Can Security and Safety Education Support Sustainability? Lessons Learned from Poland

Abstract

The aim of the article is to prove that sustainable development goals can be supported by security and safety education, where security refers to the state of being free from danger or threats and safety applies to creating protection from risks or dangers. This kind of education, which is obligatory in Polish schools, encompasses interdisciplinary knowledge and universal values focusing on improvement of human existence through minimisation of threats. Through the Word Frequency Query, the most intense descriptors of security and safety education were distinguished and fitted within the framework of sustainable development goals. The obtained data were supported with literature analysis identified with relevant keywords in the Web of Science database. It was proved that security and safety education reflects the idea of sustainable development in a variety of aspects. Since common foundations were identified, it could be inferred that teaching security and safety is a great platform for promotion of sustainable development goals. Moreover, in countries where security and safety education is taught as a separate school subject, more cross-disciplinary sustainability issues should be implemented in the curricula and taught with the use of novel strategies and tools.