The relation between subject teachers' universal values and sustainability actions in school

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is included in school curricula into all education around the world. However, there is not much research on the factors contributing the success of ESD in the schools and teachers’ engagement in sustainability actions. To fill the gap, this study investigates secondary school teachers as educators for sustainable development in terms of their basic values and sustainability actions in the school. A survey was used to study the perceptions of 442 subject teachers from 49 schools in Finland. The qestionnaire included the shortened version of Schwartz’s Value Survey and items that measured teachers’ perceptions on their sustainability actions (SA) in the school. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to find different value and SA dimensions. In SA there was five different dimensions, expressing three ecological and two social sustainable action dimensions. Statistical analyses showed that there were significant differences between the gender, subject teachers groups, age groups and schools in the value and SA factor dimensions. Only the universalistic human and nature values correlated significantly with the different SA dimensions. The results indicate that teachers’ values are important background factors that influence their own motivation and engagement to act sustainable way in the whole school sustainability activities.