The University as a Site of Socialisation for Sustainability Education (original) (raw)
Related papers
Experiences of and lessons from teaching Education for Sustainability
Proceedings of the Irish Association for Social, Scientific and Environmental Education Annual Conference 2013 MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF A GLOBALISED WORLD
The UNESCO Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which will come to an end in 2014, has generated interest around the world not only in how we develop sustainably, but in how education can encourage and enable people to play their part in transforming humanity’s unsustainable practices at individual, local and global levels. Such education should allow every human to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. Information abounds in the media about the impacts of climate change, economic collapse and environmental degradation, as well as about the many community and higher level efforts being made to address these challenges. However, despite the “Guidelines and Recommendations for Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability” set out by UNESCO (2005), Education for Sustainability (EfS) is still not widely accepted as an integral part of our education systems and in initial teacher education (ITE), where the most significant multiplier effect can be created, EfS is rarely addressed beyond the confines of particular courses or modules . In this paper we will share our experiences of teaching EfS to small cohorts of primary ITE student teachers in the UK and in Ireland, and will consider student responses to the various modules taught. In the UK, a science specialist cohort undertook a module delivered largely through a problem-based approach with a strong focus on EfS. The students unanimously reported that they felt that they learned more about the issues relating to sustainability and science. However, they remained unconfident about using sustainability-based science in their own teaching. As these and other responses will show, several difficulties and challenges arise when students receive teaching in what are essentially single modules in EfS. In addressing these difficulties we will suggest that a whole-institution approach is essential if education is not only to be about sustainability but also sustainable. We will consider the work of Summers who successfully embedded ESD in the Cert Ed curriculum at Somerset College in the UK, including the benefits arising from the use of more creative methodologies to develop ESD. EfS at modular level remains limited – it may be ‘adaptive’ in approach but only working within the current education paradigm. By working within the current systems rather than changing and rethinking these very systems that have created the problems, it does not allow for addressing the underlying values and attitudes. We argue that a more coherent approach is needed where EfS is addressed at a whole college level which will allow for critical thinking about education itself, the values underpinning it and the ways in which it happens.
Integrative Approaches to Sustainable Development at University Level. World Sustainability Series, 2015
Research on sustainable development in higher education has tended to focus on environmental management of university estates and operations, and case studies and examples of good practice, without presenting the coherent theoretical or methodological approaches required to look at the change processes of universities seeking to embed sustainable development. Although the value and contribution of university initiatives has been articulated, little holistic and structural transformation of universities has been achieved so far. This paper presents an action research project undertaken at the University of Southampton to develop an organisational learning model to embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within the undergraduate curriculum. An action research approach guided by participatory and emancipatory approaches was used. The researcher aimed to learn from real practice through acting as a facilitator for curriculum development in ESD within an interdisciplinary group of academic staff members. A critical friend position was acquired within a community of practice to implement a programme that attempted to embed sustainable development within the student experience. This paper presents the qualitative methodology used in this project, providing a detailed overview of its research methods, processes and future prospects, which can inform other higher education institutions in their journey to embed ESD holistically.
We planned this conference in anticipation of the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), and the start of the next phase for those involved in ESD here and internationally. At Plymouth University, 2015 marks ten year anniversary since cross-institutional work on sustainability and sustainability education was spearheaded by the founding of the Centre for Sustainable Futures (CSF). Coincidentally, 2015 also marks a ten years since the influential HEFCE policy document ‘Sustainable Development in Higher Education’ was released. Holding the conference in January – named after the Roman god of doorways, of endings and beginnings – we sought to look at some of what has been achieved in sustainability education to date and explore its prospects as we move forward. Following an enthusiastic response to the call for abstracts, the conference featured a diverse range of research papers, posters, and roundtable presentations from academics and practitioners across the UK and beyond. The conference was arranged around three overarching themes: ESD Pedagogy: Criticality, Creativity, and Collaboration What are the teaching and learning processes that enable students to develop their own capacity to think critically and creatively in the face of global sustainability challenges and, secondly, to act collaboratively in ways that pursue more hopeful and sustainable futures? Innovative Learning Spaces for ESD What are the physical environments that provide opportunities for new forms of sustainability education to flourish? What lies beyond the lecture hall that is conducive to student learning through inquiry-based, active, participatory, interdisciplinary and experiential methods? Towards the Sustainable University What are effective approaches for leading institutional change, organisational learning, and staff CPD towards sustainability? This publication focuses on the last theme – Towards the Sustainable University. The previous PedRIO Occasional Paper 8 looks at the first theme ESD Pedagogy: Criticality, Creativity, and Collaboration.
The need to embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the higher education curriculum is well recognised in international sustainable development dialogues. However, early pioneers in this area have met with substantial obstacles and now face the prospect of attempting systemic education change in a new and difficult sector climate. This article explores the potential for engagement with the higher education curriculum by bringing ESD into its quality assurance and quality enhancement system. It builds on insights gained from a national project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, which worked in collaboration with the UK Quality Assurance Agency and a consortium of five universities. It considers the ways that ESD has entered the UK higher education sector and the potential connectivity that exists between ESD and quality. Key findings are shared from the development projects carried out in these universities, including their identification of specific quality-led pathways for embedding ESD, the differences of perspective uncovered amongst stakeholders and challenges for institutional strategy and implementation. It concludes in reflection on the need to access deeper currents of teaching and learning to make ESD a viable education proposition, as well as the potential transfer to other parts of the education and skills sector.
World Sustainability Series, 2014
The paper will explore the progress of the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol's in embedding sustainable development into the whole institution mission. The university is committed to ensuring that all its students, irrespective of their programme of study, are introduced to the ideas of sustainable development during their undergraduate or postgraduate degree programme. The university recognises that a typical graduate will have some 50-60 years of life post-graduation in which the pro sustainability knowledge, skills and attributes developed at university can play out positively in both their professional and private lives. Hence, UWE considers it a key part of its mission to provide an opportunity for all students to consider sustainability within their degree programme. In the most recent year of analysis the university has confirmed that each UG and PG taught programme within the portfolio provides this opportunity for disciplinary consideration of sustainability. The University's award-winning Sustainability Plan sets out our policy commitments and strategy to support sustainable development and describes their implementation these into the business of the University both in our educational role and in the management of our estate. Progress with the aims of the Plan are reported publicly and enhancement actions are identified and prioritised by the use of an accredited environmental management system, certified to the international standard BS: EN ISO14001, covering the entirety of the institution's endeavours. In 2016 the university became the first in the UK to have its Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) work accredited under the full NUS Responsible Futures certification scheme. This paper provides a range of examples to illustrate the university's commitment to ensuring that current and future student are able to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes that will enable them to be responsible 21st century citizens contributing to the development of a sustainable future.
The Curriculum Journal, 2013
The need to embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the higher education curriculum is well recognised in international sustainable development dialogues. However, early pioneers in this area have met with substantial obstacles and now face the prospect of attempting systemic education change in a new and difficult sector climate. This article explores the potential for engagement with the higher education curriculum by bringing ESD into its quality assurance and quality enhancement system. It builds on insights gained from a national project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, which worked in collaboration with the UK Quality Assurance Agency and a consortium of five universities. It considers the ways that ESD has entered the UK higher education sector and the potential connectivity that exists between ESD and quality. Key findings are shared from the development projects carried out in these universities, including their identification of specific quality-led pathways for embedding ESD, the differences of perspective uncovered amongst stakeholders and challenges for institutional strategy and implementation. It concludes in reflection on the need to access deeper currents of teaching and learning to make ESD a viable education proposition, as well as the potential transfer to other parts of the education and skills sector.
Sustainable Education: Re-Visioning Learning and Changeby Stephen Sterling
2002
Sustainable Education: Revisioning Learning and Change (Schumacher Briefings) By Steven Sterling While environmental education, and more recently education for sustainable development are important trends, they are not sufficient to reorient and transform education as a whole and yet time is short to realise such change. The Briefing critiques the prevailing managerial and mechanistic paradigm in education, and argues that an ecological view of educational theory, practice and policy is necessary to assist the sustainability transition. The Briefing then shows how sustainable education is a systemic change of educational culture towards the realization of human potential and the interdependence of social, economic and ecological wellbeing.
Teaching sustainable development in higher education
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2016
Purpose This paper aims to argue that substantive changes are required in both curricula and pedagogical practice in higher education institutions to challenge dominant epistemologies and discourses and to unsettle current ways of thinking about, and acting in relation to, the environment. Central to such a shift, it is argued, is the need for higher education curricula to be interdisciplinary and for pedagogical practices to work to build capacities in students for critical and reflective thinking. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a case study of our reflections is offered on a subject designed to promote capacities in students for critical and reflective thinking via an interdisciplinary approach. The paper uses data from student reflective essays and student course evaluations to make an argument for the success of this approach. Findings Genuine transformative learning can occur within a constructivist informed pedagogical approach to teaching for sustainability. Resea...