Case Study on the Engineering Academic Staff Needs and Competencies in the Context of Sustainable Development

摘要

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is education that encourages changes in knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and just society for all. However, competence of educators is a major challenge in achieving ESD. The purposes of this study are to determine the awareness of the engineering academic staff on the goals of sustainable development (SDGs), evaluate their current competence, as well as to identify engineering academic staff educational needs in connection with the integration of sustainable development (SD) issues in the study courses led by them. The study includes components that characterize engineering academic staff educational needs: knowledge, skills, professional competence, motivation to work with SD issues, etc. The results of the survey show that a relatively small proportion of respondents are very familiar with the SDGs. Only in some cases, SDGs and environmental issues were integrated into all professional subjects and courses. Professional competence is mentioned as one of the most important competencies that should be developed by the academic staff. The engineering academic staff also needs to improve the didactic materials. At the same time engineering academic staff in Latvia have a deep understanding of the dimensions of sustainable development and its significance in engineering education.