Behind Research for Education Volume 18: Insights from the Authors

Elisa Caponera

Senior Researcher - IEA TIMSS NRC for Italy

INVALSI (National Institute for the Educational Evaluation of Instruction and Training)

 

"Working on this book really opened my eyes to the different ways schools around the world approach teaching about environmental sustainability. As I looked through the TIMSS data and compared the results, I noticed not only that teachers and school systems are very supportive of sustainability education, but also that there are many different ways it actually happens in classrooms. This made me think more deeply about the difference between just adding."

Erik Knain

Professor

University of Oslo

"One of the main learning points for me has been that the challenge of transformative change, which might include values and worldviews, has started to be addressed by the curricula of some countries, even though transformative change still represents a profound challenge for most countries."

Inés García-Bohórquez

PhD Student, Science and Climate Change Education

University of Salamanca, EMC3 Research Group

"Working on this book has shaped my views on environmental education. Analyzing TIMSS data helped me see how sustainability frameworks like GreenComp can be measured and provide insights into how different education systems put them into practice. It also broadened my perspective on schools as complex environments, where culture, resources, and context shape students’ experiences and understanding of sustainability. This work has shown me that fostering environmental awareness isn’t just about curriculum content but also requires a holistic approach that considers the broader educational ecosystem."

Jelena Radišić

Researcher

University of Oslo

“Working on this chapter has broadened my perspective by prompting me to go beyond my usual empirically based engagement with TIMSS and to consider how such insights can be understood through a more theoretical lens, particularly in relation to current debates on sustainability and transformative change in science education.”

Jelle Boeve-de Pauw

Associate Professor in Science Education

Utrecht University, Faculty of Science, Freudenthal Institute

“Working on this book has revealed to me how many Eastern European countries are generating valuable insights and reporting on students’ learning about environmental sustainability. It has also reinforced my view that in my own country, the Netherlands, we really need to strengthen our efforts: environmental sustainability still receives too little attention across the education system. That needs to change! The TIMSS data provide a tangible tool for me to engage with teachers, curriculum designers and policymakers in more informed conversations about the place of environmental sustainability in our education system.”

Laura Palmerio

Senior Researcher - Head of ILSAs Unit

INVALSI

"Working on this book changed my perspective. I initially believed that sustainability teaching would naturally improve student attitudes and behaviors. However, in my country (Italy), despite teachers reporting some of the highest frequencies of sustainability activities among all participating systems, we found no significant association with student outcomes. This reveals a common confusion between quantity and quality in education policy. What really matters is how teaching promotes genuine student agency through real, open-ended problems, and as a professional in large-scale assessment, I find this an exciting insight for improving our measurement tools."

Michiel van Harskamp

Postdoctoral Researcher Sustainability Education

Utrecht University, Faculty of Science, Freudenthal Institute

"Working with the TIMSS data for this book told me two things. First, it showed how in my country, the Netherlands, we still have a lot to do concerning environmental and sustainability education. We drew similar conclusions from previous qualitative work with teachers and students, and the TIMSS data fortify this idea: there is work to be done in the Netherlands! Second, we see many hopeful signs of educational systems across Europe, which makes me eager to learn about different approaches to the interesting and challenging field of education for environmental sustainability."

Paulína Koršňáková

Senior Research and Liaison Adviser

IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement)

"In my dual role as the volume co-editor and chapters co-author, I had a plentiful time for reflection on why student science and more specifically environmental knowledge measured in TIMSS do not have a similar impact on student attitudes as the civic and citizenship knowledge shows in ICCS. The difference may be that while students live in society while they are learning concepts and theory about its functioning, they can grow detached from nature. The data were pointing towards benefits of students experiencing nature. Perhaps one of the most important and often neglected aspects in science education may be to support students in creating a personal relationship with their natural environment."

Riccardo Pietracci

Research Associate - International Large-Scale Assessments

INVALSI

"Working on this book gradually shifted my perspective on environmental sustainability education towards a stronger focus on how students learn to navigate complexity and uncertainty. It made me more aware of how challenges such as sustainability education require international large-scale assessments to continually refine and renew the constructs through which students’ attitudes, behaviours, and learning outcomes are conceptualised and measured within standardised assessment contexts."

Svatava Janoušková

Professor

Charles University, Faculty of Science

"Working with data from the TIMSS international survey is, in a way, a scientific adventure. In writing this chapter, we have journeyed from national data to data from several other countries, comparing students' environmental knowledge and pro-environmental values across different contexts. The result of this analytical expedition is that strong pro-environmental values among students are also found in countries with relatively lower levels of environmental knowledge."

Tahira Ali Qadri

Research Officer

IEA

"Working on this book helped me realize how early sustainability engagement actually begins. I used to associate sustainability education with older students, but TIMSS data showed me that even young learners already care about nature and practice small environmental actions in their daily lives. It also confirmed something I often noticed: girls tend to be more environmentally aware and mindful than boys, suggesting there is more to learn and do by education systems in engaging boys from an early age to care for the environment. It was also interesting to learn how teachers and families shape their attitudes, meaning students can get encouragement both in classrooms and at home."

Wanda Sass

Postdoctoral Researcher Sustainability Education

Utrecht University, Faculty of Science, Freudenthal Institute

"Diving into the TIMSS data, I learned there are many ways to integrate environmental and sustainability education into curricula and classrooms, but it is never easy and straightforward. Success seems to be defined in different ways, and this variety offers a rich palette of perspectives. When looking at my own home base (Flanders) and workplace (the Netherlands), I could not help noticing there is much catching up to do. This will need courage and thoughtful consideration at many different societal levels. International large-scale assessments such as TIMSS may offer a potent tool to learn from each other."