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Public administration, or the implementation of public policies by civil servants, will be central to implementing the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. And yet, few American master of public administration (MPA) programs explicitly focus on sustainable development or sustainability literacy. This study asks whether it is possible to build professional sustainability literacy within a general MPA course, specifically in a course on quantitative methods.

Through a natural experiment conducted in three sections of the graduate course Quantitative Methods in Public Administration at UNC Wilmington, the study explores the relationship between student growth in professional sustainability literacy and a student’s level of foundational sustainability literacy, pro-environmental behavior, background knowledge in statistics and their interest in sustainable development within public administration.

The study finds that there is a statistically significant relationship between growth in a student’s professional sustainability literacy and two variables: above average foundational sustainability literacy and a high level of interest in sustainability policies and programs.

This study is the first to consider an embedded approach to sustainability education in the field of public administration.

This study aims to assess the current knowledge and awareness of environmental and sustainable development of Nigerian students by investigating the influence of their sociodemographics.

This study adapts the concept of using an assessment model in a bespoke application of Sulitest® and Assessment of Student Knowledge. A total of 650 undergraduate students (in the environment, engineering and agriculture programs) were administered a paper-based questionnaire from June to July 2019.

This study determined that Nigerian students performed poorly on the sustainability literacy test (SLT). Furthermore, students majoring in agriculture exhibited higher knowledge in the social and overall topics, followed by students majoring in the environmental field. From the study findings, the authors recommend that periodic assessment using SLT measures will help higher education institutions (HEIs) identify targeted sustainability programs for the development of students and educators. Hence, HEIs in Nigeria and elsewhere should use sustainability assessment tools to promote pro-environmental awareness.

The SLT is one of several options to assess sustainability knowledge in HEIs. Several HEIs across the USA and Europe have been known to adopt some SLT assessment techniques to improve environmental literacy among students. However, environmental literacy has global implications; hence, this study contributes to the limited body of literature investigating the level of environmental awareness or literacy among university students from a developing country, focusing on the three main study programs (agriculture, environment and engineering).

Indonesia is one of the largest developing countries in the world and is a profitable market for investors. Small and medium-sized businesses are one of the business activities that contribute to the improvement of the Indonesian economy. This study examines the influence of government policies on financial literacy and the impact of financial literacy on small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) sustainability. It employs the resource-based view (RBV) and knowledge-based view (KBV) to develop conceptual models. The model is tested with data collected from 132 SMEs in Malang-East Java, Indonesia, in 2020 through a structured questionnaire. This study uses the G-Power version 3.1 software for initial analysis and the partial least square (PLS) analysis method to test this hypothesis. The results show that government policies positively affect SMEs’ sustainability, and financial literacy positively affects SMEs’ sustainability. This implies that government policy and financial literacy are essential factors for SMEs’ resources and knowledge for business sustainability.

The purpose of this study was to explore college students’ understanding of sustainability and, specifically, the extent to which students see social justice as being integral to sustainability.

Between fall 2015 and 2017, an online survey study was deployed to students at a Midwestern University in the USA to assess attitudes and concerns about environmental issues and awareness of the university’s activities related to these issues. This analysis included ten assessment items from a larger study, of which 1,929 participants were included in the final sample. A chi-square goodness-of-fit and variable cluster analysis were performed on the included items.

Items such as “recycling,” “economic viability” and “fair treatment of all” were identified as integral to the concept of sustainability, while items such as “growing organic vegetables” and “reducing meat consumption” had high levels of “not applicable” and “don’t know” responses, with differences arising across gender and class standing. Social justice-related items were seen as more distally connected to sustainability.

This study is limited by a non-random sample of students.

College students tend not to recognize the integral nature of social justice or the relevance of food to sustainability, providing an opportunity for universities to better prepare their students for a sustainable future.

Universities might adopt policies and curricula that address these areas of ignorance.

This study is among the first to identify specific areas of college students’ lack of understanding about sustainability.

The purpose of this editorial is to provide some context to this special issue and explain how the authors are linking sustainability and digital literacy.

Making reference to relevant literature, the paper explores how the four case studies, all written by practitioners, adopt particular approaches to learning for sustainability.

Driven by personal commitment to the sustainability agenda, the authors have found their own routes to developing effective learning for their own students or for general audiences via massive open online courses (MOOCs). Their initiatives have limited reach at present, but all signal the growing commitment within higher education to sustainability as a subject of study and pedagogic approach in teaching and learning, and to the development of digital literacy.

Digital pedagogies can support sustainability literacy by facilitating the convenient delivery of content and also by facilitating networked and collaborative learning that can cross the boundaries of culture and context.

A sustainable future requires that we empower our children to not only make green consumer choices but also consider the wider issues of sustainable consumption. This paper aims to investigate suitable measures to evaluate children’s sustainable consumption and production (SCP) knowledge, attitudes and behaviour and develop and test intervention content aimed at improving literacy in this area.

A mixed method approach was adopted to develop measurement and intervention materials for SCP. 21 Year Eight (12-13-year-old) New Zealand children participated in one-hour focus groups where they completed scales to measure their sustainable consumption attitudes two major environmental values, behaviours The middle school environmental literacy survey and knowledge and participated in discussions to evaluate the SCP knowledge intervention content and questions developed.

A qualitative analysis of group discussion was used to test the understandability, perceived usefulness and level of difficulty of the intervention booklet to inform its further development. The results show children’s (prior) knowledge score was highly correlated with their attitudes, and attitudes were highly correlated with both intention and behaviour scores. The paired t tests demonstrated significant differences in the pre- and post-intervention knowledge scores.

The measures and intervention content piloted in this study fill an important gap in existing literature, addressing the lack of appropriate measures and resources to encourage and enhance children’s important role in contributing to a sustainable consumption future.

The development of a measurable intervention will enable the establishment of a platform for the continued and participatory development of sustainable consumption and production resources for children.

This paper seeks to analyse the hypothesis that sustainability is destined to become the operating paradigm for construction education in the UK.

An international literature review is used to assess the relationship between sustainability and the built environment. The viewpoints of the construction‐related professions are examined by analysing the accreditation policies of key professional bodies and through a survey of public sector‐based UK building professionals. International and national policy initiatives on educating for sustainability are reviewed and a survey of UK universities delivering construction degrees is used to explore the environmental content of construction courses. A brief case study describes recent efforts to systematically embed sustainability within construction education.

The sustainability agenda and construction are intricately linked. The rationale, therefore, for embedding sustainability within the construction curriculum is powerful. Strong policy drivers for embedding sustainability in the curriculum also exist, but the response from construction educators is thus far patchy. However, the case study demonstrates that integrating sustainability issues within construction courses is readily achievable.

The findings will influence policy decisions taken by educators and professional bodies seeking to respond to the fast‐developing sustainability agenda.

This research demonstrates the rationale for systematically embedding sustainability within the construction curriculum to the benefit of professionals, professional bodies and educators.

Food literacy is a multidimensional concept that prioritises the aspects individuals require to navigate the contemporary foodscape successfully. The study aims to map the knowledge base and intellectual structure of the concept of food literacy to assess if the most cited definitions reflect these constructs.

The inclusion criteria of full-text, peer-reviewed articles or conference papers, in English, using “food literacy” within the title, abstract, keywords or linked to the research focus produced 538 articles from the Scopus database from its inception until January 31, 2023. Articles were analysed according to exponential growth, geolocations, authors, articles, research areas and keywords using VOSviewer, CiteSpace and Excel.

Food literacy research grew exponentially between 2012 and 2022 at a rate of 50% and spanned 62 research areas, with nutrition and dietetics being the most common. Vidgen and Gallegos were the most cited authors of the most cited article, and Australia was the most influential food literacy research geolocation. Research originating from developing countries within Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America was underrepresented, and COVID-19 impacted research trends between 2020 and 2023.

It is recommended to link “food literacy” to appropriate publications to increase its visibility and that food literacy be redefined and conceptualised to better reflect its intellectual structure. To complete this task, further research guided by keyword clustering can enhance conceptual understanding.

This study provides new insight into the knowledge base and intellectual structure of food literacy and provides scope for future research to develop the concept further.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate ICT literacy differences in trainee student teachers from the view of sexuality.

In the research, sender differences in self‐reported ICT experience and ICT literacy among first year graduate trainee teachers were investigated. The questionnaires were made available in two forms: printed and online. Also, dynamic model of ICT literacy was employed. Three main components of aspiring teachers' ICT literacy were covered: present general problem‐solving and technical ICT capabilities; situational and longitudinal sustainability; and transferability of ICT capabilities into future professional domain.

Results show no significant differences were found between females' and males' previous experience with ICT. However, males on average worked with computers significantly more hours per week than females. Significant differences between males' and females' technical ICT capabilities and situational and longitudinal sustainability were observed. Males' scores were higher. In the regression analysis, when the impact of the background and ICT experience variables was controlled, gender failed to be a significant predictor of the sustainability scores. However, it remained a significant predictor of some trainee teachers' scores, related to their technical ICT capabilities.

This paper adds to the literature on the evaluation of ICT literacy differences in trainee student teachers from the view of sexuality and will be of interest to those in the field.