This study comprehensively analyzes the alignment of the Technique and Technology curriculum for grades 5–8 in Serbia’s primary education system with key competencies for lifelong learning, following the 2018 Council of the European Union Recommendation. Using a mixed-method approach, specifically a convergent design as outlined by Creswell, this study combines qualitative content analysis with descriptive statistics to assess the distribution of competencies across grades. The integration of qualitative and quantitative data provides a more comprehensive understanding of the curriculum’s alignment with key competencies. Findings reveal an imbalance between theoretical and practical outcomes, particularly in digital literacy, where practical skills are prioritized over theoretical understanding. Similarly, entrepreneurial modules lack activities promoting critical thinking and initiative. The curriculum emphasizes practical skills but needs to improve its theoretical framework, especially in programming and entrepreneurial finance. It also lacks activities that develop positive attitudes, such as innovation and teamwork, which are crucial for lifelong learning. Recommendations include increasing practical Science, Technology, and Engineering (STE) projects, enhancing theoretical content in digital and entrepreneurial modules, and fostering activities that build positive attitudes. Further research is needed to track students’ attitudes towards technology and entrepreneurship across grades and to assess the impact of continuous professional development for educators on effectively integrating these competencies.

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) requires innovative and inclusive approaches that sustain attention, foster engagement, and build digital literacy in primary education. This study examined the impact of Scratch on sustaining attention among third- and fourth-grade students (ages 9–11). A total of 89 students participated, divided into control and experimental groups, to evaluate the effects of integrating Scratch into classroom activities. Data were collected through anonymous surveys with parental consent and analyzed using nonparametric statistical tests. The results showed that Scratch-based instruction enhanced sustained attention, particularly in interactive and digital activities such as active participation, video, and web-based tasks. In contrast, traditional textbook and workbook tasks showed weaker effects. Scratch also reduced common reasons for attention loss, with significant decreases in perceptions of excessive lesson length and loss of interest. Gender differences were minimal, confirming Scratch’s inclusivity, and strong correlations between problem-solving activities indicated that engagement, collaboration, and multimedia tasks mutually reinforce attention. These findings provide empirical support for Scratch as a tool that sustains attention, reduces disengagement, and promotes equity in learning. Although limited by reliance on self-reported data and a single educational context, the study offers evidence that Scratch advances innovative pedagogy aligned with SDG 4.

The energy transition is a process that requires a comprehensive transformation, first of all, of the economy and society, which necessarily aims at achieving a very significant reduction of the negative anthropogenic impact, primarily of the energy sector, on nature, the living and working environment. Special attention is paid to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The process of energy transition requires first of all the use of new technologies, procedures and materials, which rely on innovation, digitization, digital integration and smart management of energy processes using artificial intelligence. Investments of significant material resources, resources of another kind and a change of consciousness of all subjects in the energy sector, but also in society as a whole, are needed. New geopolitical circumstances in the first half of the 21st century indicate that, in addition to goals such as: energy transition and improvement of the state and system of environmental protection, improvement of energy security, achieving energy independence and economic sustainability, the most important goals of the energy policy of the Republic of Serbia remain.

The task of education is to prepare students for the real-life challenges they will face in the business environment, and the subject of technology and engineering is no exception. Considering the rapid changes in the business environment, problem-solving skills are of great importance for both academic and business success. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce innovations in teaching that will equip students for the tasks awaiting them in further education and business settings. This paper explores how educational software can contribute to students acquiring problem-solving skills during technology and engineering classes.

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly available to schools, but evidence on GenAI acceptance and intention to use it among subject teachers in rural primary education remains limited. This study examined behavioral intention to use GenAI among 202 subject teachers teaching Grades 5–8 in rural Serbian primary schools through an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework and semi-structured interviews with 20 survey participants. The initial composite-score regression explained 10.5% of Behavioral Intention variance (R² = 0.105). Performance Expectancy was marginally positive (β = 0.136, p = 0.049) and Facilitating Conditions showed a nominal, unadjusted negative association (β = −0.187, p = 0.009); however, the Performance Expectancy coefficient was no longer nominally significant with HC3 robust standard errors (p = 0.054), and neither coefficient survived Holm correction applied to the HC3 hypothesis-test p-values. Prior GenAI use (83.7%) did not materially change the model. A post hoc PLS-SEM sensitivity analysis, using theory-guided indicator refinement and 10,000 bootstrap resamples, showed composite reliability and convergent-validity indices of CR = 0.820–0.928 and AVE = 0.560–0.865, with low HTMT values (maximum = 0.482). Unadjusted bootstrap intervals suggested a positive Effort Expectancy path and a negative Facilitating Conditions path, but none of the eight hypothesized paths survived family-wise multiplicity correction. Facilitating Conditions also showed severe floor restriction (M = 1.34, maximum = 2.50/5; 52.0% at the minimum), while interviews described infrastructure as a barrier—a qualitative pattern that diverged from the negative coefficient. The findings therefore indicate limited and measurement-sensitive support for transferring an extended UTAUT model to this context and emphasize the need for stronger prospective measurement validation, context-specific constructs, and longitudinal research.

The Law on Energy Efficiency and Rational Use of Energy is harmonized with the regulations in the field of energy efficiency in the EU, which was adopted with the aim of improving certain provisions of the existing Law on Efficient Use of Energy, the aforementioned legal document today represents a key framework for the field of energy efficiency, which determines the precise conditions and methods for the efficient use of energy and energy sources, the policy of efficient use of energy, energy management systems, measures of energy efficiency policy, energy use in buildings, energy activities and end customers, for energy facilities and energy services, energy labeling and requirements in terms of eco-design, financing, incentives and other measures in this area. Due to the need to implement a global framework that would contribute to avoiding dangerous climate changes by limiting global warming to a level well below 2°C, a multilateral process for implementing climate change measures was initiated. At the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21), the Paris Agreement was adopted as the first universal legally binding international agreement on climate change.