Sustainability is one of the most important challenges for present
and future societies, which needs to be urgently and adequately
addressed from Education. This study qualitatively analyses the
curricula of primary and secondary education in Spain and
Portugal, with the objective of assessing how sustainability is
addressed across compulsory education in both countries. The
results show a limited presence of sustainability in the curricula of
both countries, the coexistence of different and sometimes inconsistent
conceptions of sustainability, deficiencies in the inclusion
of the social and economic dimensions, and a questionable
technological optimism as the solution to sustainability problems.
Such findings provide with a basis to improve curricula, also in
other countries. Future curricular designs should seek a more
ambitious approach to sustainability based on the equal importance
of its three dimensions, an effective cross-curricular character,
critical thinking, and an ecocentric ethics.
