School Geography and Sustainability Education in Romania – Teachers’ Views

As a signatory of Agenda 2030, Romania assumed the responsibility to work towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but studies about the need to integrate education for sustainable development into the national curriculum are rare. Thoughsteps towards sustainability have been made, sustainability education is lagging behind without a clear vision of whether it should be integrated into the formal education system, and how and where it fits. Our study appraised the perspectives of 38 geography upper secondary school teachers in Romania regarding the sustainable themes of interest to them, the importance of teaching SD via school geography, their self-assessed knowledge of sustainability concepts and their readiness in learning more about sustainable development (SD). Through an online questionnaire-based survey we found that teachers consider topics such as climate change or alternative sources of energy as more relevant than innovation and technology for SD or Responsible global productionand consumption. We also identified a strong belief that SD is important in educating our young and that geography is the subject viewed as the most appropriate in promoting education for sustainable development (ESD). Overwhelmingly, teachers showed great interest in participating in professional development courses about SD.