The purpose of this report was to investigate how the Umeå School of Business and Economics at Umeå university can work to increase the share of courses and programmes that discuss sustainable development. Furthermore the purpose was to develop an action plan that can be used to increase that share. Methods used were a questionnaire directed towards the educators at the Umeå School of Business and Economics and an assessment of the content of courses and programmes connected to the Umeå School of Business and Economics. There was no clear structured way of working with education for sustainable development, but at the same time there was a will to integrate sustainable development in the education. Curricula were according to the educators an important tool to achieve this integration, their experience were that there are not enough time, people and money to work with sustainable development in the education and they would like to see more clear directions from the management.

The primary purpose of this degree project was to investigate teachers conceptions about education for sustainable development and their education within the area. Teachers from Sweden and California have taken part and one of the aims with this study was to look if any differences could be found depending on what country the teachers came from. Therefore, this study has used a qualitative approach where conception maps and interviews have been used to get a result. Furthermore, the result showed that none of the differences that was found can be linked to the participants home country. The study also showed that several of different teaching traditions and educations philosophies was represented.

The purpose of this study is to find out teachers and students thoughts about sustainable development. Research shows that sustainable development should be a part of all education. When this is the case, the student´s will develop a competence to act in this matter. This is important so student´s encourages to act and make decisions based on knowledge about sustainable development. This field investigation is based on four interviews with teachers and eleven interviews with student´s. The result shows that the teachers has learned a lot about the concept, and in different ways realizated this in their teaching.

The primary purpose of this degree project was to investigate teachers conceptions about education for sustainable development and their education within the area. Teachers from Sweden and California have taken part and one of the aims with this study was to look if any differences could be found depending on what country the teachers came from. Therefore, this study has used a qualitative approach where conception maps and interviews have been used to get a result. Furthermore, the result showed that none of the differences that was found can be linked to the participants home country. The study also showed that several of different teaching traditions and educations philosophies was represented.

The concept of sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making.The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of sustainable development within one generation.The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development?s (WCED) definition.

This work is a study of subject teachers in social studies and science understand the concept of sustainable development. The work uses a qualitative and a quantitative approach. Teachers in various schools and stages have been answering questions about how they perceive sustainability, how they implement it in teaching and if they feel that school is important for the future of sustainable development at large.The theoretical background is based on environmental ethics as well as the different meanings and definitions of the concept of sustainable development. These theories and definitions are coupled with the empirical results.The study concludes that all teachers throughout the study perceive the concept of sustainable development as something ecological, something that has to do with nature. A few teachers also state economic and social dimensions.Questions about how the teachers in the study implement the concept in their teaching can be seen as three different approaches.

Today we see a growing need and interest in working towards sustainable development. To be able to contribute to a sustainable development as individuals/business we need to emphasize the importance of education and contextualisation that learning occurs in a sense that is relevant to the learner.This is the background to this study, which in turn is the basis for an education that focuses on how to environmentally secure your purchases, an opportunity for us to set environmental standards purchasing products and services. The process for purchase is considered by many to be a key factor in businesses work towards sustainable development. Key people in this process and target audience for this education is environmental, purchasing and procurement managers.The purpose of this study is to design an education calledMiljösäkrade inköp from the target audiences? knowledge, interests and attitudes, together with literature.

The concept of sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making.The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of sustainable development within one generation.The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development?s (WCED) definition.

This work is a study of subject teachers in social studies and science understand the concept of sustainable development. The work uses a qualitative and a quantitative approach. Teachers in various schools and stages have been answering questions about how they perceive sustainability, how they implement it in teaching and if they feel that school is important for the future of sustainable development at large.The theoretical background is based on environmental ethics as well as the different meanings and definitions of the concept of sustainable development. These theories and definitions are coupled with the empirical results.The study concludes that all teachers throughout the study perceive the concept of sustainable development as something ecological, something that has to do with nature. A few teachers also state economic and social dimensions.Questions about how the teachers in the study implement the concept in their teaching can be seen as three different approaches.

This master thesis, which has been carried out in collaboration with Fairtrade,investigates how sustainable development can be integrated in the mathematicaldiscipline in the Swedish upper secondary school. The study includedfindings on design and disposition, with sustainability themes relatedto Fairtrade. This since Fairtrade is going to use the study as a basis forthe development of an educational material. The results of the study areof interest to teachers and organizations that want to develop educationalmaterial that integrate sustainable development in mathematics education.The main focus of the study has been the teachers? preferences on dispositionand design.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven mathematics teachersin the Stockholm area.

This paper contains an analysis that sets out to investigate how sustainable development is portrayed in textbooks used in gymnasium level civics education. The study covers three textbooks, all in current use. The paper sets out to explore the relationship between the books chapters on economics and those about environmental issues. The sum of these two parts is in the context supposed to make up the books big picture of green sustainable development, i.e. the ecological aspect of sustainable development. An analytical model will be used to categorise and compare the three textbooks.The method chosen for this is analysis of ideas by use of ideal types.

This thesis concerns how local governments use the concept sustainable development, and what the concept means. The concept of Agenda 21 and local Agenda 21 will also be discussed in this essay, because it's an instrument for local governments to specify their work towards sustainable development. I have interviewed civil servants in leading positions in the municipalities? work with environmental questions and sustainable development. In the choice of method for this thesis, I use the qualitative method and for the interviews I chose the ?semi structure way of interviewing?.This thesis shows that local governments? implementation of sustainable development and Agenda 21 differ between the municipalities.

Nature is in many ways considered a source to both physical and mental health among people. Trends in today?s society reveal that children become more distanced to nature. Seen from the perspective of sustainable development this trend is considered crucial: it is of importance that children in their early ages experience nature positively in order to develop a dedication towards environmental issues as adults.The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers use outdoor learning as an educational tool. Research data were collected through a series of interviews.

Sustainability has become more interesting to several companies through the last years, the trend attracts lots of attention around sustainability. Sustainable development means different to different people. The most frequent definition that we have found and which we believes compare with our definition of sustainable development.?a social change which satisfies daily needs without endanger next generation?s possibilities to satisfy their needs?.We have in this project commence from the English word sustainability and establish our own apprehension of its meaning, in the Swedish translation we have chose to call it sustainable development.This study is a part of an extensive project which is going on around the world and the material of the empirical study is designed after the international variation.Our study on over fifty small and medium sized enterprises has got the conclusion about what they think of sustainable development. We have compiled their answers and then the answers have been divided in three main categories.These main categories are:? Environmental-? Social-? Economic sustainabilityWe have also described what kind of obstacles which can be considered as standstill?s in the work with sustainable development, we have been summery them in three main categories:? Time? Cost? KnowledgeWe have seen that enterprises mostly see it as an competitive advantage to work with the main categories which is included in sustainable development, but the three standstill?s makes it difficult fore them to reach right up to sustainable development..

The design of buildings is today considered to be crucial for obtaining sustainable development. Research concerning sustainable building is considered to be a Swedish area of strength and development projects as Hammarby Sjöstad and Bo01 are often pointed out as Swedish prime examples of sustainable building. Some still argue though, that that these projects should not be presented as sustainable, due to its incompetence to meet their objectives. This contradiction has attracted my curiosity. By doing this study I hope to gain understanding about the difficulties Bo01 and Hammarby Sjöstad are surrounded with and its significance for sustainable development.