Education for sustainable development in the vision of university professors in Mexico

Abstract

The objective of this article is to know and analyze the views that prevail in Mexican university professors regarding education for sustainable development (ESD), an approach recognized as one more feature of quality education. From the perspective of university management, knowing the views that prevail in the teaching staff becomes relevant to ensure an effective organizational change of the university curriculum contemplating the perspective of sustainability. The research work from which it is based is empirical, with a non-experimental methodological design of a transversal nature. The sample consisted of 569 teachers attached to an academic body in 26 public universities in Mexico. The result obtained indicates that 79% of teachers adhere to the notion that they correspond to a proactive, holistic, and comprehensive vision of ESD, a necessary condition to incorporate it into the university curriculum and its management. Likewise, professors give greater importance to conceptions related to the formation of ethics and values, and the development of an interdisciplinary approach for the solution of social, economic, and environmental problems; aspects above other notions that are limited only to actions related to the reduction of the use of resources, reuse, and recycling of waste (3R's). The result obtained from this research offers the possibility for university managers to actively involve the participation of teachers in the design of strategies and policies related to the incorporation of the perspective of sustainability in the curriculum.