• Energy Research

The world, society and education are constantly evolving, and to respond to these changes, the main governmental institutions have been proposing different global strategies to focus efforts in the same direction. Currently, the United Nations and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) have presented a series of indicators that could help to minimise the environmental, economic and social instability we are experiencing. In this sense, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been described as a fundamental factor. Specifically, in previous work, we argued that physical education (PE) could be a good tool to contribute to SDGs. Based on this, no research analysing the voices of Physical Education Teachers (PET) on how this contribution could be made has been identified in previous literature. Therefore, the objectives of this research are: (1) to analyse the voices and opinions of active PETs in terms of the knowledge they have about Sustainable Development (SD); (2) to determine their opinions about the contribution that PE could make to SDGs; and finally, (3) to identify the challenges and limitations of pedagogical action of SD in PE. For this purpose, a qualitative analysis through a semi-structured interview with 41 active PETs was carried out. The main findings will be presented and discussed around four themes: (a) agreement on the concept of sustainability; (b) PE can contribute to the achievement of SDGs; (c) ambiguity in applying SDGs to PE lessons; and (d) teachers’ constraints on how to implement SDGs in PE. It seems to indicate that PETs do not have a multidimensional vision of sustainable development. While they recognise the potential of PE to contribute to SDGs through awareness raising and student learning, they point to its pedagogical and formative constraints as the main barriers to being able to contribute. They pointed to a lack of knowledge on how to do so, guidelines on how to integrate ESD, lack of involvement, shortage of time or resources in school physical education.

Women’s empowerment is one of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 5, gender equality. However, little research has highlighted the contributions of sustainable female leadership in academic governance. In order to fill this gap, this study identifies and analyses the satisfactions, opportunities, and contributions of women academics to university governance and their perceptions of the potential impact of gender in this process. Forty-eight women leaders participated in the study. A purposive sampling technique was used because the research involved leaders who had held a management position in the university. The research methodology was qualitative, the instrument used for the collection of information was a semi-structured interview, and the analysis of the narratives was carried out with Aquad v. 7 software (Günter Huber, Tübingen, Alemania). The study revealed that the leadership style of the female academics is framed within the sustainable leadership approach. Beyond personal satisfactions, the main reward derived from the performance of the position lies in becoming transformative and catalysing agents of the institution, who try to find a balance between the economic and social interests of the organisation. The functions these female academics perform, within the framework of sustainable development, have a technical and, at the same time, humanised vision, as they focus on people and on personal and social values. Gender issues have not been a determinant in the satisfactions, opportunities, and contributions that the leaders make to the institution; however, participants emphasise that this was a strength for leadership.

Plogging, a practice that combines outdoor exercise with waste collection, is a novel alternative to physical activity; therefore, it has not been extensively studied in the scientific literature yet. The aim of this research is to analyse whether students’ environmental attitudes are affected by a 6-week intervention based on plogging. A total of 143 students (mean age 15.58 ± 3.28) participated in the study. A pre-post design with control and experimental group was carried out. To assess attitudes, a diagnostic questionnaire of attitudes towards the environment in secondary school students was used. The instrument is composed of five factors (motivation, participation, communication, environment and education). To measure the effect of the intervention, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed. The results showed that the experimental group significantly improved in factors such as motivation and environmental awareness. These results contribute to increasing research on the integration of sustainability in Physical Education.

This study analyses the relationship between the physical education (PE) curriculum in secondary education in Spain and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Physical education curriculum of compulsory secondary education, as well as the complementary materials, were analysed through document analysis. Although there is no explicit relationship, the analysis reveals links between curricular elements and SDGs targets, particularly with SDG 4 (Quality Education), 3 (Health and Well-being), and 5 (Gender Equality). Other SDGs, such as 10 (Reducing Inequalities) and 12 (Responsible Consumption), are less related. The social dimension of sustainable development is most closely linked to PE. A historical analysis of the treatment of sustainable development in PE curricula in Spain is also presented, examining how they have evolved over time. The manuscript helps clarify how teachers and researchers can mobilize competencies to address global challenges in students’ lives as individuals and world citizens, fostering commitment and social responsibility. Furthermore, this work highlights the importance of integrating the SDGs into education and how PE can be a key tool in this process.

Stress, uncertainty, and the abuse of technologies are components that have a negative impact on the physical, social, and psychological health of young people. One of the aims of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is to empower individuals to reflect on their actions, and mindfulness arises as one tool with an important potential to contribute on this matter. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the effects of mindfulness practices on the ability of students to focus their attention on external, internal or kinesthetic factors, awareness in acting, and acceptance. Consequently, a quasi-experimental study was developed to compare groups between the pre and post condition. The study participants were a total of 127 students (52 women) from 4th year of secondary school and 1st year of a achelor’s degree (16.5 ± 1.5 years). The sample was assigned by academic convenience, with 54 students in the experimental group and 73 in the control group. The intervention was carried out for 4 weeks. During this period, the experimental group participated in mindfulness activities such as guided meditations at the end of the PE session or challenges that stimulated the student in daily actions. The control group continued with the planned programming in physical education class. These groups were subjected to the following test: (1) Mindfulness for School Scale (MSS) and (2) Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). To analyze the results, the normality of the sample was evaluated through the Mann–Whitney U test, resulting as non-parametric. The search for possible differences between the groups was carried out by using the Wilcoxon test. The statistics showed that the experimental group presented significant improvements (p ≤ 0.05) in most of the measured parameters: external attention, kinesthetics attention, and mean of the CAMM. These results seem to show that the use of mindfulness could be an appropriate tool to be implemented in the school context in order to directly contribute to the mental health of high school students, and thus to an education for the sustainable development.

Introduction: The current economic, social and environmental problems faced by society are some of the most emerging concerns of the main governmental institutions. In this sense, Education for Sustainable Development and integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the education system seems to be a key link for its mitigation. Within education, physical education (PE) could provide positive synergy and contribute to achieve the SDGs. However, the relationship between PE and Sustainable Development is still in its nascent stage. Objective: Overall, we aim to explore the ways in which the literature has addressed the SDGs and PE. To this end, this scoping review has two objectives. The first is to provide a synthesis of the research to date on PE and the SDGs, presenting the results in terms of the types of literature, methods, samples, provenance of authorship and the main findings. The second is to investigate which specific SDGs and targets have appeared most frequently in research within the field of PE. Method: Due to the emergent nature of the topic under examination, we present a scoping review. After identifying the parameters to be analysed, we redefined the topic of study. We applied a number of criteria and selected relevant studies the introduction of the SDGs (2015) until June 2022. We searched Web of Science, SPORTdiscus, Scopus, Google Scholar and PROquest using words such as ‘Sustainable Development’, ‘SDGs’ and ‘PE’. Results and discussion: We reviewed 22 papers that met the inclusion criteria. We noted several characteristics in these studies. Most studies published between 2015 and 2022 come from international institutions (Commonwealth, UNESCO, etc.), and critical view articles, which theorise about the potential relation between PE and the SDGs. Beginning in 2021, there has been much more empirical research, mainly in the form of qualitative and quantitative cross-sectional studies. Most of this empirical research has been developed with undergraduate students in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE). Some researchers have used pedagogical models such as service learning and cooperative learning as valid didactic tools to work on the SDGs. On the other hand, the countries that seem to show the greatest interest in research on the SDGs and PE are European, especially Spain and Sweden. Finally, SDGs 3 (Health and Wellbeing), 4 (Quality-Education) and 5 (Gender-Equality) have the greatest relationship with PE, specifically target 4.5 on inclusion and equity, target 5.1 to avoid discrimination based on sex and target 3.6 concerning physical and mental health. Conclusions: The relationship between PE and the SDGs is an emerging topic. While papers published within the five years after definition of the SDGs have a strong theoretical character, empirical research has begun to predominate since 2021. The focus of future research should be to deepen the ways in which PE can contribute to the SDGs (pedagogical perspectives, content, objectives …). Researchers should use practice-based models to look for more sustainability-related content and, above all, to try to get students to reflect on how their daily actions can contribute to a more sustainable and durable world. This work was supported by ODSEF PROJECT. Design and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals for Physical Education (University of Alicante) [REDES ICE-2021-5489].

The sustainability requirements of the planet in recent years have made it necessary for everyone to reflect on new lifestyles. For this purpose, the United Nations has established an agenda for change organised into 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that claim to be achieved by 2030. The demands of this sustainable development are organised into three main dimensions: social, environmental, and economical. To achieve these goals, the educational system is fundamental. This new context demands new areas of study centred on the educational sphere; for example, in a holistic Health Physical Education (HPE), there are precedents in the literature that show a relationship of the characteristics to enhance sustainable development. Based on these references, it is suggested that the characteristics of holistic HPE could contribute to the three dimensions of sustainability and the SDGs. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to deepen through a series of reflections and comments on the elements that compose a holistic HPE to contribute to the sustainable development of the planet. The paper begins with a justification of the delimitation of the problem it seeks to solve through this research area. This is followed by a detailed analysis of the specific SDG targets related to holistic HPE and the sustainability competencies to be developed. The epistemological foundations that a holistic HPE contribution could have on the three dimensions of sustainable development, are also added. Finally, the document closes with orientations for future research and teaching methodology proposals and teaching approaches that would fit within the holistic HPE for sustainable development. The contributions made in this document will allow researchers to find a baseline from which to begin to conduct research that confirms the virtues of holistic HPE in contributing to a more sustainable world. This work was supported by the University of Alicante. Through the project: ODSEF PROJECT. Design and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals for Physical Education (REDES ICE-2021-5489).

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) show how education is essential for creating values in students. In particular, SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 5 (gender equality) indicate how co-education should be a sustainable benchmark. Co-educational methodologies have been studied for decades. Among them, cooperative learning is considered a valid technique for developing social relations and competences. This study aims to describe and characterize the gender differences between university students regarding their impressions and behaviors when working cooperatively. One hundred and seventy-seven university students (98 women and 79 men), from Physical Education and Primary Education degree courses, worked with Aronson’s Jigsaw technique. After its completion, they completed a questionnaire to analyze cooperative work in higher education (ACOES). The results are organized into seven dimensions. The main gender differences found show that women gave a higher evaluation to relating cooperative learning to future teaching roles (p = 0.017) and to understanding the need for cooperative tasks (p = 0.035). Additionally, female students prefer groups to be organized according to academic criteria and that they should remain stable throughout the academic period. Both genders value Aronson’s Jigsaw as a good method for developing social competences, although they are more neutral when considering it effective at improving academic performance. These findings help to generate a gender-cooperation profile that will enable future research to discuss results more accurately.