Outcome indicator development: Defining education for sustainable development outcomes for the individual level and connecting them to the SDGs

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has become a key concept to achieve global sustainable development. ESD aims at enabling people to think and act in a sustainable, future-oriented manner. For this purpose, ESD should not only equip learners with knowledge but is supposed to promote and advance the acquisition of sustainability competencies to address the challenges of the 21st century at a social, environmental, and economic level. Regarding the systematic implementation of ESD and its evidence-based management, an assessment of its outcomes is crucial. So far, however, ESD outcomes have only been partially assessed systematically. We developed a domain-specific ESD outcome indicator test (OIT) which strives to fill this gap. The test is intended to contribute towards the monitoring and further development of ESD in the school system. This article presents the procedure and the central findings of developing a model using an inductive research design. The model comprises the possible outcomes of ESD and thus functions as the basis of the OIT. It considers six thematic action domains for students as well as cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioural outcome components. The six action domains have been defined based on 15 interviews with experts from the arrays of ESD research, practice, and policy and a review of N = 195 sustainability related psychological scales. These were linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so that connectivity between outcomes at the individual level and political respectively societal goals is ensured.