Sustainability in primary education in Spain: An approach through textbooks

Abstract

The great development of the last decades, especially in developed countries, has led to the emergence of environmental problems that have made essential to promote sustainable development. Proof of it is the emphasis placed on Education for Sustainability by the United Nations and the increase of the specific weight of these issues in nationals’ educational curricula, as reflected in recent educational reforms, as it has happened in Spain. In this paper it is studied how the Spanish textbooks of Primary Education approach sustainable development, also performing an analysis of the activities related to this concept that are included in them. To carry out the relevant analysis it has been adapted an instrument in which three categories have been established for each textbook ‘identification, characterization and how sustainability is treated’. The results suggest that there is no ideal book, and that the suitability would depend on the teacher's criterion.