Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Mathematics Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is an effort to encourage people to be constructive and creative in facing global challenges and to create a resilient and sustainable society. ESD incorporates key issues of sustainable development into teaching and learning. Mathematics is the key to other fields of science and plays an important role in realizing ESD. Almost all competencies in the dimensions of ESD can be integrated into the curriculum of mathematics. This article aims to examine ESD especially on mathematics education. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using established and robust guidelines. We follow the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). We searched Scopus, ERIC and ProQuest, for 15 studies about ESD on mathematics education published between 2019 and 2023. The findings of the SLR indicate that: (1) interest in ESD research especially on mathematics education has grown over time and is evenly distributed across different countries; (2) most of the reviewed studies used qualitative research methods; (3) most of the research is for teachers or pre-service teacher education level; (4) there are various ways to integrating ESD into mathemathics curriculum. This understanding may increase the quality of mathematics practices within ESD domain.