GreenVET pathway

Listening to Learn: Using a Sustainability Awareness Questionnaire in VET Schools

This best practice introduces an anonymous questionnaire tool that enables vocational schools to assess the sustainability knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions within their school community. It is designed to stimulate reflection, dialogue, and planning aligned with both Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Whole Institution Approach (WIA).

Key People and Partners Involved

school management
teachers
students
school staff

Description of the practice

The questionnaire serves as a reflective and diagnostic tool that invites all members of a vocational school—management, administrative staff, teachers, and learners—to anonymously assess their understanding and attitudes towards sustainability. It draws on the principles of ESD, helping participants consider how deeply sustainability is embedded in both the educational content and the daily operations of their institution. The anonymity allows for honest feedback and encourages a culture of open reflection.

Aligned with the Whole Institution Approach to Sustainability (Module 4), the questionnaire goes beyond individual knowledge to examine the school’s values, partnerships, team development, and learning environment. It prompts the school community to consider how sustainability is manifested across the institution—from curriculum content to school premises and community involvement. It also uncovers existing but unrecognized sustainability practices, allowing schools to build on what already works.

The results provide a springboard for meaningful internal discussions about sustainability goals, challenges, and priorities. With guiding questions included, schools can facilitate workshops or team dialogues to interpret the findings. This creates a shared understanding and collective responsibility for advancing sustainability within the school, ensuring that future initiatives are both targeted and inclusive.

Where it’s being implemented

This link might not lead to content in English language. Use your browser's translate function or automatic captions to explore this resource.

The 13 VET schools forming the GreenVET community of practice conducted a school survey and analyzed the results to engage in more meaningful sustainability action.
https://www.green-vet.eu/content/project.php

Impact and Results

Clearer understanding of how sustainability is perceived across the school community.
Identification of overlooked or under-acknowledged sustainable practices.
Better alignment of school initiatives with community expectations and needs.
Stronger basis for planning sustainability-related actions and policies.
Improved collaboration and communication between different stakeholder groups.

Implementation Tips and Insights

Ensure anonymity to encourage honest and uninfluenced responses.
Engage all groups—students, teachers, staff, and leadership—for a holistic view.
Facilitate reflection workshops after the survey using the provided guiding questions.
Compare results across roles to identify differing perspectives and priorities.
Repeat the survey annually to track progress and adjust interventions over time.

Useful Links and Resources

This link might not lead to content in English language. Use your browser's translate function or automatic captions to explore this resource. Here you can find a template for a print-out and an online survey by the GreenVET project in en:
https://www.green-vet.eu/content/pdf/en_annex.pdf
In German:
https://www.green-vet.eu/content/pdf/de_annex.pdf
In Italian:
https://www.green-vet.eu/content/pdf/it_annex.pdf
In Slovenian:
https://www.green-vet.eu/content/pdf/sl_annex.pdf
In Latvian:
https://www.green-vet.eu/content/pdf/lv_annex.pdf