Education for Sustainable Development: A Study in Adolescent Perception Changes Towards Sustainability Following a Strategic Planning-Based Intervention—The Young Persons’ Plan for the Planet Program

Chambers Ian, Roberts John, Urbaniak Suzy, Gibson David, Durant Graham, Cerini Bobby, Maulloo Aman, Kamudu Applasawmy Bhamini, Barrett Rees, Nelson Charles, Robson Heather, Sangha Kamaljit, Russell-Smith Jeremy, Flintoff Kim, Buchholz Joel, Stafford Smith Mark and Gordon Iain James
Additional contact information
Chambers Ian: Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Roberts John: UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Urbaniak Suzy: CoRE Learning Foundation, Perth, WA 6101, Australia
Gibson David: Learning Futures, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Durant Graham: Questacon, Canberra, ACT 2604, Australia
Cerini Bobby: Inspiring Australia, Canberra, ACT 2604, Australia
Maulloo Aman: Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre, Port Louis 11202, Mauritius
Kamudu Applasawmy Bhamini: Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre, Port Louis 11202, Mauritius
Barrett Rees: United Nations Australia Association, Perth, WA 6000, Australia
Nelson Charles: Forseechange, Brunswick, VIC 3056, Australia
Robson Heather: College of Science & Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia
Sangha Kamaljit: Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research (DCBR), Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT 0810, Australia
Russell-Smith Jeremy: Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research (DCBR), Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT 0810, Australia
Flintoff Kim: Learning Futures, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Buchholz Joel: Pimlico High School, Townsville, QLD 4812, Australia
Stafford Smith Mark: CSIRO Land & Water, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Gordon Iain James: Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 20, 1-20

Abstract: In 2016, the United Nations (UN) launched the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for sustainable development and a sustainable future. However, the global challenge has been to engage, connect, and empower communities, particularly young people, to both understand and deliver the 17 SDGs. In this study, we show the benefit of a strategic planning-based experiential learning tool, the Young Persons’ Plan for the Planet (YPPP) Program, to improve the underlying competencies of Australian and Mauritian adolescents in increasing understanding and delivering the SDGs. The study was conducted with 300 middle to senior high school students, in 25 schools throughout Australia and Mauritius, over an 18-month period. The intervention included the development of research, strategic planning, management, STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, Maths) and global competency skills in the students, to enable them to build and deliver regional and national SDG plans. Research methods included pre- and post-intervention testing of the attitudes of these students to sustainable development outcomes and compared these attitudes to subsets of scientists and the Australian national population. Our results, from both qualitative and quantitative evidence, demonstrate significant improvements in these adolescents’ appreciation of, and attitudes towards, the SDGs and sustainable outcomes, across a range of key parameters. The results from the 76 students who attended the International Conference in Mauritius in December 2018 demonstrate significant improvements in mean levels of understanding, and attitudes of the students towards the SDGs awareness (+85%), understanding/engagement (+75%), motivation (+57%), and action orientation/empowerment (+66%). These changes were tested across a range of socio-demographic, geographic, and cultural parameters, with consistent results. These findings have significant implications for the challenge of sustainable education and achieving community engagement and action towards the SDGs in Australia and Mauritius, particularly for young people. As the intervention can be replicated and scaled, the findings also highlight the opportunity to extend both the research and this type of experiential learning intervention across both broader geographies and other generation and community segments.

Keywords: sustainability; sustainable development; education; UN SDGs; management education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5817/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/20/5817/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:20:p:5817-:d:278448

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().