Youth demographics and prosocial values shaping learning priorities: A path to equity-Oriented responsible education

This study examines the influence of youths' demographics and prosocial values, including empathy, altruism, and global awareness, in shaping their learning priorities. The aim is to understand the complex interplay of relations among learners’ personal factors that shape their learning priorities within the context of responsible education, thereby paving the way for equity-oriented education.

A quantitative study approach was adopted to analyze the expansive dataset of 47,000 respondents compiled by the United Nations-PRME's partner, HE4Good project, ‘Youths Talk’. SmartPLS 4, R-4.4.1, and IBM SPSS 27 were utilized to conduct descriptive analysis, determine direct and indirect relationships among the study constructs, and conduct self-selection analysis and path model estimations.

The study's findings highlighted the differences between diverse youth groups characterized by varying demographics (including gender, educational level, income level, identity group, and current life situation) in their perceptions of global challenges, altruistic intentions, and empathy levels, which subsequently influenced their learning priorities.

The study findings provide a way forward to equitable inclusion of diverse youth groups in leading their personalized learning outcomes at higher education institutions, encouraging the achievement of the United Nation's SDG 4: Quality education, SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities and PRME's mission of developing responsible leaders through green education.