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Physical education has been described as an essential material to contribute to sustainable development. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the proficiency of higher education students in the three dimensions of sustainable development. This paper aims to analyse both the competences associated with the sustainability of preservice physical education teachers and the curriculum's influence on them.

In total, 341 students (112 women) completed the validated Physical Education for Sustainable Development – Future Teacher PESD-FT questionnaire. This instrument assesses sustainable competences in its three dimensions (social, economic and environmental). In order to determine the influence of the curriculum on sustainability competences, the academic year studied was used as a variable. Variables such as gender, age and competitive experience in institutionalised sport were also considered in the statistical analysis.

The results showed that the total set of students scored above average in their self-perception of competences associated with sustainable development in all three dimensions. The Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis statistics showed no differences attributed to gender and grade, respectively.

This could help to rule out the influence of the curriculum as the main factor in the acquisition of these sustainable competences. However, greater competitive experience in institutionalised sports was associated with greater proficiency in social competence within sustainable development.

The aim of this personal vision research is to analyse the characteristics of physical education subject to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the development of competences in university students. The objective is to reflect on how critical and systemic thinking could be mobilised through the contents and methodologies in physical education to promote the SDGs.

A conceptual article is proposed in which an active investigation of how physical education could foster critical and systemic thinking has been carried out. For this purpose, articles were selected that have analysed the potential of physical education for sustainability. Databases such as Web of Science, Scopus or Google Scholar have been reviewed through keywords such as “physical education”, “sustainability”, “critical thinking” or “systems thinking”.

Strategies are presented to enable university students to understand the scope of the subject beyond the physical dimension. This study discusses that it is only through such a change of view of the subject that meaningful learning and learning situations that encourage enquiry and active participation can be introduced. Thus, this paper argues that physical education is a unique area of knowledge for mobilising critical and systemic thinking in the context of sustainable development (SD). Consequently, concrete actions are presented for application in physical education teaching that shows direct connections to specific targets of the SDGs.

This study presents practical implications for higher education leaders and educational policy designers at the national level, as it would help improve initial and ongoing training programs for physical education teachers, focusing on the development of key competencies for sustainability.

Physical education has the potential to contribute to the development of vulnerable schools and communities, especially to the health and well-being of children and young people and does not require large financial budgets. Therefore, the recommendations presented in this study can have a positive impact on the well-being of these groups.

This document invites reflection on how, through different teaching strategies, we can produce significant learning that contributes to the sustainability of the planet. All this, trying to mobilise critical and systemic thinking and consequently improving awareness for SD.

Education for Sustainable Development (EDS) has highlighted the need to generate instruments to assess the sustainability competencies of different populations. In this regard, Physical Education (PE) has been recognized as a subject with unique characteristics that allow students to develop competencies that favor sustainability. However, in previous literature, there are no specific instruments to assess the competencies of future Physical Education teachers (PETs). Therefore, this research aims to design and validate an instrument to assess sustainable competencies in future PETs.

This paper shows the validation process of a questionnaire designed ad hoc to measure the future teacher's sustainable competencies. In total, 341 students completed the Physical Education Scale for Sustainable Development in Future Teachers (PESD-FT) questionnaire consisting of 20 items and an eight-point Likert scale. To ensure the relationship of the instrument's items with the sustainable development, the specific targets that compose the 17 Sustainable Development Goals were considered.

The results showed that the instrument had very high reliability (0.949), excellently fulfilling the validity criteria (0.929). Furthermore, the principal component factor analysis results showed that the PESD-FT comprises three factors, which coincide with the three dimensions of sustainability.

It is concluded that PESD-FT is an instrument that reliably assesses the sustainable competencies of prospective PET and expands the possibilities of PE as a valuable instrument to promote sustainable competencies in an integrated way with PE learning objectives. As such, it can be a robust and valuable measurement tool for proposing effective education for sustainable development policies and programs in initial teacher education for PET.

The purpose of this research paper is to adapt and validate a useful instrument to diagnose the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and intention to participate (KABIP) towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in higher education institutions (HEIs) from the public administration in developing countries.

The study was carried out using the Delphi technique, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). For the Delphi method, 30 experts participated in three rounds. For the EFA and CFA, a sample of 790 people was selected. The instrument items were extracted from relevant scales on the topic.

The reliability and internal consistency of the instrument were tested and confirmed. Therefore, this study gives a scientific tool to measure the KABIP towards SDGs in different sectors of the public administration, and it can be used in developing countries.

The new questionnaire with 66 items and four dimensions can be used to diagnose KABIP towards SDGs at HEIs in developing countries. It has a very important implications because, although attention for SDGs around the world is increasing, only a limited number of valid scientific instrument that measure aspects related to it is available. Furthermore, the knowledge, attitudes, behaviour and intention to participate scale can facilitate the creation of new strategies regarding SDGs in developing countries.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) offer courses and programmes focusing on sustainability in economics, as courses on sustainable development (SD), which examine the economic, social and environmental dimensions of SD. This paper aims to examine sustainability integration in economics degree programmes.

Through an extensive literature review in Web of Science (WoS) and information search in Google, conducting to 28 relevant case studies, this paper elucidates the emphasis given to sustainability as part of economics degree programmes in HEIs.

The results suggest that, whereas the inclusion of sustainability components in this field is a growing trend, much still needs to be done to ensure that matters related to SD are part of the routine of university students studying economics.

It is worth noting that the literature review conducted in WoS was primarily aimed at assisting in the selection of university case studies. The 28 university case studies scrutinised in this study may lack sufficient representation from numerous developing countries.

This study highlights challenges in integrating the SD into economics degree programmes, suggesting the need for curriculum adjustments as underscoring operational issues, acting as barriers. The inclusion of sustainability in economics programmes must navigate operational issues stemming from packed timetables and busy schedules, requiring innovative solutions.

As far as the authors are aware, this study holds substantial importance in its emphasis on implementing sustainability within HEIs’ economics programmes, assisting in pursuing SD.

The novelty of this study lies in addressing sustainability with the specific economics focus programmes within the HEIs context.