EQUALITY IN GREK PRIMARY EDUCATION TEXTBOOKS: A QUANTITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Resumé

This study examines the extent to which the principle of equality is embedded in primary education students’ books within the framework of Education for Sustainable Development. Positioned within the social dimension of sustainability and aligned with the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, the research investigates how key equality-related themes, namely ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity, children’s rights, and inclusion of people with disabilities, are represented in Greek primary school textbooks. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on students’ study books and workbooks used in the “Study of the Environment” course across grades 1 to 4. The unit of analysis was the textbook page, and a structured coding scheme was applied to identify and categorize equality-related content. The findings reveal that references to equality are limited (26.3% of total pages) and unevenly distributed across grades, textbook types, and thematic axes. Children’s rights emerge as the most frequently represented dimension, while religious and linguistic diversity remain marginal. Additionally, equality-related content appears more often in activities than in core explanatory text, raising concerns about conceptual depth and coherence. The study highlights significant gaps and inconsistencies in the progression of equality-related content across grades, suggesting a fragmented approach to fostering social sustainability competencies. These findings point to the need for more coherent curriculum design and systematic integration of equality principles in textbook development. By providing empirical evidence from a national case, the study contributes to broader discussions on the role of textbooks as policy instruments in advancing inclusive and sustainable education systems.