1. Introduction

The transition towards a sustainable society is an urgent issue and good quality education is an imperative tool for sustainable development. ESD is positioned at the centre of the EU 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015) and one of its most prominent goals is to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development (UN, 2015).

In order to successfully integrate sustainable development principles and practices into education, the emphasis needs to be placed on not only cognitive but also socio-emotional, and behavioural learning. To respond to sustainability challenges learners need to be equipped to take responsible actions and make informed decisions. This requires students to be competent as well as motivated to act and not only to acquire scientific knowledge.

Also, student-centred and action-oriented pedagogy is required so as to provide students with transformative learning experiences needed for taking transformative action in the future (Leicht et al., 2018).

Further, the teaching of English for specific purposes (ESP) focuses on both professional content and language knowledge. It is both cross-disciplinary and competence-based in its nature as it must respond to the requirements of a certain profession and the labor market.

The design of an ESP course commonly implies a communicative approach, content-based, task-based, problem-based, and action-based learning. Given all this, an ESP classroom is a good place to contribute to the implementation of ESD and increase students' awareness and engagement in sustainable development. Whereas ESP is usually viewed very narrowly through the lens of benefits for a student’s future career, ESD also needs to be viewed more widely not as a matter of one discipline but as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary education.

In this paper the results of a survey on students’ attitudes toward sustainable development and responsibility are presented. Also, the significance of the integration of ESD in tertiary education is emphasized.

2. Education for sustainable development (ESD)

ESD has been widely recognized as key in achieving sustainable development and an integral

element of quality education. Over time the concept of ESD has evolved and key competencies which need to be developed in students have been described in more detail. Also, ESD has become much more than the integration of highlighted themes and key areas and passive teaching of facts and declarative knowledge to students. Equipping students with core competencies such as systems thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving, etc. is a prerequisite for reducing the gap between knowledge and action, and empower students for more sustainable thinking and behaviour. In this respect, competence-based education helps students to, through diverse learning opportunities, develop the ability to recognize and understand relationships, deal with risks and change, reflect on, question and negotiate the norms, values, and actions, assess the consequences of certain actions and implement more sustainable practices (Leicht et al., 2018).

The current understanding of ESD describes it as education that enables all people to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary for the sustainable development of our society (UNESCO, 2021).

A view of quality teaching for ESD has been presented (Leicht et al., 2018) and it should be used to guide teaching and learning. Building teaching competencies is key to the quality of the learning process and should transform teachers into facilitators who empower and motivate students to put declarative knowledge to good and practical use.

According to Leicht et al. (2018), education for sustainability is best accomplished through student-centered and action-oriented pedagogy which build transformative learning experience for students. ESD has to be practical and offer diverse learning opportunities so as to foster the development of a deeper understanding of relevance of SD and how certain issues relate to students’ own life which then leads to reflection on one's own experiences and actions and how they impact the environment.

Student-centred learning is focused not only on what teachers are doing but more importantly on what students are doing in the learning process. According to this concept, responsibility for learning and overall student development is shared by the student and the institution. The student is expected to become more and more autonomous, self-organized, responsible, and actively involved in the education process. On the other side, it is the institution's responsibility to provide the resources needed to organize opportunities for active and transformative learning that builds knowledge, self-confidence, social skills, and values in students. The action-oriented approach is focused on both cognitive and socio-emotional learning. Also, learning is regarded as an active process that fosters student engagement and reflection on their own experiences. This paper argues for a multi-disciplinary approach to ESD with different disciplines giving their contribution to the design and delivery of ESD.

3. Education for sustainable development and ESP (English for specific purposes)

In an ESP classroom efforts are made to develop knowledge, competencies, and values of more than one discipline in students and in in a real communicative context. ESP is cross-disciplinary and competence-based as it teaches the language by using specific subject matter and needs to respond to the requirements of a certain profession and the labour market.

Also, the focus on how people learn and not only why and what they learn has long been a tradition in language education (Hutchinson & Lancaster, 1986). Much of the current understanding of teaching ESP places an emphasis on the development and use of diverse, student-centered, and action-oriented teaching methods and practices which is in line with constructivist thinking. Constructivism in pedagogy, one of the foundations of current pedagogy of engagement, fosters creativity, autonomy, and realistic environments in learning. Also, it presupposes the activity of all agents, especially the activity of students. Students create their own meaning through their learning experiences, active participation, and social processes. ESP pedagogy supports a communicative approach, content-based, task-based, problem-based, and action-based learning which is why an ESP classroom is a good place to contribute to the implementation of ESD and increase students’ awareness and engagement in sustainable development.

At the University of Velika Gorica computer science students take professional English course English for IT. The emergence of the Green IT area provided a good opportunity to combine professional content, ESD, and language learning. Each generation of students participates in the Green IT program and improves their language skills through engaging activities and the real-world context. Students commonly learn about e-waste, efficient use of energy, 'greenwashing', the development of new technologies that help solve sustainability problems, the carbon footprint of the computing industry, etc. For the purpose of research, students are occasionally surveyed in order to investigate their attitudes towards sustainability issues and possible relationships between their attitudes and participating in this environmental program.

4. Method of Research

Survey research was conducted to collect information on students’ attitudes. In October 2022 self-reported data were collected from 70 students attending a computer maintenance course at the University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica. The answers of current students were then compared to those given by 82 former students in 2017. This research aimed to investigate whether students’ attitudes regarding general awareness of the importance of SD and regarding their personal sense of responsibility have changed. Since it appeared that recent computer science students are better informed of sustainability practices and risks it was investigated if current computer science students’ attitudes toward more active pro-environmental behaviour and thinking are significantly more positive than those of students from the previous study. Descriptive statistics including percentages were used. To inspect if there were any statistical differences between the attitudes of current and former students a Chi-square test was conducted. SPSS 25.0 software was used for the statistical analysis of the data.

The survey was conducted before each group of students participated in the environmental program Green IT. Students were asked to choose one response out of five on a Likert scale (‘strongly agree, ‘agree’, ‘neutral’, ‘disagree’, and ‘strongly disagree’) and report their level of agreement or disagreement with each of the six statements.

Research questions:

1. Is there a significant difference in attitudes regarding general awareness of the importance of SD between current and former students?
2. Is there a significant difference between current and former students in their attitudes regarding a sense of personal responsibility and readiness for pro-environmental behaviour?

5. Results

To answer the first research question students' general awareness of some sustainability issues was explored. The first three questions were focused on general environmental awareness whereas the following three questions were focused on students’ personal sense of responsibility and preparedness for more active pro-environmental behaviour. To examine whether there was a significant difference in students’ responses between current and former students a chi-square test was conducted.

Regarding the first statement “Learning about the environment and green practices is useful and interesting at the same time”, a chi-square test did reveal a statistically significant difference χ²= 17,409, p<0,05. This result indicated that the responses of current students were significantly more positive than those of former students (Table 1). 31,4% of current students responded that they completely agree with the statement whereas 11,0% of former students did so. Also, 1,4% of the current students completely disagreed with the statement whereas 6,1% of former students did so.

Table 1: Chi-square test results for the statement “Learning about the environment and green practices is useful and interesting at the same time”. 

Learning about the environment and green practices is useful and interesting at the same time.			Answer					Total
			1	2	3	4	5
1 – former 2 – current	1	Count	5	21	26	21	9	82
		%	6.1%	25.6%	31.7%	25.6%	11.0%	100.0%
	2	Count	1	5	23	19	22	70
		%	1.4%	7.1%	32.9%	27.1%	31.4%	100.0%
Total		Count	6	26	49	40	31	152
		%	3.9%	17.1%	32.2%	26.3%	20.4%	100.0%
Chi-Square Test	Value	df	Asymp. Sig.
Pearson Chi-Square	17.409a	4	.002

Source: Author

Next, no statistical difference was found in students’ responses to the statement “Many of the environmental crises that we face today are consequences of human behaviour”. According to the results in Table 2, both groups of students gave similar answers to the second question. The predominant answer to this question was “completely agree” in both groups. 56,1% of former students chose “completely agree” and 52,9% of the current students. The result shows that students generally are aware of human impact on the environment. However, when only a little over a half of the participants show that they are aware of the consequences of human behaviour it can be stated that students need to learn much more about various human activities that affect the environment and sustainability.

Table 2: Chi-square test results for the statement “Many of the environmental crises that we face today are consequences of human behaviour”. 

Many of the environmental crises that we face today are consequences of human behaviour.			Answer					Total
			1	2	3	4	5
1 – former 2 – current	1	Count	1	5	7	23	46	82
		%	1.2%	6.1%	8.5%	28.0%	56.1%	100.0%
	2	Count	0	0	8	25	37	70
		%	0.0%	0.0%	11.4%	35.7%	52.9%	100.0%
Total		Count	1	5	15	48	83	152
		%	.7%	3.3%	9.9%	31.6%	54.6%	100.0%
Chi-Square Test	Value	df	Asymp. Sig.

Source: Author

Further, the responses to the third statement showed that the two groups gave statistically different answers χ²= 17,409a, p<0,05 (Table 3). Current students more frequently agreed (25,7%) and completely agreed (65,7%) that it was important to contribute to a sustainable society. Only 24,4% of former students completely agreed with the statement and a good number disagreed (32,9%) and chose a neutral option (35,4%). It is encouraging that new incoming students are much more aware of the importance of building a sustainable society. However, the answers to these first three questions do not tell us anything about students’ readiness to take an active part in contributing to SD.

Table 3: Chi-square test results for the statement “It is important to contribute to a sustainable society”. 

It is important to contribute to a sustainable society.			Answer				Total
			2	3	4	5
1 – former 2 – current	1	Count	6	27	29	20	82
		%	7.3%	32.9%	35.4%	24.4%	100.0%
	2	Count	2	4	18	46	70
		%	2.9%	5.7%	25.7%	65.7%	100.0%
Total		Count	8	31	47	66	152
		%	5.3%	20.4%	30.9%	43.4%	100.0%
Chi-Square Test	Value	df	Asy.Sig.
Pearson Chi-Square	31.128a	3	.000

Source: Author

In order to answer the second research question and examine students’ sense of personal responsibility and readiness for more pro-environmental behaviour another three statements were used. General sustainability awareness, as well as knowledge, are prerequisites for a change in attitudes and values which leads to personal commitment and concern for the environment which then may cause a change in one’s behaviour and lifestyle.

The responses to the statement “I would like to learn more about new green practices and technologies” revealed that current students (25,7%) chose the answer completely agree much more frequently than former students (8,5%) (Table 4). Also, 8,5% of the former students completely disagreed with the statement versus only 5,7% of the current students. “Neutral” was the predominant answer to this question in both groups which may indicate that a good number of students are not well-informed, educated, and comfortable learning about new green practices and technologies. Statistically, there was no significant difference between the responses of current students versus former students (χ2= 8,778, p<0,05).

Table 4: Chi-square test results for the statement “I would like to learn more about new green practices and technologies”.

I would like to learn more about new green practices and technologies.			Answer					Total
			1	2	3	4	5
1 – former 2 – current	1	Count	7	12	30	26	7	82
		%	8.5%	14.6%	36.6%	31.7%	8.5%	100.0%
	2	Count	4	11	21	16	18	70
		%	5.7%	15.7%	30.0%	22.9%	25.7%	100.0%
Total		Count	11	23	51	42	25	152
		%	7.2%	15.1%	33.6%	27.6%	16.4%	100.0%
Chi-Square Test	Value	df	Asymp. Sig.
Pearson Chi-Square	8.778a	4	.067

Source: Author

Regarding the next statement “I want to help save the environment by behaving more environmentally friendly”, the results did not reveal a statistically significant difference in the responses of the two groups (χ2= 6,780, p<0,05) (Table 5). However, current students chose more positive responses more frequently. The results showed that 64,3% of current students versus 47,6% of former students chose the more positive answers “agree” and “strongly agree”. This indicates that a majority of current students do feel they are prepared to engage in action and behave more responsibly towards the environment which is encouraging.

Table 5: Chi-square test results for the statement “I want to help save the environment by behaving more environmentally friendly”. 

I want to help save the environment by behaving more environmentally friendly.			Answer					Total
			1	2	3	4	5
1 – former 2 – current	1	N	4	11	28	21	18	82
		%	4.9%	13.4%	34.1%	25.6%	22.0%	100.0%
	2	N	0	6	19	23	22	70
		%	0.0%	8.6%	27.1%	32.9%	31.4%	100.0%
Total		N	4	17	47	44	40	152
		%	2.6%	11.2%	30.9%	28.9%	26.3%	100.0%
Chi-Square Test	Value	df	Asymp. Sig.
Pearson Chi-Square	6.780a	4	.148

Source: Author

Finally, students were asked to rate how much they agree or disagree with the proposition that they have many ideas about how to help the environment. The results did not reveal a statistically significant difference in the responses of the two groups (χ2= 7,227, p<0,05) (Table 6). The results showed that “neutral” was the predominant answer in both groups and only 28,6% of current students chose the more positive answers “agree” and “strongly agree” whereas only 15,8 % of former students did so. This indicates that more students today have some practical knowledge of how to take concrete action than in 2017 but this number is still very low. Students’ engagement in learning needs to be deepened so that they are given tools to become more informed and responsible citizens and workforce. Engineers especially play an important role in sustainable development.

Table 6: Chi-square test results for the statement “I have many ideas about how to help the environment”. 

I have many ideas about how to help the environment.			Answer					Total
			1	2	3	4	5
1–  former 2 – current	1	Count	24	23	22	7	6	82
		%	29.3%	28.0%	26.8%	8.5%	7.3%	100.0%
	2	Count	11	15	24	10	10	70
		%	15.7%	21.4%	34.3%	14.3%	14.3%	100.0%
Total		Count	35	38	46	17	16	152
		%	23.0%	25.0%	30.3%	11.2%	10.5%	100.0%
Chi-Square Test	Value	df	Asymp. Sig.
Pearson Chi-Square	7.227a	4	.124

Source: Author

6. Conclusion

In this paper, university students’ attitudes toward the importance of contributing to sustainable development (SD) were explored. Also, the significance of ESD was discussed. ESD is not a matter of a single discipline but it is more about connecting different disciplines and the understanding of those connections by teachers and students. The main aim was to investigate whether computer science students’ general awareness of SD issues as well as their personal sense of responsibility toward protecting the environment have grown over the years due to the greater availability of information on sustainability issues. For that purpose, current computer science students were surveyed and the results were compared with those of former students obtained 5 years ago.

The research questions of the study sought to determine whether two groups of students, current and former, differed significantly in their general sustainability awareness and their personal commitment and readiness to contribute to a more sustainable society.

The results revealed that students’ general awareness of the importance of sustainable development has grown since five years ago. However, regarding students’ personal responsibility and readiness to take concrete action a significant difference between former and current students was not found. This implies that on a personal level a good number of students still don't regard themselves as possible agents of change.

The results also revealed that students still lack practical knowledge, clarity, and ideas of how to take a more active role in protecting the environment. Their understanding of ways to practically apply sustainability knowledge is insufficient which is why they need to gain confidence, means, and power to shape society in accordance with their general sustainability beliefs. In order to better accomplish this students need to be equipped with more practical knowledge and as well as become more motivated to act to be able to find and create opportunities to promote sustainable development. The new approach to education for sustainable development has been designed to equip students to move from awareness toward taking action. In that context more opportunities for active cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral learning need to be created and provided to students.

7. References