Development of Sustainability Competencies in Secondary School Education: A Scoping Literature Review

This scoping review examines the development and application of sustainability competence frameworks in secondary education worldwide, identifying key trends and challenges in the field. An initial pool of 2659 peer-reviewed publications from 2003 to 2023 were subjected to a rigorous, multi-stage screening process, resulting in a refined selection for in-depth analysis. Through qualitative clustering, the review identifies two primary perspectives on sustainability competencies. The first perspective emphasizes transversal competencies, applicable across diverse educational contexts, including national policies, global educational guidelines, various subject areas, and innovative teaching and learning approaches. The second perspective focuses on specific frameworks that address the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of sustainability. The review highlights a global consensus on the importance of key competencies such as critical thinking, systems thinking, and action competence, which are essential for preparing secondary students to address sustainability challenges. Additionally, it underscores the need for a holistic approach to competence development that integrates cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. Despite this consensus, the review identifies a research bias, with a predominance of studies from Europe, particularly Germany and Sweden, and calls for increased regional diversity and collaboration in future research.