New study highlights broader educational benefits of Learning for Sustainability

A new NESET analytical report  Enhancing education through Learning for Sustainability (LfS): an explorative review of broader benefits (2025), authored by Saphia Zenasni, Lise Janssens, Iris Stiers, Jill Surmont, Joost Vaesen, and Tom Kuppens, investigates how LfS can support broader learning outcomes beyond environmental awareness. The report sheds light on the wider Lfs in (pre-)primary and secondary education. 

The report highlights that LfS offers holistic, interdisciplinary learning experiences that help students develop essential sustainability competences. Aligning with the 2018 Council Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning, the study examines how LfS can enhance basic skills like literacy and numeracy, as well as STEM, digital, and citizenship competences.

The findings reveal that LfS is linked to a range of broader learning benefits, including improved basic and transversal skills, psychological wellbeing, and even institutional development. Notably, many of these benefits have been observed in outdoor, nature-based learning settings.

We invite policymakers, researchers, and education practitioners to explore the report and reflect on how LfS can enrich educational practice and policy. The insights provided can support the integration of sustainability into curricula while advancing key educational priorities across Europe.

This report offers valuable evidence for those committed to building inclusive, future-oriented education systems through sustainability. Read the full report and the executive summary available in English, French and German.