Education for sustainability in undergraduate distance courses: Analysis of a public Higher Education Institution (IES) in Northeast of Brazil

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991000

Distance learning education is experiencing a moment of expansion in several academic fields. At the same time, the discussion on sustainability issues is getting stronger, ascending to national policies on environmental education which might lead ultimately to a sustainable society. This research work aims to discuss Sustainability Education in higher education institutions (IES), more specifically in undergraduate distance courses in a public institution in Northeast of Brazil. Although the number of studies on sustainability has increased considerably in the past few years, the association of this theme with distance education is still an innovation and justifies the research initiative which substantiated this article. Methodologically, a documental research was undertaken on eight pedagogic course projects (PPC) as related to undergraduate distance courses that are offered by the Ministry of Education and the Brazilian Open University agreement (Convênio MEC/UAB). The qualitative data obtained from the documents were reduced and segmented for analysis using Atlas/ti software. Findings indicate that despite pedagogic course projects didn’t discuss thoroughly all aspects of sustainability, the values of global social responsibility are present, especially regarding the concern of establishing a fair and equal society. None of the pedagogic projects took a transversal approach when dealing with Sustainability Education and/or Environment Education. When the courses dealt with Environmental Education, they offered this area as a specific discipline.

Keywords: Distance education, Sustainability, Educational projects.