Environmental Education in High-Performance Athlete Development: A Systematic Literature Review and Challenges for Teacher Preparation
Keywords:
environmental education, high-performance sport, teacher training, sustainability, athletesAbstract
Environmental education in high-performance sport emerges as an interdisciplinary field of growing relevance in the face of global sustainability challenges. This article presents a systematic literature review following the PRISMA protocol, aiming to analyze research on environmental education in high-performance athlete development, identify theoretical and empirical trends, and characterize the challenges of teacher preparation in this field. A total of 38 studies published between 2018 and 2026 were reviewed, extracted from specialized databases. The results reveal three main thematic lines: (a) impact of environmental education on athletes' behaviors and attitudes, (b) environmental sustainability in sports nutrition and management, and (c) ecological approaches to sports preparation. The discussion identifies a significant gap between the theoretical frameworks of environmental education and the ecological dynamics of sports training, as well as limited integration of the environmental dimension in teacher training programs. The main challenge lies in the insufficient preparation of coaches and teachers to mainstream environmental education in the high-performance athlete development process.
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