National survey will capture how sustainability features in Scottish education
Published: 11 August 2025
A national survey of educators in Scotland aims to capture how sustainability and the environment feature in Scottish educational settings.
A national survey of educators in Scotland aims to capture how sustainability and the environment feature in Scottish educational settings.
The survey of Learning for Sustainability (LfS) practices aims to understand the diverse approaches to the topic and identify barriers which might persist.
The survey, launching this month, takes place after more than a decade of LfS being embedded in education in Scotland, as an entitlement for all children and young people.
The group behind the survey, Led by Professor Lizzie Rushton of the University of Stirling includes Dr Claire Ramjan of the University of Glasgow as well as researchers from the University of Edinburgh and University College London, wants to hear from educators across a range of settings, including schools, teacher education, local authorities, informal education and community learning settings.
Dr Ramjan, Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education, at the School of Education, University of Glasgow, said: “At a time when environmental and sustainability issues are a source of concern for many, we hope to capture how this is currently experienced across educational settings in Scotland. We are looking for the perspectives of educators in schools, further and higher education, early years settings, community learning settings, museums, and national parks, to name just a few. Your input will help us to describe the wide range of approaches that are currently taken around Learning for Sustainability (LfS), and to identify the opportunities and challenges in supporting educators to embed LfS in their own settings.”
The survey follows the launch of a framework launched in April that, for the first time, takes a national approach to embedding LfS in Initial Teacher Education.
Professor Rushton, Head of the Education Division at the University of Stirling and Deputy Chair of the Scottish Council of Deans of Education, said: “Education plays a crucial role in responding to sustainability issues at local, national and global levels, and this survey is a hugely important step towards us understanding the full range of Learning for Sustainability practices across Scotland, from schools to teaching courses and beyond. We value the input of Scotland’s educators in building up a picture of how learning experiences are being shaped to take account of some of the most critical topics facing us today - climate change, the environment and sustainability.”
Participants are asked to fill in the survey before October 27, 2025 at: https://qualtrics.ucl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_9Eqwij4UAm8vh1Y
First published: 11 August 2025