Do you know GreenComp? It's the European sustainability competence framework. GreenComp identifies sustainability competences that learners need for a more sustainable society. These competences are ‘embodying sustainability values’, ‘embracing complexity in sustainability’, ‘envisioning sustainable futures’ and ‘acting for sustainability’.
Well, recently, I published a short policy brief in the European Commission's Science for Policy Brief section, that brings light to the potential of these sustainability competences.
What's the question?
The policy brief tries to address the question: ‘Can GreenComp’s competences really help learners behave in a sustainable way and, if so, how?'
How do we address this question?
Each of the four competence areas of GreenComp is mapped with behavioural drivers and barriers to sustainable behaviour.
A literature review from the behavioural sciences provides supporting evidence on the effect of these drivers and barriers on sustainable behaviour, as well as education interventions that can help foster the acquisition of these competences.
What are the conclusions?
Results show that, yes, GreenComp’s competences can help learners behave in a sustainable way, as the competences address behavioural barriers and/or build on behavioural drivers to sustainable behaviour.
In itself, GreenComp has been very useful for us to better frame our projects towards building competences. It was rather abstract, (as it would be expected out of this type of document) but, still, a welcome baseline for defining climate education outcomes. This new brief is just what we need to assess the relevance of our new approach to teaching practices. The results will not show on the short-term but I am confident that consistency in associating learning, competence and behavior will pay off.
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