Sixth-Grade Students’ Attitudes Towards Aspects of Sustainable Quality of Life
Abstract
The concept of sustainable quality of life links quality of life with sustainable use of resources. The aim of the present study was to investigate students’ attitudes towards nine aspects of sustainable quality of life: health and safety, leisure and recreation, nature and landscape, income and employment, mobility, identification and participation, social relations and equality, education and knowledge, and living. The study employed a quantitative cross-sectional design and included 120 sixthgrade students from Slovenian primary schools. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire based on the sustainable quality of life model, with responses measured on a five-point Likert scale. The results showed that the students generally perceived all sustainable quality of life aspects as important, with health and safety, income and employment, and living rated highest, while mobility, and participation and identification received comparatively lower ratings. No statistically significant gender differences were found, although a significant geographical difference emerged in the income and employment aspect, with students from rural environments assigning it greater importance. Although the findings indicate that students are aware of the importance of sustainable quality of life aspects, they also highlight the need for greater pedagogical emphasis on critical thinking, active participation and everyday practices related to sustainability.
Downloads
References
Bucht, C., Bachner, J., & Spengler, S. (2024). Environmental attitude and affective-motivational beliefs towards sustainability of secondary school children in Germany and their associations with gender, age, school type, socio-economic status and time spent in nature. PLOS ONE, 19(5), Article e0296327. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296327
Di Mario, S., Elia, U., Salvati, F., Tofani, M., Sacco, F., Maselli, L., & Galeoto, G. (2024). Stress and burnout in healthcare students: An integrative review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(6), Article 12043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2024.04.009
Erjavšek, M., Lovšin Kozina F., & Kostanjevec, S. (2021). In-service home economics teachers’ attitudes to the integration of sustainable topics in the home economics subject. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 11(1), 27–47. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.614
Feldmane, L. (2019). Students’ satisfaction with their host city: Case of Jelgava, Latvia. Engineering for Rural Development, 18, 1888–1892. https://doi.org/10.22616/ERDev2019.18.N088
Haapala, I., Biggs, S., Cederberg, R., & Kosonen, A. (2012). Home economics teachers’ intentions and engagement in teaching sustainable development. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 58(1), 41–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2012.696213
Huang, X., Hua, L., Zhou, X., Zhang, H., Zhang, M., Wang, S., Qin, S., Chen, J., & Wang, X. (2021). The association between home environment and quality of life in children and adolescents in Hangzhou City, China. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 30, 1416–1427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-01951-1
Karimi, M., & Brazier, J. (2016). Health, health-related quality of life, and quality of life: What is the difference? Pharmacoeconomics, 34(7), 645–649. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40273-016-0389-9
Kassa, K., Arficho, Z., & Mulatu, M. (2022). Relationship between students’ attitude towards vocabulary learning and their English vocabulary knowledge. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 12(10), 4757–4764. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1210.01
Kennedy, E., Krahn, H., & Krogman, N. (2013). Downshifting: An exploration of motivations, quality of life, and environmental practices. Sociological Forum, 28(4), 764–783. https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12057
Kutsar, D., Soo, K., Strózik, T., Strózik, D., Grigoraș, B., & Bălțătescu, S. (2019). Does the realisation of children’s rights determine good life in 8-year-olds’ perspectives? A comparison of eight European countries. Child Indicators Research, 12(1), 161–183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-017-9499-y
Lacruz, J. L., Buscà Donet, F., & Abós Olivares, P. (2024). Rural teacher competencies: An international comparative study on the territorial dimension of rural schools. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 14(4), 145–170. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1542
Legaspi, J. T., Linggas, E. S., Taping, R. T., & Bacatan, J. R. (2024). Student’s attitude towards sustainable development. Contemporary Research Analysis Journal, 1(6), 248–257. https://doi.org/10.55677/CRAJ/12-2024-Vol01I6
Liao, C., & Li, H. (2019). Environmental education, knowledge, and high school students’ intentiontoward separation of solid waste on campus. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(9), Article 1659. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16091659
Līce, I., & Reihmane, S. (2015). Education for sustainable development at home economics. In V. Dišlere (Ed.), Proceedings of the Rural Environment Education (pp. 230–236). Latvia University of Agriculture. https://llufb.llu.lv/conference/REEP/2015/Latvia-Univ-Agricult-REEP-2015proceedings-230-236.pdf
Lu, Y.-Y., Chen, H.-T., Wang, H.-H., Lawrenz, F., & Hong, Z.-R. (2019). Investigating grade and gender differences in students’ attitudes toward life and well-being. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 16, 105–127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-019-09746-9
Mao, Y., He, L., Danniswari, D., & Furuya, K. (2023). College students’ perceptions of and place attachment to rural areas: Case study of Japan and China. Youth, 3(2), 737–752. https://doi.org/10.3390/youth3020048
Mao, Y., He, L., Danniswari, D., & Furuya, K. (2024). Perception and relocation intentions of Japanese youth towards rural areas: A case study of visitors in Hanyu-shi, Saitama Prefecture. Social Sciences, 13(4), Article 197. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13040197
Mithans, M., Zurc, J., & Ivanuš Grmek, M. (2024). Perceptions of didactic strategies among pupils and teachers in primary school. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 14(1), 225–246. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1491
Mubarak, A., Frinaldi, A., Syamsir, S., Syolendra, D., Fitriyanti, W., & Rezeki, A. (2024). Community involvement in the development of Nagari-based sustainable waste management. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1414(1), Article 012082. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1414/1/012082
Ramón-Arbués, E., Echániz-Serrano, E., Martínez-Abadía, B., Antón-Solanas, I., Cobos-Rincón, A., Santolalla-Arnedo, I., Juárez-Vela, R., & Jerue, B. A. (2022). Predictors of the quality of life of university students: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(19), Article 12043. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912043
Ridayani, R., Saputra, N., Siagian, N., Owon, R., & Rawadhy, I. (2022). The correlation of environmental education, environmental knowledge, environmental involvement, and waste management behavior. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1105(1), Article 012008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1105/1/012008
Ruiz, M. U. (2024). A sustainable tourism pedagogy quadrant for transformative education: A student perspective. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1366(1), Article 012045. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1366/1/012045
Schneider, P., Reinstorf, F., & Vázquez Z, R. F. (2019). Theory-practice integration and sustainability. In W. L. Filho, A. M. Azul, L. Brandli, P. Gökcin Özuyar, & T. Wall (Eds.), Quality Education. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 1–16). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69902-8_10-1
Shrestha, B., Tiwari, S., Bajracharya, S., & Keitsch, M. (2020). Role of gender participation in household energy technology to achieve sustainability: A case of Kathmandu. Research Square. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-113822/v1
Solano-Sánchez, M. Á., Domínguez-Valerio, C. M., Lendínez-Turón, A., & Aguilar-Rivero, M. (2022). Sustainable economic development education: The use of artificial neural networks for the profile estimation of students from developing countries. Sustainability, 14(3), Article 1192. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031192
Stevenson, R. (2022). Approaches to education for sustainability. In K. Hytten (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.93
Sugara, G. S., Rakhmat, C., Nurihsan, J., & Ilfiandra, I. (2020). Quality of life and burnout among university students. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(8), 3742–3750. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2020.080855
Taar, J., & Palojoki, P. (2022). Applying interthinking for learning 21st-century skills in home economics education. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 33, Article 100615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2022.100615
Tapia, M., & Marsh, G. E. (2004). An instrument to measure mathematics attitudes. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 8(2), 16–21.
Teoli, D., & Bhardwaj, A. (2023, March 27). Quality of life. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK536962/
Ursachi, G., Horodnic, I. A., & Zait, A. (2015). How reliable are measurement scales? External factors with indirect influence on reliability estimators. Procedia Economics and Finance, 20, 679–686. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00123-9
Vogt, C. A., Andereck, K. L., & Pham, K. (2020). Designing for quality of life and sustainability. Annals of Tourism Research, 83, Article 102963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.102963
Vošnjak, M., Rebolj, N., & Devetak, I. (2025). Environmental content as a part of science-oriented sustainable development goals in Grades 6 and 7 of Slovenian primary school: An analysis of science textbooks. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 15(4), 247–276. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1792
Waitt, G., Caputi, P., Gibson, C., Farbotko, C., Head, L., Gill, N., & Stanes, E. (2012). Sustainable household capability: Which households are doing the work of environmental sustainability? Australian Geographer, 43(1), 51–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2012.649519
WCED. (1987). Our common future. Oxford University Press.
WHO. (2022). WHOQOL: Measuring quality of life. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/whoqol-qualityoflife/en/
Wiesli, T. X., & Hammer, T. (2019). Lebensqualität und Nachhaltigkeit: Die Sicht der Bevölkerung in Pärken von nationaler Bedeutung [Quality of life and sustainability: The perspectives of residents in parks of national importance]. Universität Bern, Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Nachhaltige Entwicklung und Umwelt (CDE). https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.132887
Zaman, B., & Lovšin Kozina, F. (2021). Textile literacy of ninth-grade students in the context of sustainable development. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 79(4), 674–685. https://doi.org/10.33225/pec/21.79.674
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitted article, which will be published online in the Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal (for short: CEPS Journal) by University of Ljubljana Press (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). The Author’s/Authors’ name(s) will be evident in the article in the journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in the hands of the publisher.
- The Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit themselves to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
