SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION By CHARBAJI Consultants

What is Sustainability?  In the current literature, sustainability has been defined rather narrowly by looking at mostly economic and environmental compatability. In this paper, we broaden the concept of sustainability by encompassing (i) Economic sustainability, (ii) Institutional sustainability, (iii) Ecological sustainability, (iv) Technological sustainability and (v) Cultural sustainability. Ideally, a sustainable society should be able to maintain individual and social needs over generations in all five areas.(Hae Un RII,

What is Sustainable Education?  The term "sustainable education" refers to this form of education, in part, because we believe that in order for education to make a difference in how students live in the world, the learning must stay with the student, become internalized and perhaps even be transformative. (Earthwise, p 1)

Need for the Study  A wide range of conventional and new technologies are available for teaching and learning informal, family, and social segments of education. These technologies, when applied appropriately, can create an environment to enhance all the elements of sustainability.

Need for the Study(cont’d)  Eventually, the sustainable education system can contribute to economic progress, institutional stability, environmental quality, technological efficiency and cultural richness. In fact, our world is experiencing information revolution and globalization demand new understanding of social trends, technological possibilities and cultural factors to improve the quality of education and in turn the quality of life for all people on earth.

Purpose of the Study  The purpose is to know the attitudes of faculty and staff in Lebanese universities towards Sustainability. The objective of this study is to find more ways to make universities aware of this concept & work hard to applying it along with their faculty & staff.

Hypothesis to Be Tested  H1: Lebanese educators are well aware of the issue of Sustainable education and what it takes to be successfully implemented.  H2: Factors like Education, type of university and the field of studies the educators are exposed to have an effect on their interest to get involved in Sustainable education.

Hypothesis to Be Tested(cont’d)  H3: Lebanese educators are for the issue of Sustainable Education.

Review of Literature A- History of Sustainable Education  In the early 1990’s and after a decade of improving teaching systems in Australia namely, the activity of testing for quality assurance of teaching was being transformed from feedback questionnaire to students, to a monitoring and review processes, which are becoming institutionalized in response to accountability and quality assurance (What Constitutes High Quality Teaching and Learning and How to Assure It, Martens and Prosser, 98).

Review of Literature(cont’d) From the time sustainable development was first endorsed at the UN general assembly in 1987, the parallel concept of education to support sustainable development has been explored. From 1987 to 1992, the concept of sustainable development matured. (

Review of Literature(cont’d) B- Principles of Sustainable Education  Using an organic model rather than a machine model for the learning process;  Paying as much attention to the messages which come across in the hidden or implicit curriculum as we do to the content of the explicit curriculum;

Review of Literature(cont’d) B- Principles of Sustainable Education(cont’d)  Using ecological understandings and goals as the lens through which we develop and evaluate programs;  Developing critical thinking skills and encouraging a depth and complexity of thought;  Engaging the student in modes of learning which include but are not limited to intellectual forms of understanding(Hae Un RII,

Review of Literature(cont’d)  People are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.  Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens.  The full participation of women is essential to achieve sustainable development. (

Review of Literature(cont’d) C- Obstacles of Sustainable Education Some believe:  Lack of financial support.  Lack of competent teachers.  Better planning and implementation is needed. ( SIMO, ISOAHO; Education for Sustainable Development in universities)

Review of Literature(cont’d) C- Obstacles of Sustainable Education(cont’d) In other researches obstacles were:  Lack of Finances & resources.  Lack of time. ( SIMO, ISOAHO; Marja-Leena Loukola, Education for Sustainable Development in Finland)

Design & Methodology  The sample of our research is University Instructors and Professors in Lebanon.  This study is conducted through a questionnaire for it is the best way to measure people’s attitudes and behavior towards Sustainable Education.

Methodology Questionnaire:  In order to work on our study, we designed a survey and distributed it to 100 different instructors & professors in different universities in Lebanon. The questionnaire includes three sections. –Demographics –Attitudes –Ways to encourage The Likert scale was used in a lot of questions.

Factor Analysis  Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. QuestionExtraction Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q

Factor Analysis(cont’d)  The above variables were extracted due to their high value in reference to 0.7. What is meant here is that the values that are greater than 0.7, they are the ones extracted.

Frequency Distribution  Gender FrequencyPercent Male Female Total

 Level of Education FrequencyPercent BS MS PhD Total Frequency Distribution(cont’d)

 As shown above, the highest % is to males with PHD's and most of them are of Business and Engineering major.  Most of the sample are from AUB & LAU. Frequency Distribution(cont’d)

 After collecting the data from the questionnaire, and applying frequency distribution, it has been shown that most of our universities are applying sustainable education through a variety of courses. There are a lot of professors who encourage this concept & are willing to teach anything related to it.  However, it seems that there are no awareness campaigns in Lebanese universities in which students, instructors, professors and even administrations know more about the importance of this concept.

Correlation  0.02 there is a very strong relationship and it is very significant. This means that the more the faculty members that teach courses related to sustainability, the better the chance for sustainability to be applied in Lebanese Universities. RSignificance Q7 & Q

CHI-SQUARE  Level of significance=0.000 it is very significant.  Then, the number of faculty members that teach sustainability varies along the difference in universities. Significance Universities & Q10.000

REGRESSION  R2= =>35 % of the dependent variable is explained by the independent.  it is very significant. R-SQUAREF-testSIG. Regression

REGRESSION(cont’d)  Dependent Variable: There are a large % of faculty members that are interested in teaching and research on sustainability issues.  Predictors: (Constant), Level of Education, University, major

Conclusions & Recommendations.  After this study, one can realize that sustainable education is applied in Lebanon but in accordance to the university. The interest in this concept is high for instructors & professors.  One can suggest that more awareness campaigns should be done for students, instructors, professors and administration know its importance.

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