Are future generations future-ready? Investigating associations between higher order skills learning and participation in sustainable development issues

As the world continues to face problems such as climate change and advances in AI, there is a need for our present education systems and those of our future to keep pace. India has attempted a move in this direction with the National Education Policy 2020, emphasising the development of students’ higher order cognitive skills such as critical thinking in encouraging positive contributions to sustainable development. However, there appears to be a lack of literature on the policy’s influence i.e., measuring higher-order skills metrics and its relationship to sustainable development participation. Hence, this study aims to use ‘Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)’, a UNESCO framework emphasising specific higher order cognitive skills towards sustainable development participation, to quantitatively analyse higher order skills metrics. But literature on the framework appears scanty on standardized metrics. To address this gap, the study aimed to pilot and measure ESD skills learning metrics through students’ perceptions towards their pedagogy and facilities in school. Metrics were further analysed against students perceived future participation in sustainable development issues. Primary surveys were distributed online to high school students from 10th-12th standards belonging to a private State Board school in Chennai, India. Analysis was conducted using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and k-means clustering methods to measure whether associations exist between students’ ESD skills learning in school and their perceived future participation in sustainable development issues. Results show clear associations between students’ perceptions on ESD skills learning in school and perceived participation in development issues. These findings provide key implications to policymakers and educationalists on the significance of practical skill development within Indian schools.