Education for sustainable development in national tests: the case from Slovenia

Skribe Dimec, Darja (author)

United Nations declared the period from 2005 to 2014 as a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). This shows that nowadays education for sustainable development (ESD) is one of the priorities on the international and national levels. To find out if elements of ESD are present in Slovenian schools, we were analysing in the framework of a wider research project the Slovenian national curricula, textbooks, worksheets and national tests. In this paper, we are presenting the results of the analyses of national tests that 15 years old pupils write at the end of primary school. Based on fundamental documents for ESD, prepared by UNESCO, UNECE, European Union, United Nations and others, we constructed the criteria that define ESD. Fourteen keywords were determined and used in analyses of national tests, which were used in the school year 2005/06. Most elements of ESD were found in national tests for biology, some of them also in tests for Slovene language, while almost none were found in tests for mathematics. After 10 years the same analyses were made because we wanted to know if there was any effect of the DESD on Slovenian national tests. Comparative analyses of national tests used at the beginning and on completion of the DESD showed that in Slovenia we can hardly speak of a planned and systematic integration of ESD in national tests. This study shows the mirror to the authors of the national tests as well as the politicians that established the guidance of development of ESD.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: osnovnošolski pouk
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publisher: Beograd : Učiteljski fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu
• Year: 2016
• Number of pages: 41-54
• Numbering: 29
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-89086
• ISSN: 2335-0806
• COBISS.SI-ID: 11461449
• Publication date in RUL: 30.08.2017

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Keywords: Decade of education for sustainable development