1. Introduction

Background and Objectives

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the ‘Sustainable Development Agenda’ surrounding 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which emphasized the need for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as its main content and means of achievement (United Nations General Assembly, 2015). Education on global agendas such as sustainable development, sustainable lifestyles, and human rights are the foci of the 7th target of SDG 4, while the operating system of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has since announced guidelines and programs such as ‘ESD for 2030’ in its Roadmap (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2020). Accordingly, various stakeholders in South Korea, including the government and educational institutions, have worked to expand domestic educational opportunities for sustainable development.

This study aims to propose a new ESD program linked with career education, taking into account the limitations of existing approaches. By designing a short-term educational program supporting career planning based on sustainable development and verifying its effectiveness with high school students, the study seeks to promote career design rooted in social responsibility and suggest future directions for the advancement of ESD in Korea.

The program was implemented for first-grade students at Pyoseon High School in Seogwipo City, Jeju. This location was selected due to its relatively limited occupational diversity, making it an ideal setting to address regional disparities in career development competencies. Pyoseon High School introduced the International Baccalaureate (IB) program for all its students in 2021, creating an educational environment that emphasizes student autonomy and social engagement. This pedagogical context was carefully considered throughout the program’s development.

The follow-up study employed a mixed-methods approach to assess the change in students’ perceptions and understanding of sustainable development. This methodology combined quantitative measures through pre- and post-program surveys with qualitative insights gathered from focus group interviews.

Literature Review

Recent domestic ESD trends lean toward structural improvements, including the amendment of the ‘Framework Act on Education’ in 2021 and the enactment of the ‘Framework Act on Sustainable Development’ in 2022, integrating ESD into the national curriculum (Korean National Commission for UNESCO, 2023). However, these efforts focus excessively on environmental education, neglecting broader sustainable development agendas in an otherwise comprehensive spectrum. Sustainable development emphasizes balanced growth across various sectors, requiring individuals and organizations to play active roles, but current domestic ESD faces limitations in helping learners understand global agendas and define their roles in future society (Jeong et al., 2024).

Another core area of focus is the reality of regional disparities in career development competencies, which are essential for individual and societal growth. Such competencies are important as they involve skills for self-directed career selection and growth, but vary significantly by region, such as school location, due to disparities in community infrastructure, population composition, and educational resources (Jeong, 2021). Existing research highlights gaps in such competencies based on regional size, prompting policies to address inequalities (Kim, 2006; Jang, 2018). Thus, programs tailored to regions with limited resources are necessary for strengthening students' career development capabilities.

Drawing from such limitations, Korea’s ESD program should expand beyond environmental topics to help students understand sustainable development in line with their futures. This study proposes a possible approach to addressing these issues by integrating ESD and career education, which can be expected to enhance career competencies while fostering roles in sustainable societies. In addition, the program aims to bridge regional gaps, support diverse age groups, and ensure scalability across regions.

2. Materials and Methods

Participants

The program was conducted with 124 first-year students at Pyoseon High School, located in Seogwipo City, Jeju. As the program took place during regular school hours, all first-grade students participated regardless of their prior interest in sustainable development. Five undergraduate mentors from Yonsei University facilitated the program by moderating discussions, providing support, and guiding student learning. These mentors had backgrounds in sustainable development, youth engagement, and project facilitation.

Program Structure

The program focused on raising awareness of sustainable development while incorporating the three dimensions of learning emphasized by UNESCO in ESD and Global Citizenship Education (GCED); cognitive, social and emotional, and behavioral dimensions, as stated in its report Educational Content Up Close (UNESCO, 2020). The program was structured into three phases: introduction to sustainable development, student-led project, and final presentation. Phase 1 focused on introducing the concept of sustainable development to build foundational understanding. Phase 2 involved a student-led project, in which students explored a local community issue, applied knowledge, and collaborated with peers. In Phase 3, students delivered a final presentation, where they shared their project outcomes and reflected on their experiences.

1) Phase 1: Introduction to Sustainable Development

During the first phase, students were introduced to sustainable development through two 3-hour sessions on December 23 and 24. These sessions explored the concept of the SDGs, beginning with the official UN definition and leading students to identify their goals of interest. They were then encouraged to find connections between the SDGs and their everyday surroundings.

The ‘I am - I will be’ activity was developed with reference to UNESCO’s Teacher's Guide, specifically drawing on the ‘Identity-Outline’ activity (UNESCO, 2016). This activity aims to help students reflect on their sense of self, self-esteem, and feelings of belonging while encouraging a deeper understanding of their roles within the broader world. Through guided questions, students are encouraged to consider how they define themselves, what matters to them, and how their choices impact others and the planet. With the same objective, the ‘I am - I will be’ activity utilized a worksheet featuring two concentric circles as shown in Figure 1. Students wrote their names in the center, surrounded by roles they currently identify with and aspire to in the future. Each role was accompanied by a brief explanation of its connection to specific SDGs. They had a chance to answer questions such as “What is my current role in society?”, “What role do I see myself playing 10 years from now?”, and “Which SDGs might be connected to that future role?”

In the ‘A Desirable Society’ activity, students engaged in collaborative dialogue supported by a cloud-based audience response platform. Such a platform was considered to promote inclusive participation by allowing all voices to be heard without fear of judgment and to support a more interactive exchange between students and instructors (Mayhew et al., 2020). During this activity, students first shared their visions of a desirable society in small groups and selected five keywords. These were submitted via the platform, generating a collective word cloud that served as the starting point for a class-wide discussion around the question: “What kind of society do we envision as a class?” Detailed guidance provided to students is presented in Figure 2.

The SDG Impact Assessment Tool was introduced to help evaluate the potential impacts a societal change may have on the SDGs (Eriksson, 2019). Developed by Wexsus, this tool enables users to conduct a qualitative self-assessment of how a specific change influences each of the 17 goals (Sustainable Development Solutions Network [SDSN] Northern Europe, 2024). Students assessed the introduction of free public transportation in Seogwipo with each SDG by evaluating with the following categories: direct positive, indirect positive, no impact, indirect negative, direct negative, or don't know - more knowledge needed (Eriksson, 2019). For each choice, they provided a brief written explanation for their choice. This exercise encouraged critical thinking about local decisions and interconnectedness with global agendas. After completing their assessments, students shared their results on a classroom board as shown in Figure 3, facilitating open discussion on differing perspectives.

2) Phase 2: Student-led Project

Building on their understanding of the SDGs, students developed projects in line with UNESCO’s recommendation to employ interactive, project-based, learner-centered pedagogy as stated in its Roadmap (UNESCO, 2020). Students were encouraged to lead a team project to solve a local community issue, as students began analyzing community issues using the Five Ps of Sustainable Development: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership. After conducting individual research on local issues, students discussed their findings with peers and formed project teams based on shared interests. Each team then developed a detailed action plan to address a chosen issue.

Between December 25 and January 1, teams carried out self-directed projects addressing a range of local challenges. Topics included elderly isolation in rural communities, youth delinquency, and waste accumulation on Jeju’s coastlines. At the end of this phase, five outstanding teams were selected according to creativity and innovation, feasibility and impact, and alignment with sustainable development. An exemplary outstanding project is presented in Figure 4.

3) Phase 3: Final Presentation

On January 2, the selected teams delivered final presentations to an audience of all first-year students and mentors. Each team shared their project outcomes, key insights, and reflections on how their efforts related to sustainable development and future career paths. Projects addressed elderly isolation, gaps in intergenerational communication, youth delinquency, community healthcare, and ethical dilemmas in technological development, as detailed in Table 1. Figure 5 presents photographs from the final presentation session.

Research Design

The program's effectiveness in the four domains, awareness of sustainable development, cognitive competence, social and emotional competence, and behavioral competence, was evaluated using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

For the quantitative analysis, pre- and post-surveys consisting of 18 questions were administered to 124 participating students to assess changes across the four categories. The full set of survey questions is listed in Table 2. Survey responses were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale, and paired sample t-tests were conducted to determine statistically significant differences.

Focus group interviews were conducted to explore changes in 'awareness of sustainable development' in greater depth. Two students from each class were randomly selected to form a group of ten, and pre-program and post-program interviews were conducted to identify shifts in responses. The interviews were conducted by three researchers of the program, with the pre-program interview lasting approximately 15 minutes and the post-program interview around 50 minutes. The interview questions explored two key areas: understanding of sustainable development and interest in linking careers with sustainable development as detailed in Table 3.

3. Results

T-Test Analysis

Among the students who responded to the pre-program and post-program surveys (111 and 101, respectively), those who didn’t participate in both surveys, submitted multiple responses, or did not submit the student project outcomes were excluded. Thus, a total of 86 valid responses were retained for analysis. Responses to each question were converted to a five-point Likert scale and analyzed using paired sample t-tests. All statistical analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel Data Analysis Toolpak.

1) Awareness of Sustainable Development

Paired sample t-test results, as detailed in Table 4, indicate that both questions measuring awareness of sustainable development show statistically significant improvements. Notably, question 2, which assesses the perceived connection between sustainable development and students’ career choices or future goals, exhibits the greatest change with a mean increase of 0.94 points.

2) Cognitive Competence

The paired sample t-test results, as detailed in Table 5, reveal statistically significant improvements across all four questions related to cognitive competence. These findings suggest that the program had a meaningful impact on students’ development of competencies associated with understanding and analyzing issues related to sustainable development.

3) Social and Emotional Competence

The results regarding social and emotional competence, as shown in Table 6, are more nuanced. Of the items analyzed, questions 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, and 14 demonstrate statistically significant improvement. However, no significant difference is observed for questions 10 and 12 between the pre- and post-surveys.

Yet it is notable that the pre-program mean for question 10 - respect for diverse perspectives during discussions - is already relatively high at 4.23, which may have limited the room for notable improvement. As for question 12, which addressed students' consideration of the impact of their actions, no clear reason can be identified for the lack of significant change. This suggests a need to reinforce this aspect in future iterations of the program.

4) Behavioral Competence

All four questions related to behavioral competence exhibit statistically significant improvements as detailed in Table 7. This indicates the program’s effectiveness in enhancing students’ capacity for action-oriented behavior in the context of sustainable development.

Focus Group Interviews

Students' answers in pre- and post-program interviews were compared to identify changes in their understanding of sustainable development and their interest in linking it to future careers.

1) Pre-Program Interviews

When asked whether they had previously encountered the concept of sustainable development, all participants responded affirmatively. Students commonly cited engagement in school-based experiences, such as mandatory participation in Pyoseon High School's global citizenship project. Some students also referenced poster-making activities related to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management, social studies classes, and extracurricular school activities.

When prompted to explain the concept of sustainable development, most students referred to keywords such as “environment” and “ecosystem.” One student demonstrated a high level of understanding by accurately citing the UN definition - “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” These responses reflect a relatively strong familiarity and conceptual grasp of sustainable development, which may be attributed to the school’s IB curriculum. However, students’ understanding appeared to be predominantly shaped by school-based activities and focused largely on environmental issues. The frequent use of similar terminology among participants suggests that prior learning experiences were largely passive and repetitive.

When asked about their intended career paths, students expressed a range of aspirations across disciplines including marine biology, philosophy, and visual design. Their responses on the motives of such interests often reflected personal experiences or media influence. We categorized students’ career paths based on three domains — natural sciences, humanities, and arts. Among these groups, students pursuing careers in the natural sciences demonstrated a clearer awareness of its relevance to sustainability, as reflected in specific references to “infrastructure development in developing countries through modular architecture.” In contrast, students in the humanities and arts tracks generally expressed weaker or no explicit connections between their career goals and sustainable development. The details of the responses are presented in Table 8.

2) Post-Program Interviews

When asked about the most impactful activities in the program, many students highlighted the student-led group projects, while two students mentioned the classroom discussions conducted during the SDG Impact Assessment activity. Overall, participants expressed a high level of satisfaction with the participatory components of the program. Some students also noted areas for improvement, such as the limited duration of the program, which “restricted their ability to develop more in-depth projects and to implement and analyze their ideas.” One student remarked on “the frustration of being unable to propose actionable solutions as a student,” reflecting a broader desire among participants to further develop and refine their student-led initiatives.

In response to questions regarding changes in their understanding of sustainable development, students reported a broadened awareness of the scope of sustainability and a stronger sense of its relevance to their personal lives. Specifically, they indicated an expanded understanding of the SDGs in social and economic dimensions, as well as an appreciation for systematic and stepwise approaches to problem-solving. Several students also noted that “the SDGs are not limited to distant or complex societal challenges but are directly related to daily life and individual career paths.”

When asked about the program’s influence on their career planning, many students articulated a clearer sense of connection between sustainability and their professional goals. Most students either explained newly found connections between their intended careers and sustainability or showed reinforcement of previously noted links. However, students in the humanities - particularly one aspiring philosophy major - reported “difficulty in identifying meaningful connections between their career interests and sustainable development.” The details of the responses are illustrated in Table 9.

3) Interview Analysis

A comparative analysis of the pre-program and post-program focus group interviews reveals substantial changes in both understanding of sustainable development and interest in linking careers to sustainable development.

Specifically, students demonstrated an expanded comprehension of the SDGs, including their application beyond the environmental domain to encompass social and economic issues. Additionally, students began to relate these concepts to everyday life. Many participants remarked that “the program provided a more comprehensive and integrated opportunity for reflection on sustainability compared to previous school activities.” Several students also reported “gaining a stronger sense of personal responsibility and agency in contributing to sustainable development.”

Moreover, a significant number of students articulated new or strengthened connections between sustainability and their career goals by referencing concrete themes such as ‘sustainable fisheries’, ‘healthcare inequality’, ‘ethical issues in design’, and ‘alternative meat’. While students in the humanities showed little change in their responses between the interviews, those in the natural sciences and arts demonstrated a markedly increased recognition of sustainability’s relevance to their fields. Overall, students appeared to engage more actively with the concept of sustainable development by connecting it to their personal lives and career aspirations, with some expressing a clear intention to contribute to sustainability through their future professions.

4. Discussion and Conclusions

Program Significance

The program is significant in that it adopted self-directed educational methods into ESD by integrating career education. The inclusion of self-reflection and discussion in classroom activities encouraged student participation and engagement. In addition, student-led projects empowered students to engage in self-directed learning by analyzing community issues and creating feasible solutions. Through these approaches, the program offered students an opportunity to actively reflect on the SDGs and develop their career aspirations based on an understanding of a sustainable society. In addition, it allowed students to exert their influence as subjects leading positive change and to confirm the role of future generations in community development.

Research results support these positive impacts on students. T-test results reveal significant improvement in students' awareness of sustainable development, cognitive competence, behavioral competence, and most aspects of social and emotional competence. Focus group interviews reveal that the program encouraged students to incorporate sustainability into their career planning and heightened their social responsibility. These findings align with existing research demonstrating the effectiveness of ESD with emancipatory approaches in helping students integrate sustainable development principles into their personal lives and value systems. This approach promotes appreciation for diversity while equipping learners with essential competencies for lifelong application (Wals & Benavot, 2017). The significant improvements observed in students' competencies, along with their increased integration of sustainability into career planning, reinforce these benefits of the emancipatory model for ESD.

Implications for Society

This study holds significant implications for Korean society, suggesting a possible direction for the development of domestic ESD. The proven effectiveness of integrating career education into ESD, as well as the implementation of self-directed approaches, suggests the need to transform the traditional environment-oriented model and diversify programs to include more student-led activities. By encouraging students to expand their understanding of sustainable development and actively engage in discussions, schools can become incubators for social innovation and cultivate the youth to become agents of sustainable change.

Conclusion and Limitations

In conclusion, this study highlights the potential of developing ESD beyond traditional environment-oriented, conceptual learning models. The program presented in this study reveals significant effectiveness in enhancing students’ understanding of sustainable development and the key competencies of active engagement. The self-directed nature of the program enabled students to integrate sustainable development into their personal values and lives, with the potential to foster long-term engagement. In this regard, the program serves as a successful case of ESD targeted at high school students, which may suggest new directions for domestic ESD programs.

However, the study faces some limitations. The program’s short duration limited the ability to observe long-term impacts, while students themselves expressed deeper interest in extended activities. Furthermore, as the sample of the study were first-year IB students with relatively higher exposure to ESD, the applicability of research results to students from other backgrounds and interests can be limited. This highlights the need for follow-up studies with extended programs and students with little exposure to ESD. Analysis of program effectiveness on different sample groups and extension of its duration to observe long-term changes are necessary to ensure the program’s scalability.

Figure 1.

‘I Am-I Will Be’ Worksheet.

Figure 2.

‘A Desirable Society’ Activity Slides.

Figure 3.

The ‘SDG Impact Assessment’ Activity.

Figure 4.

Student-Led Project (Elderly Isolation in Seogwipo City).

Figure 5.

Final Presentation.

References

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Figure & Data

References

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