Green school readiness in schools in Indonesia: Multidimensional assessment in alignment with the environmental SDGs
Main Article Content
Abstract
Green school composite scores can obscure disparities among infrastructure, education, and resource management. This study evaluates documented readiness in six Central Java schools using secondary data from the 2022 UNNES Green School Ranking, reconfirmed in 2026. Methods comprised arithmetic verification, six-dimension normalization, cross-case comparison, weighting sensitivity, and conceptual mapping to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. Dimension totals were recalculated without independently reassessing school practices. Overall scores ranged from 55.83% to 95.83% (mean 80.83%). Site and infrastructure scored highest on average (91.37%), while transportation scored lowest (71.88%). Education and supporting activities varied most across schools (7.50%–95.00%). At S6, infrastructure reached 89.29% but education only 7.50%, an 81.79-percentage-point disparity. Equal weighting preserved school rankings, whereas excluding waste management erased the difference between the two leading schools. Ranking stability therefore concealed dimensional imbalance and could not establish environmental impact. Reporting composite scores alongside minimum dimension scores, within-school ranges, and sensitivity results can better inform targeted support. Links to SDGs represent conceptual alignment rather than verified target achievement. These findings highlight the need for transparent, dimension-sensitive institutional evaluation. Limitations include purposive sampling, unavailable indicator-level data, and uncertainty about whether observed differences reflect actual practices, documentation quality, or both.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
How to Cite
Share
References
Adekunle, T. O. (2020). A field survey on thermal comfort of occupants and cold stress in CLT school buildings. In R. Roggema & A. Roggema (Eds.), Smart and sustainable cities and buildings (pp. 479–494). Springer.
Ahn, Y. J., & Chung, H. J. (2024). Analyzing the relative importance of planning elements in green smart schools with analytic hierarchy process. Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea, 40(3), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK.2024.40.3.113
Akyel, I., Komurlu, R., & Arditi, D. (2025). A comparative analysis of green building certification systems for schools. Sustainability, 17(23), Article 10491. https://doi.org/10.3390/su172310491
Bazeley, P. (2021). Qualitative data analysis: Practical strategies (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Boeve-de Pauw, J., & Van Petegem, P. (2013). The effect of eco-schools on children’s environmental values and behaviour. Journal of Biological Education, 47(2), 96–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2013.764342
Bopape, J. (2022). SWOT analysis of selected schools involved in greening and sustainable development programmes. Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, 38(1), 36–59. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajee.v38i1.04
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027
Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. SAGE.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE.
Darmody, M. (2022). Widening capabilities through a food and sustainability education initiative. Educational Action Research, 30(4), 585–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2022.2058042
Esmaeili, F., Babaeimorad, B., Ghasemzadeh, B., & Irani, M. (2025). A sustainable city starts from schools: A qualitative study of barriers to green school development from the lens of Iranian experts. Environmental Development, 55, Article 101223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101223
Fathoni, K., Utomo, A. P. Y., Prasetiyo, B., & Retnoningsih, A. (2021). Integrated waste management system in Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1918(5), Article 052087. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1918/5/052087
Fetters, M. D. (2019). The mixed methods research workbook: Activities for designing, implementing, and publishing projects. SAGE.
Goldman, D., Ayalon, O., Baum, D., & Weiss, B. (2018). Influence of ‘green school certification’ on students’ environmental literacy and adoption of sustainable practice by schools. Journal of Cleaner Production, 183, 1300–1313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.176
Hanun, F., Pamungkas, O. Y., Suprapto, Habibullah, A., Kozin, W., & Ma’rifataini, L. (2025). The impact of research-based learning and institutional support on student research productivity at Madrasah Aliyah Negeri in Jakarta, Indonesia. Qubahan Academic Journal, 5(2), 204–223. https://doi.org/10.48161/qaj.v5n2a1715
Hendrawati, S., Pamungkas, O. Y., Widaryanto, B., Marjanto, D. K., Suarbhawa, I. G. M., & Putra, I. K. S. (2025). Reimagining inclusive education from the margins: Multi-sectoral collaboration and spatial justice in rural Bali. Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.58256/jk49g966
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2023). Climate change 2023: Synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647
Kapoor, N. R., Kumar, A., Alam, T., Kumar, A., Kulkarni, K. S., & Blecich, P. (2021). A review on indoor environment quality of Indian school classrooms. Sustainability, 13(21), Article 11855. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111855
Karaarslan-Semiz, G., & Sund, P. (2026). Whole-school approach to sustainability: An in-depth study of six green schools in Sweden and Türkiye. Journal of Biological Education, 60(1), 60–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2025.2452190
Kioupi, V., & Voulvoulis, N. (2019). Education for sustainable development: A systemic framework for connecting the SDGs to educational outcomes. Sustainability, 11(21), Article 6104. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216104
Kocabas, I., & Bademcioglu, M. (2017). A comparative analysis of the certification systems of green schools. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 224, 187–199. https://doi.org/10.2495/ESUS170181
Krippendorff, K. (1996). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. SAGE.
Lestari, A. S., & Wahyuni, I. (2026). Adiwiyata as green school discourse: Lessons learned from Indonesia using social semiotic theory. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 42(2), 494–509. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2025.10118
Liang, J. (2019). Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, communicating impact (2nd edition) [Review of the book Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, communicating impact (2nd ed.), by S. J. Tracy]. Communication Research and Practice, 5(4), 408–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2019.1688620
Magzamen, S., Mayer, A. P., Barr, S., Bohren, L., Dunbar, B., Manning, D., Reynolds, S. J., Schaeffer, J. W., Suter, J., & Cross, J. E. (2017). A multidisciplinary research framework on green schools: Infrastructure, social environment, occupant health, and performance. Journal of School Health, 87(5), 376–387. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12505
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2013). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2019). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (4th ed.). SAGE.
Mogren, A., & Gericke, N. (2017). ESD implementation at the school organisation level, part 1–investigating the quality criteria guiding school leaders’ work at recognized ESD schools. Environmental Education Research, 23(7), 972–992. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1226265
Mogren, A., Gericke, N., & Scherp, H.-Å. (2019). Whole school approaches to education for sustainable development: A model that links to school improvement. Environmental Education Research, 25(4), 508–531. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2018.1455074
Novitasari, D., Hidayat, S., Puruhito, D. D., Arruzi, R. K., Aliyah, F., & Mahfud, A. (2019). An efforts to maintain the sustainability of renewable energy system in rural area through green school education model. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 353(1), Article 012051. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/353/1/012051
Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1), Article 1609406917733847. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406917733847
OECD, European Union, & European Commission, Joint Research Centre. (2008). Handbook on constructing composite indicators: Methodology and user guide. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264043466-en
O’Leary, Z. (2009). The essential guide to doing your research project. SAGE.
Olsson, D., Gericke, N., Boeve-de Pauw, J., Berglund, T., & Chang, T. (2019). Green schools in Taiwan—Effects on student sustainability consciousness. Global Environmental Change, 54, 184–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.11.011
Pambudi, Y. S., Harahap, A., Mahbub, M., Sabarudin, & Parji. (2020). An analysis on the effect of school policy towards teachers’ participation in cleanliness program at schools receiving Adiwiyata award in Surakarta City, Indonesia. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 29(5), 409–416. https://sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/9093
Pamungkas, O. Y., Ariantoni, Sulhi, Mudhari, M. S., & Setyono, H. (2025). Local curriculum, global challenges: A critical analysis of Indonesian senior high school language textbooks through the lens of genre pedagogy, Bloom’s taxonomy, and the CLIL framework. Educational Process: International Journal, 17, Article e2025401. https://doi.org/10.22521/edupij.2025.17.401
Pamungkas, O. Y., Widodo, S. T., Suyitno, & Endraswara, S. (2019). Environmental wisdom: An observation of ecocriticism towards the Javanese cyber literature in 20th century. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 28(10), 46–60. https://sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/981
Patton, M. Q. (2014). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice (4th ed.). SAGE.
Radwan, A., & Issa, M. H. (2017). An evaluation of indoor environmental quality and occupant well-being in Manitoba school buildings. Journal of Green Building, 12(1), 123–141.
Rieckmann, M. (2017). Education for sustainable development goals: Learning objectives. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247444
Sadykova, A., Isakova, N., & Toktonalieva, A. (2025). From Alpine landscapes to multispecies communities: Posthuman ecology and the reconstruction of childhood in Johanna Spyri’s Heidi. Journal of Language, Literature, and Cultural Dynamics, 2(2), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.65840/jllcd.v2i2.56
Saldaña, J. (2021). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (4th ed.). SAGE.
Sayed, Z. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Ethics & Critical Thinking Journal, 2015(3), 112.
Schreier, M. (2014). Qualitative content analysis. In U. Flick (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative data analysis (pp. 170–183). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446282243.n12
Syah, N., Hidayat, H., Yuca, V., Ardi, Z., & Magistarina, E. (2021). Examining the effects of ecoliteracy on knowledge, attitudes, and behavior through Adiwiyata environmental education for Indonesian students. Journal of Social Studies Education Research, 12(4), 209–230. https://www.jsser.org/index.php/jsser/article/view/3470
Uline, C. L., & Kensler, L. A. W. (2021). A practical guide to leading green schools: Partnering with nature to create vibrant, flourishing, sustainable schools. Routledge.
UNESCO. (2020). Education for sustainable development: A roadmap. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374802
UNESCO. (2021). Learn for our planet: A global review of how environmental issues are integrated in education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377362
UNESCO. (2024). Green school quality standard: Greening every learning environment. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000390028
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1). https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
Universitas Negeri Semarang. (n.d.). 2022 UGSR overall ranking. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from https://unnes.ac.id/konservasi/2022-ugsr-overall-ranking/
Universitas Negeri Semarang. (2023). Konservasi berkelanjutan UNNES 2023. https://unnes.ac.id/sdgs/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2024/11/Konservasi-Berkelanjutan-UNNES-2023-1.pdf
Utomo, A. P. Y., Andayani, & Anindyarini, A. (2023). Critical reading of cultural texts: A bibliometric content analysis. ISVS e-journal, 10(9), 31–49. https://isvshome.com/pdf/ISVS_10-9/Old_Files/ISVSej_10.9.3_Asep.pdf
Utomo, A. P. Y., Ngabiyanto, Wijayanti, T., Feriady, M., Kesuma, R. G., & Kumalasari, R. (2026). Dialogic critical reading in smart classrooms: IRF configurations and student response quality. Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.58256/cssf1e54
Vaisi, S., Modares Gorji, H., & Shafei, N. (2024). Application of simulation-based metrics to improve the daylight performance of a secondary school, an approach for green building designers and architects. Advances in Environmental and Engineering Research, 5(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.21926/aeer.2402012
van Velzen, C., & Helbich, M. (2023). Green school outdoor environments, greater equity? Assessing environmental justice in green spaces around Dutch primary schools. Landscape and Urban Planning, 232, Article 104687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104687
Weiland, S., Hickmann, T., Lederer, M., Marquardt, J., & Schwindenhammer, S. (2021). The 2030 agenda for sustainable development: Transformative change through the sustainable development goals? Politics and Governance, 9(1), 90–95. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v9i1.4191
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE.
Yuan, X., Yu, L., Li, X., Luo, J., She, H., Yang, J., Lin, Z., Zhao, J., Zhao, F., Meng, R., Zhang, Y., & Zhao, Y. (2024). Promoting education for sustainable development through the green school program to achieve SDGs: Insights from a case study of Beijing’s primary and secondary schools. International Journal of Chinese Education, 13(2), Article 2212585X241259192. https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X241259192