometric analyses of publications in the field of sustainability, from the earliest in 1998 up to July 2023. Although the terms are interrelated, using the R package for analysis shows that “green skills” tends to refer more to specific environmental technical skills, while “sustainability competences” are primarily defined as key competences to promote the different dimensions of sustainability, i.e., competences useful for holistic human development

Flexibility is increasingly recognized as a key competence in addressing current challenges and transitions. It is a multidimensional construct, discussed across various disciplines, encompassing cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dimensions. The European LifeComp framework offers one of the most recent and comprehensive definitions of this competence, emphasizing its role in enabling individuals to adapt to uncertainty, manage complexity, and foster transformative learning. This study investigates the assessment tools available to evaluate flexibility competence, focusing on their alignment with the LifeComp framework. A systematic literature review was conducted using the Scopus and WoS databases, based on inclusion criteria for language, publication type, disciplinary area, research topic, and target population, identifying 22 eligible articles. Following a quality assessment of the articles, a critical analysis revealed the presence of 22 tools and scales, including the actively open-minded thinking (AOT) scale, the resistance to change (RTC) scale, and the flexible thinking in learning (FTL) questionnaire. The findings show overlaps among flexibility and related constructs, such as learning agility and intellectual humility. However, most tools are context-specific and fail to address the multidimensional nature of flexibility competence. Future research should prioritize the development of comprehensive instruments to support educational initiatives, policy development, and professional training.

Urban education systems are increasingly experimenting with place‑based learning communities (LCs) to respond to growing socio‑ecological complexity. Yet empirical research on how such initiatives are organized, governed, and enacted in practice remains limited. This study situates Vienna’s Bildungsgrätzl (BG) initiative within this emerging field of distributed, school‑anchored LCs, addressing the conceptual ambiguities and governance tensions that characterize comparable models internationally. Drawing on semi‑structured expert interviews (N = 16) with educational leaders and stakeholders from seven BGs, we analyze how BGs evolve, how collaboration is structured across formal, non‑formal and informal institutions and how actors negotiate the initiative’s values, governance roles and everyday practices. The findings indicate that BGs combine bottom‑up engagement with light municipal scaffolding, shifting over time from loosely connected Communities of Practice to more intentionally coordinated Communities of Learners. The analysis identifies key mechanisms—hybrid governance configurations, cross‑institutional role distribution and activities that bridge school-community boundaries—that enable BGs to function as extended learning systems embedded in the city’s Smart Climate Strategy. The study contributes new empirical insights into how local LCs can be organized within urban governance structures while retaining local agency, illuminating both the innovative potential and the structural constraints of the BG model. These findings offer transferable lessons for policymakers and educators seeking to establish sustainable, community‑rooted educational networks in other urban contexts.

Introduction: This paper examines flexibility competence, conceptualized within the LifeComp European competence framework, as a transformative competence supporting education for sustainable development and transition processes in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Veneto region of Italy. In a labor market characterized by rapid technological innovations and global crises affecting all professional sectors, defining key competences for future jobs in line with sustainable development has become increasingly urgent. The socio-ecological system theory considers workplaces as evolving ecosystems where organizational and educational practices foster transformative learning and integral well-being across individual, organizational, community, and broader system levels. The study explores the relationship between workers' flexibility competence and the transition toward sustainable development, with the aim of identifying possible educational and organizational practices to promote the generation of alternative future scenarios. Methods: Using a parallel mixed-methods multiple case study design across five case studies, this research integrates quantitative survey data and qualitative interviews. Results: Flexibility emerges as a transformative rather than merely adaptive competence, enabling shifts in habits of mind and mitigating the risks of superficial compliance or greenwashing practices. Discussion: The study contributes to the literature on flexibility competence, indicating its central role in sustainable development transition, despite the lack of formal codification within existing sustainability competence frameworks. It further positions SMEs as educational environments for lifelong learning and strategic actors in local transitions, outlining policy and practice implications that prioritize agency and capability development, reflective and experiential learning (e.g., problem-based and research-based learning), evaluation and monitoring with workers' involvement, and mentoring strategies that foster intergenerational learning.