| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68.02 |
| Liaison | Maxine Dandois-Fafard |
| Submission Date | Nov. 10, 2023 |
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Maxine
Dandois-Fafard Sustainable Development Officer Scientific Direction |
Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students?:
Which of the following best describes the literacy assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the assessment? The assessment is administered as a::
A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment(s):
A list or sample of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment or the website URL where the assessment tool may be found:
1) What does the acronym "SDG" stands for?
(in French, the acronyms below are all the same as the SDGs)
- Sustainable Development Tools: developed by the United Nations to help countries adopt more sustainable policies.
- Sustainable Development Goals: adopted by the United Nations to eradicate poverty, protect the environment and ensure prosperity.
- Sustainable Development Works: the official texts of the United Nations, including sustainable development policies, commitments, scientific articles and treaties.
- Sustainable Development Organizations: name of the United Nations entity that brings together all the organizations, NGOs and independent institutions working for sustainable development.
- I don't know
2) Sustainable development takes into consideration environmental issues only.
- True
- False
- I don’t know
3) What is the main goal of Sustainable Development?
- To preserve the earth exactly like it is today
- To protect and increase the reproduction of endangered species
- To achieve a balance that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
- To maintain global warming way under 2 Celsius degrees compared to pre-industrial era average temperatures.
4) True Or False : The sustainable development goals are legally binding for Unied Nations members countries
- True
- False
- I don’t know
5) True or False : On a city scale and on a global level, the poorest people are disproportionally affected by climate changes.
- True
- False
- I don’t know
6) Among the following five options, what is the PRIMARY cause of biodiversity erosion on a global scale?
- Overexploitation of natural resources
- Loss of natural habitats
- Introduction of exotic invasive species
- Air, water, and soil pollution
- Climate change
- I don’t know
7) Which of the following statements about waste is FALSE ?
- Organic waste decomposes under proper conditions
- Manures, leaves, and grass clippings are considered as organic waste
- Composting organic waste reduces the amount of plastic sent to landfills/incineration
- I don’t know
8) Canada adopted the a in 2022 and the Paris Agreement in 2015. What do these agreements consist of? Choose two answers :
- The Kunming-Montreal Global Framework for internationally important wetlands aims to conserve and rationally use wetlands through local, regional, and national actions and international cooperation.
- The Kunming-Montreal Global Framework for biodiversity includes 23 targets, including the conservation of 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2050.
- The Paris Agreement aims to increase the efforts of states to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 Celsius Degrees by adopting ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2030.
- The Paris Agreement aims to reduce the levels of persistent organic pollutants that accumulate in the environment over time to protect human health and the environment.
- I don’t know
9) True or False: Women’s education contributes to the SDGs as it empowers them and reduces gender inequalities.
- True
- False
- I don’t know
A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:
A test was developed in 2023 by the Sustainability Office to assess the knowledge and practices of INRS’s community regarding sustainability. The test "Connaissances et mobilisation de la communauté INRS en matière de développement durable" was sent to all employees and students in September 2023, for three weeks. The test consisted of 27 questions including:
- 9 questions related to sustainable development;
- 4 questions specifically focused on INRS sustainability practises;
- 5 questions and 1 subquestion about sustainability culture;
- 3 free-form text fields for general comments;
- 5 demographic questions.
After responding to the test, respondents had access to their score, and resources and explanations were given for each question.
The test was initially formulated by the INRS sustainable development team during summer 2023. Questions 7, 16 and 20 were sourced from The USask Sustainability Literacy Assessment (by Erin Akins, Matt Wolsfeld, Aditi Garg, and Sabrina Kehoe at the University of Saskatchewan, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://sustainability.usask.ca). A draft of the test was then submitted to for review and comment to:
- Scientific Director;
- Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) team (particularly regarding questions related to respondents’ identification (gender, age, etc.) and "social pillar" questions;
- Data management research advisor.
In the future, the community will be tested every three years. We will use this first test as a baseline. Using Office 365 authentication, it will be possible to compare cohorts. Post-assessment is scheduled for March 2026.
A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :
The test was sent to the 1708 members of our community on Sept. 18, 2023. Respondents had until October 9 to answer it. One reminder email was sent, and there was a prize draw among respondents.
243 people responded to the online test, for a rate of 14,2%. The margin of error is 6%, at a 95% confidence level.
Proportionally, 50% of the executive staff responded, 18% of professors, 27% of staff, and 6% of students.
75% of respondents are between 25 and 54 years old. 59% of respondents identified themselves as women. 20% of respondents were in their first year at INRS.
A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s):
Overall, sustainability literacy is good at INRS with an average score of 6,5/9 (72%), and a standard deviation of 1.7.
The best scores are found among professors (average of 7,4/9), postdocs (6,9/9), executives (6,8/9) and PhD students (6,7/9). The lowest scores are found among administrative staff (6,1/9), research staff (6,3/9) and MSc students (6,4/9).
The most successful questions are the one about the ultimate goal of sustainable development (average score of 96%), the one about environment being the only focused of sustainability (94%), the one about poorest people being more affected by climate change (89%), the question about women’s education contributing to the SDGs (85%) and the one about the signification of the acronym "SDG" (81%).
The questions with the lowest scores are the one about the primary cause of global biodiversity erosion (average score of 39%), the one about the Paris Agreement and Kunming-Montreal Global Framework (41%), the question about the SDGs being legally binding for countries (59%), and the one about waste management (66%).
Website URL where information about the sustainability literacy assessment is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.