Sustainable Development in Basic Education Sciences in Portugal—Perspective of Official Curriculum Documents

Citation: João, P.; Sá, P.; Henriques, M.H.; Rodrigues, A.V. Sustainable Development in Basic Education Sciences in Portugal—Perspective of Official Curriculum Documents. Sustainability 2022,14, 5651. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su14095651 Academic Editor: David González-Gómez Received: 5 April 2022 Accepted: 6 May 2022 Published: 7 May 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Sustainable Development in Basic Education Sciences in Portugal—Perspective of Official Curriculum Documents Patrícia João1,2,* , Patrícia Sá1, Maria Helena Henriques 2and Ana V. Rodrigues 1 1Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; [email protected] (P.S.); ar[email protected] (A.V.R.) 2Geosciences Center, University of Coimbra, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal; [email protected] *Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: This study aims to identify and characterize the understanding of the concept of Sustainable Development in the official scientific educational documents of basic education in Portugal. Methodologically, it is a qualitative study that fits into the interpretive paradigm; its implementation is based on an interpretative-descriptive strategy of exploratory nature. The study involved the organization of the analysis corpus and the subsequent content analysis of the selected documents. The documents included in this corpus are the official educational documents on the teaching and learning of Natural Sciences in Basic Education (1st to 9th grade—ages 6 to 15): the Essential Learning and two transversal documents (the Student Profile on Leaving Compulsory Schooling and the Environmental Education Framework for Sustainability). The obtained results show that these documents frame and guide the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development, in all its dimensions, throughout basic education. However, this does not happen in an equitable way, neither in all documents nor in all years of schooling. Keywords: sustainable development; basic education sciences; Portuguese Curricular Guidelines 1. Introduction The commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [ 1 ] and the Sustainable Development Goals [ 2 ] implies the inclusion of sustainability issues in formal education programs and curricula. The Portuguese Ministry of Education, through the Directorate General of Education, has assumed its role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, emphasizing that “children and young people are central in this global call for participation and that the school is essential to make known this new global agenda, inspire and encourage people to participate in community development” [ 3 ]. The Directorate General of Education also states that the 17 Sustainable Development Goals “focus on people, human rights and the response to growing social inequalities, as well as encompass central issues such as peace, security and climate change” [ 3 ], emphasizing their commitment and clearly valuing the different dimensions of Sustainable Development (SD). Environmental Education for Sustainability is currently a transversal and fundamental aspect of the curriculum in Portugal. However, the formal integration of an education that promotes SD into Portuguese Curricular Guidelines has taken several years, and it is worth highlighting some milestones (Figure 1). In 1989, the Reform of the Educational System [ 4 ] established the guidelines for citizenship implementation in educational curricula of different grades of schooling. This Reform also introduced the School Area concept and complementary curricular activities, important references in this context as they enable interaction between the school and the community, thus promoting the development of Environmental Education projects. Sustainability 2022,14, 5651. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095651 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2022,14, 5651 2 of 14 Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 15 Figure 1. The integration of Sustainable Development concerns among Portuguese Curricular Guidelines during the last three decades. In 1989, the Reform of the Educational System [4] established the guidelines for citizenship implementation in educational curricula of different grades of schooling. This Reform also introduced the School Area concept and complementary curricular activities, important references in this context as they enable interaction between the school and the community, thus promoting the development of Environmental Education projects. Later, in 1997, the Curriculum Guidelines for Pre-School Education—OCEPE [5] were published, encouraging the approach of issues related to the environment from a very early age. The Curricular Reorganization for Basic Education (1st to 9th grade—ages 6 to 15), in 2001 [6] and the Reform of Secondary Education (10th to 12th grade—ages 16 to 18), in 2003 [7] enhanced the education for citizenship implementation in a more systematic way, since this became a mandatory transversal area and, therefore, present in all disciplines. This Reorganization of Basic Education [6] determined the establishment of three nondisciplinary curricular areas—Project Area, Accompanied Study, and Civic Education— and defines Education for Citizenship as transdisciplinary. Also in 2001, the National Curriculum for Basic Education—Essential Competencies [8] was presented and entered into force. This document defines the competencies to be achieved at the end of Basic Education (BE), taking the Basic Low of the Portuguese Educational System assumptions as reference. This document proposes a set of transversal competencies, common to the three BE cycles and specific competencies defined for each disciplinary area, per BE cycle. It is proposed that science education in the three cycles is based on four themes: Earth in Space, Earth in Transformation, Sustainability on Earth, and Living Better on Earth. An exploration of these themes in an interdisciplinary perspective is valued, in which the Science Technology Society and Environmental interaction should constitute an integrative aspect of scientific knowledge: “Living better on planet Earth presupposes critical and thoughtful human intervention, aiming at sustainable development that, considering the Science, Technology, Society and Environment interaction, is based on social and ethical options and on scientific knowledge, enlightened on the dynamics of systemic relationships that characterize the natural world and on the influence of these relationships on individual and community health” [8] (p. 133). The National Curriculum for Basic Education — Essential Competencies was revoked in 2011 [9]. The Learning Goals [10] were recommended guidelines for the 2013–2014 academic year [11], within the scope of the Strategy for the Development of a National Curriculum for Basic Education (Ministry of Education), aiming to promote clarification and operationalization of the curricular documents that guide educational action. Not being normative documents, they propose curriculum management references for each discipline or disciplinary area, in each education cycle. These documents are developed by grade of schooling, from Pre-School to Secondary Education, and identify competencies and students’ expected performance in each subject area, as well as in transversal areas. Figure 1. The integration of Sustainable Development concerns among Portuguese Curricular Guidelines during the last three decades. Later, in 1997, the Curriculum Guidelines for Pre-School Education—OCEPE [ 5 ] were published, encouraging the approach of issues related to the environment from a very early age. The Curricular Reorganization for Basic Education (1st to 9th grade—ages 6 to 15), in 2001 [ 6 ] and the Reform of Secondary Education (10th to 12th grade—ages 16 to 18), in 2003 [ 7 ] enhanced the education for citizenship implementation in a more systematic way, since this became a mandatory transversal area and, therefore, present in all disciplines. This Reorganization of Basic Education [ 6 ] determined the establishment of three nondisciplinary curricular areas—Project Area, Accompanied Study, and Civic Education—and defines Education for Citizenship as transdisciplinary. Also in 2001, the National Curriculum for Basic Education—Essential Competencies [ 8 ] was presented and entered into force. This document defines the competencies to be achieved at the end of Basic Education (BE), taking the Basic Low of the Portuguese Educational System assumptions as reference. This document proposes a set of transversal competencies, common to the three BE cycles and specific competencies defined for each disciplinary area, per BE cycle. It is proposed that science education in the three cycles is based on four themes: Earth in Space, Earth in Transformation, Sustainability on Earth, and Living Better on Earth. An exploration of these themes in an interdisciplinary perspective is valued, in which the Science Technology Society and Environmental interaction should constitute an integrative aspect of scientific knowledge: “Living better on planet Earth presupposes critical and thoughtful human intervention, aiming at sustainable development that, considering the Science, Technology, Society and Environment interaction, is based on social and ethical options and on scientific knowledge, enlightened on the dynamics of systemic relationships that characterize the natural world and on the influence of these relationships on individual and community health” [8]. (p. 133) The National Curriculum for Basic Education—Essential Competencies was revoked in 2011 [9]. The Learning Goals [ 10 ] were recommended guidelines for the 2013–2014 academic year [ 11 ], within the scope of the Strategy for the Development of a National Curriculum for Basic Education (Ministry of Education), aiming to promote clarification and operationalization of the curricular documents that guide educational action. Not being normative documents, they propose curriculum management references for each discipline or disciplinary area, in each education cycle. These documents are developed by grade of schooling, from Pre-School to Secondary Education, and identify competencies and students’ expected performance in each subject area, as well as in transversal areas. Issues related to sustainability are explicitly proposed in The Learning Goals document, arising in different disciplines or disciplinary areas and in different school grades. As an example, in the Natural Sciences subject (8th grade), we can highlight the sustainability on land domain and the sustainable resource management sub-domain. Sustainability 2022,14, 5651 3 of 14 In 2017, the Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education was approved [ 12 ]. This document claims to be a: “ . . . reference for the decisions to be adopted by decision-makers and educational actors at the level of educational establishments and entities responsible for educational policies, constituting a common matrix for all schools and educational offerings within the scope of compulsory education, namely at the curricular level, in the planning, implementation, and internal and external evaluation of teaching and learning” [12]. (p. 6) The Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education aims to guide curriculum management and contribute to the definition of strategies and methodologies to be used in the context of teaching practice. This document is organized into Principles, Vision, Values, and Areas of Competence. The eight Principles presented are: Learning; Inclusion; Stability; Adaptability and Boldness; Consistency and Flexibility; Sustainability; Humanist Base; and Knowledge. The Vision, based on the defined Principles, explains what is expected of a student leaving compulsory schooling, to be a literate, free, autonomous, and responsible citizen; able to deal with the change and uncertainty that characterize today’s world; able to think critically and autonomously; able to continue learning autonomously throughout life; that respects values of human dignity, solidarity, and the exercise of citizenship; and that rejects any form of discrimination and/or exclusion. The Values considered, in line with an exercise of citizenship that promotes sustainability, are Responsibility and Integrity; Excellence and Demand; Curiosity; Reflection and Innovation; Citizenship and Participation; and Freedom. The Areas of Competence, which are absolutely central in this document, are considered complementary to each other and presented without any hierarchy: languages and texts; information and communication; reasoning and problem solving; critical thinking and creative thinking; interpersonal relationships; personal development and autonomy; well-being, health, and environment; aesthetic and artistic sensibility; scientific, technical, and technological knowledge; and awareness and mastery of the body. In the same year (2017), the National Education Strategy for Citizenship was presented by the Directorate-General for Education (DGE) [ 13 ]. This Strategy is a reference document, to be implemented from pre-school education to the end of secondary education, in convergence with the Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education and, currently, with the Essential Learnings document (mentioned later). Education for Citizenship integrates different domains, organized into three groups of six domains each. The first group, which includes the SD and Environmental Education domains as it includes transversal and longitudinal areas, is mandatory for all levels and cycles of schooling. The second group, which includes the domains institutions and democratic participation and financial literacy and consumer education, is mandatory in at least two cycles of BE, while the third, which includes the domain of citizenship, is optional in any school grade. The reference curriculum document for Environmental Education implementation in schools is the Environmental Education Framework for Sustainability [ 14 ], provided in the National Environmental Education Strategy [15]. The Environmental Education Framework for Sustainability [ 14 ] is organized by education levels, contemplating guidelines from Pre-School Education to Secondary Education. This document proposes eight global themes: Sustainability, Ethics and Citizenship, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Territory and Landscape, Climate change, Biodiversity, Energy, and Water and Soils. For each of these themes, sub-themes, objectives, and performance descriptors are defined. The themes, sub-themes, and objectives are common to different educational levels, although they are suitable for each level and for the age of the students they are intended for. Sustainability 2022,14, 5651 4 of 14 In 2018, the Essential Learnings document was homologated [ 16 ], which, in articulation with the Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education document, replaces the subject programs. Essential Learnings constitutes a reference for students’ learning, defined according to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be developed throughout the curricular progression [17]. In summary, the documents and legal regulations highlighted in this brief systematization allow us to perceive that the issues related to an education that promotes SD are present in the legal guidelines and emerged, in the Portuguese curriculum, as being very related to Environmental Education, Education for Citizenship, and Natural Sciences. However, it is important to understand the SD concepts that are present in these documents and whether or not they are in agreement with each other. The current organization of the Portuguese education system, which covers pre-school education and, later, the 12 years of schooling, includes 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cycles of Basic Education and Secondary Education. The 1st cycle is 4 years (6 to 10 years), the 2nd cycle is 2 years (10 to 12 years), the 3rd cycle is 3 years (12 to 15 years). These 9 years of schooling correspond to Basic Education, which is composed of the same subjects for all (with some exceptions). Secondary education lasts for 3 years (from 15 to 18 years old), a cycle in which students select the area of study that interests them (Scientific, Humanities, Arts, . . . ), with the subjects varying depending on the area they are interested in. Thus, the present study aimed to identify and characterize the understandings of the SD concept in Basic Education (1st, 2nd, and 3rd cycles) in Portugal, through the analysis of official curricular guidance documents for the teaching and learning of Natural Sciences—Essential Learning, as well as in two documents of reference, transversal to the different disciplines, which cover this theme—Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education [ 12 ] and Environmental Education Framework for Sustainability [14]. 2. Methodology From a methodological point of view, this is a qualitative approach that fits into the interpretive paradigm [ 18 , 19 ]. For its implementation, we opted for a descriptiveinterpretative strategy of an exploratory nature [ 18 ], privileging the content analysis [ 20 ] of the documents that constituted the corpus of analysis. The collected corpus consists of official curricular guidance documents (Essential Learning) for the teaching and learning of Natural Sciences in Portuguese BE (1st, 2nd, and 3rd cycles of BE; ages 6 to 15), as well as the two reference documents that are also important to assess the understanding of the SD concept, available at the time on the website of the Directorate-General for Education, making a total of 11 documents (Table 1). Table 1. Official documents for Basic Education (BE) Sciences in Portugal. Document Organization Documents Essential Learning 1. 1st Cycle of BE Environmental Studies Essential Learning. Environmental Studies. First grade [21] Essential Learning. Environmental Studies. Second grade [22] Essential Learning. Environmental Studies. Third grade [23] Essential Learning. Environmental Studies. Fourth grade [24] 2. 2nd Cycle of BE Natural Sciences Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Fifth grade [25] Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Sixth grade [26] 3. 3rd Cycle of BE Natural Sciences Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Seventh grade [27] Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Eighth grade [28] Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Ninth grade [29] Student Profile Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education [13] Environmental Education for Sustainability Referential Environmental Education for Sustainability [15] Sustainability 2022,14, 5651 5 of 14 The analysis instrument applied is presented in Figure 2[ 30 ]. It includes three dimensions of analysis—environmental, economic, and sociocultural, understood as organizing thematic axes and which emerged from the main dimensions of the SD concept identified in the reference literature [ 31 – 34 ]. These three dimensions are interconnected and intricate in different ways, because the essential is the balance between them. For example, achieving economic development implies that society knows the limits that determine sustainable consumption, without harmful implications for the environment. Social development is associated with the knowledge of social institutions and the role of each one, within the framework of a participatory democracy. In the environmental dimension, it is essential to know the weaknesses of natural systems in the face of human action, and to promote their sustainable management with the implementation of appropriate political and social measures [35]. Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 15 3. 3rd Cycle of BE Natural Sciences Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Seventh grade [27] Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Eighth grade [28] Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Ninth grade [29] Student Profile Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education [13] Environmental Education for Sustainability Referential Environmental Education for Sustainability [15] The analysis instrument applied is presented in Figure 2 [30]. It includes three dimensions of analysis—environmental, economic, and sociocultural, understood as organizing thematic axes and which emerged from the main dimensions of the SD concept identified in the reference literature [31–34]. These three dimensions are interconnected and intricate in different ways, because the essential is the balance between them. For example, achieving economic development implies that society knows the limits that determine sustainable consumption, without harmful implications for the environment. Social development is associated with the knowledge of social institutions and the role of each one, within the framework of a participatory democracy. In the environmental dimension, it is essential to know the weaknesses of natural systems in the face of human action, and to promote their sustainable management with the implementation of appropriate political and social measures [35]. Each of these dimensions includes categories (total of 8) and subcategories (total of 32). Figure 2. Dimensions, categories, and subcategories of the analysis instrument (adapted from [30]). Sustainability 2022,14, 5651 6 of 14 Each of these dimensions includes categories (total of 8) and subcategories (total of 32). In this study, the categories are understood as rubrics with specific meanings according to which the content of the corpus was classified by the researcher [ 36 ]. They are, therefore, super-ordered concepts that allowed the researcher to situate his/her apprehension of the object of analysis in order to make it relevant in relation to his/her objectives [ 18 ]. The subcategories, as they explain the broadest meaning of the categories, favor the identification of registration units and, consequently, the categorical analysis. The entire corpus was analyzed and categorized using the webQDA software (www. webqda.net, accessed on 30 November 2021). This software allows organizing the entries by unit of analysis and the export of a final table with the number of references by category and subcategory, as well as the creation of matrices between different units of analysis. Then, an inferential analysis was carried out, which consists of a process of logical deduction and reduction of the meaning of all the organized information. The inferential analysis implied a reconfiguration of the data that, by being grouped according to a set of affinities, allowed the emergence of nuclei of meaning; these, in turn, were the object of interpretive analysis. 3. Results In order to make reading the results easier and before moving on to their presentation and systematization, the codes assigned to each document integrating the corpus of analysis are defined in Table 2. Table 2. Codification of the analyzed documents. Code Documents Characterization 1 Essential Learning. Environmental Studies. First grade Guiding document 2 Essential Learning. Environmental Studies. Second grade Guiding document 3 Essential Learning. Environmental Studies. Third grade Guiding document 4 Essential Learning. Environmental Studies. Fourth grade Guiding document 5 Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Fifth grade Guiding document 6 Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Sixth grade Guiding document 7 Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Seventh grade Guiding document 8 Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Eighth grade Guiding document 9 Essential Learning. Natural Sciences. Ninth grade Guiding document 10 Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education Transversal document 11 Referential Environmental Education for Sustainability Transversal document Given the diversity of documents analyzed, it was decided to systematize the vertical and horizontal analyses performed in Table 3. Thus, the table summarizes the number of references that appear, by dimension, category, and subcategory, in each of the twenty documents that make up the corpus. This form of presentation allows one to simultaneously perceive the presence of each category of analysis in all the analyzed documents and to characterize each of them individually for all categories of analysis. Table 4presents a compilation of data per document and per analysis dimension based on the information of Table 3. Sustainability 2022,14, 5651 7 of 14 Table 3. Number of references found in the analyzed documents by subcategory. Documents Analyzed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Planetary Limits 1 0 1 6 9 2 3 9 0 0 96 A 0 01250230041 B 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 C 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 5 0 0 29 D 0 00230010014 Ecosystems 2 11 7 8 19 7 1 30 0 0 98 E 0 0 1 0 2 1 1 12 0 0 9 F 0 0120004006 G 0 3 1 2 7 1 0 4 0 0 17 H 2 41383040026 I 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 20 J 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 18 K 0 1101104002 Science, Technology, and Society 5 3 4 3 2 7 5 3 8 5 11 L 5 2 3 3 2 5 5 1 7 4 11 M 0 1000101010 E N V I R O N M E N T A L N 0 0100101100 Consumption 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 81 O 0 10101000019 P 0 00110000062 Economic Growth and Environmental and Social Impacts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 Q 0 0000000003 R 0 0000000004 E C O N O M I C S 0 0000000011 Ethics, Citizenship, and Education 4 2 2 0 0 1 3 0 2 33 262 T 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 50 U 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 108 V 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 2 23 104 X 1 0000000000 Cultural Diversity 2 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 13 W 1 2010000026 Y 0 0000000000 Z 1 0020000037 Human Rights 3 4 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 32 21 AA 0 2110000026 AB 0 0000000019 AC 0 0010000015 AD 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 0 AE 0 1010000011 S O C I O C U L T U R A L AF 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 14 0 The gray background color signals the division by Dimensions laterally and Categories in the rows along the table. Table 4. Number of references in each document by analysis dimension. DOCUMENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total BE 10 11 Total Transversal Documents Total Environmental Dimension 8 14 12 17 30 16 9 42 8 156 5 205 210 366 Economic Dimension 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 51 89 90 95 Sociocultural Dimension 9 8 3 7 0 1 3 0 2 33 70 296 366 399 TOTAL 17 23 15 26 31 18 12 42 10 194 76 590 666 860 Sustainability 2022,14, 5651 8 of 14 3.1. References by Dimension, Category, and Subcategory of Analysis of the Entire Corpus The results of the horizontal analysis carried out on all the documents in the corpus show that the most privileged dimension is the “Sociocultural” one, with a total of 399 identified references. In this dimension, “Ethics, Citizenship, and Education”, with 309 references, is the most represented category. However, it is important to note that the “Environmental” dimension also has a high number of references (366). Of the three dimensions that make up the categorical matrix, the “Economic” dimension is the least represented, with only 95 references. The category “Economic Growth and Environmental and Social Impacts,” with only 9, displays the fewest references in the entire corpus. The only subcategory that has no reference in the analyzed documents is “Homogenization and its Social, Environmental, Cultural and Economic Implications” from the “Cultural Diversity” category related to the “Sociocultural” dimension. Furthermore, in the “Economic” dimension, among the 11 analyzed documents, 5 do not present any reference to this dimension. Overall, compared in percentage, it is the “Sociocultural” dimension that presents the largest number of references (46.4%), followed by the “Environmental” dimension (42.6%); the “Economic” dimension presents only 11% of the references. 3.2. References of Transversal Documents (Documents 10 and 11 of the Corpus) The documents displaying guidelines for all disciplinary areas were considered transversal, including the Environmental Studies of the 1st cycle of BE and the Natural Sciences of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of BE, namely: (i) Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education; and (ii) Referential Environmental Education for Sustainability. From the analysis carried out on these two documents, it is clear that document 11, Referential Environmental Education for Sustainability [ 14 ], displays the higher number of references, totaling 590, while document 10, Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education, has 76 references. (Figure 3). Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 9 of 15 Figure 3. Number of references per dimension in documents 10—Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education—and 11—Referential Environmental Education for Sustainability. The analysis carried out shows that the 590 references in document 11 are divided by the three dimensions of analysis as follows: 205 in the “Environmental”, 89 in the “Economic”, and 296 in the “Sociocultural”. These results point to an overvaluation of the “Environmental” and “Sociocultural” dimensions in relation to the “Economic” one. The category where the most references were identified is “Ethic, Citizenship, and Education”, with 262, included in the “Sociocultural” dimension, followed by the categories “Ecosystems” and “Planetary Limits”, with 98 and 96 references, respectively, both included in the “Environmental” dimension. Moreover, in document 11, the subcategories “Civil Rights and Duties” and “The Role of Education in Training Citizens” stand out, with 108 and 104 references, respectively, both included in the “Ethic, Citizenship, and Education” category of the “Sociocultural” dimension. Without any reference in this document, we can identify the subcategories “Risks of the use of Science and Technology for Society and Environment” and “Social and Ethical issues in STSE” belonging to the category “Science, Technology in Society” of the “Environmental” dimension; the subcategory “Ethical Values” of the category “Ethic, Citizenship, and Education”, the subcategory “Homogenization and its Social, Environmental, Cultural, and Economic Implications” of the category “Cultural Diversity”, as well as the subcategories “Democratic Values” and “Valuing a culture of peace” from the “Human Rights” category, all included in the “Sociocultural” dimension. In document 10—Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education [12]—76 references were identified, highlighting the “Sociocultural” dimension, with a total of 70 references. In this dimension, the categories “Ethics, Citizenship, and Education” and “Human Rights” have the highest number of references, 33 and 32, respectively. The subcategory with the highest number of references, with a total of 23, is “The Role of Education in Training Citizens”, belonging to the category “Ethic, Citizenship and Education”, which shows the appreciation of “...the school as an environment conducive to learning and the development of skills, where students acquire the multiple literacies they need to mobilize, [which] has to be reconfigured to respond to the demands of these times of unpredictability and accelerated change. [...]” [12] (p. 7). In this document, in the “Environmental” dimension, there are two categories without references: “Planetary 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Doc. 10 Doc. 11 Sociocultural 70 296 Economic 189 Environmental 5205 Number of references Figure 3. Number of references per dimension in documents 10—Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education—and 11—Referential Environmental Education for Sustainability. The analysis carried out shows that the 590 references in document 11 are divided by the three dimensions of analysis as follows: 205 in the “Environmental”, 89 in the Sustainability 2022,14, 5651 9 of 14 “Economic”, and 296 in the “Sociocultural”. These results point to an overvaluation of the “Environmental” and “Sociocultural” dimensions in relation to the “Economic” one. The category where the most references were identified is “Ethic, Citizenship, and Education”, with 262, included in the “Sociocultural” dimension, followed by the categories “Ecosystems” and “Planetary Limits”, with 98 and 96 references, respectively, both included in the “Environmental” dimension. Moreover, in document 11, the subcategories “Civil Rights and Duties” and “The Role of Education in Training Citizens” stand out, with 108 and 104 references, respectively, both included in the “Ethic, Citizenship, and Education” category of the “Sociocultural” dimension. Without any reference in this document, we can identify the subcategories “Risks of the use of Science and Technology for Society and Environment” and “Social and Ethical issues in STSE” belonging to the category “Science, Technology in Society” of the “Environmental” dimension; the subcategory “Ethical Values” of the category “Ethic, Citizenship, and Education”, the subcategory “Homogenization and its Social, Environmental, Cultural, and Economic Implications” of the category “Cultural Diversity”, as well as the subcategories “Democratic Values” and “Valuing a culture of peace” from the “Human Rights” category, all included in the “Sociocultural” dimension. In document 10—Student Profile at Completion of Compulsory Education [ 12 ]—76 references were identified, highlighting the “Sociocultural” dimension, with a total of 70 references. In this dimension, the categories “Ethics, Citizenship, and Education” and “Human Rights” have the highest number of references, 33 and 32, respectively. The subcategory with the highest number of references, with a total of 23, is “The Role of Education in Training Citizens”, belonging to the category “Ethic, Citizenship and Education”, which shows the appreciation of “ . . . the school as an environment conducive to learning and the development of skills, where students acquire the multiple literacies they need to mobilize, [which] has to be reconfigured to respond to the demands of these times of unpredictability and accelerated change. [ . . . ]” [ 12 ] (p. 7). In this document, in the “Environmental” dimension, there are two categories without references: “Planetary Limits” and “Ecosystems”; in addition, in the “Economic” dimension for the “Consumption” category, no references were found. 3.3. References of “Essential Learning” (Documents 1 to 9 of the Corpus) For this focus of analysis, the documents that define the Essential Learning of Study of the Environment (1st cycle of BE) and of Natural Sciences (2nd and 3rd cycles of BE) were considered. With a total of 194 references in the 9 documents of the Essential Learning, the “Environmental” dimension stands out, which has the largest number of references, with a total of 156 (Figure 4). Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 10 of 15 Limits” and “Ecosystems”; in addition, in the “Economic” dimension for the “Consumption” category, no references were found. 3.3. References of “Essential Learning” (Documents 1 to 9 of the Corpus) For this focus of analysis, the documents that define the Essential Learning of Study of the Environment (1st cycle of BE) and of Natural Sciences (2nd and 3rd cycles of BE) were considered. With a total of 194 references in the 9 documents of the Essential Learning, the “Environmental” dimension stands out, which has the largest number of references, with a total of 156 (Figure 4). Figure 4. Number of references by Dimension in the Essential Learning of BE. In the “Environmental” dimension, it is the “Ecosystems” category that also has the highest number of references (85). The subcategory “Use of Science and Technology for Society and the Environment”, included in the category “Science, Technology, and Society”, also in the “Environmental” dimension, is the one with the highest number of references, with a total of 33. For example, it is identified as Essential Learning in Environmental Studies for the 1st grade “Recognizing that technology responds to everyday needs and problems (electricity network, water pipes, telecommunications, etc.)” [21] (p. 7), and “Recognize the importance of technological evolution for the evolution of society, relating objects, equipment and technological solutions with different needs and everyday problems” [24] (p. 9) for the 4th grade, two of the recording units categorized in this dimension. The “Economic” dimension presents itself as the least represented, having only 5 references (Figure 3); one of its categories, “Economic Growth and Environmental and Social Impacts”, has no reference in the analyzed guiding documents. In the analysis carried out by educational grade, we can highlight the 8th grade with the highest number of references (42), all referred to the “Environmental” dimension. The 9th grade guiding documents display only 10 references (Figure 5). Figure 4. Number of references by Dimension in the Essential Learning of BE.