Dr Stephen Sterling

Senior Advisor for ESD Project, HE Academy & Schumacher Reader in Education for Sustainability, Centre for Sustainable Futures, University of Plymouth

Heather Witham, ESD Project Coordinator, HE Academy

Sustainability in the curriculum: a view from the Higher Education

Academy Subject Centres

Key questions

• Why bother with sustainability issues?• What’s the broader position on ESD?• What is the HE Academy ESD Project doing?• What is CSF at the U of Plymouth doing?

Sustainability‘The university’s focus is on:• ‘Acknowledging the threats posed by human actions to life-

sustaining natural environments and developing an understanding of and commitment to actions directed to diminishing or removing those threats and so ensuring a legacy for future generations, human and other-than-human;

• Enabling individuals and communities to achieve their potential in ways which protect their futures as well as enhance the well-being and resilience of the planet’s life-support systems;

• Developing an understanding that cultural, economic, social, environmental and technological change processes are dynamically interconnected and mutually impacting.’

Sustainability Policy, University of Plymouth, March 2008

Embedding sustainable development: why?

• Contemporary socio-economic/environmental conditions and challenges: graduates need to be aware, informed and competent

• Evidence of increasing employer/professions interest in ‘sustainability literacy’

• Increasingly apparent relevance and links to other HE agendas, particularly employability and internationalisation

• Increasing expectations from funding councils on the sector

• Provides relevant teaching and learning context to most disciplines, potential for pedaogical innovation, real world research, case studies, community links etc.

HE response: what’s the position?

• Relatively small but growing number of courses focused on SD

• Education for sustainable development (ESD) quite strong in a few disciplines

• Most QAA Benchmarks are silent• ESD is absent from most L&T strategies• Most UK graduates are not “sustainability literate”• But ……new surge of interest and activity

corresponding with rising political/public debate

Barriers

Cited factors

• Crowded curriculum• Perceived irrelevance• Limited staff awareness

and/or expertise• Limited institutional

commitment• Limited commitment from

external stakeholders• Too demanding

Types of barriers

• Paradigmatic/psychological

• Policy/purpose related

• Structural (governance, compartmentalisation etc)

• Resource/information deficiency

Sustainable Development in HE,

HE Academy 2005 (Dawe report)

Drivers

• Rising public interest and concern• Shifting views of employers• Profession’s requirements (eg Engineering Council, RICS and Sector Skills Councils)• Student demand• CSR + SD links• Financial savings• Marketing and recruitment advantage

Education as ‘answer’ or the ‘problem’?

The destruction of the planet

‘is not the work of ignorant

people. Rather it is largely

the result of work by people

with BAs, BScs, LLBs, and PhDs.’

Prof David Orr (1994)

‘What is education for’? Earth in Mind, Island Press

HEFCE’S sustainable development ambition

‘Our vision is that within the next ten

years, the higher education sector

will be recognised as a major

contributor to society’s efforts to

achieve sustainability.’

Sustainable Development in Higher Education http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_28/

Two arenas of learning

• Structured learning:

- learning by design amongst students in formal education which arises from educational policies and practices

• Organisational learning:

- the social learning response to sustainability in organisations, institutions and

their actors

HE Academy Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Project

Purpose: ‘to help institutions and subject communities develop curricula and pedagogy that will give students the skills and knowledge to live and work sustainably.’

Aims

1 ‘To research and support the development of ESD in the HE sector, particularly within subject communities’.

2 ‘To build capacity amongst individuals, subject communities and institutions to embed ESD in curricula and pedagogy’.

3 ‘To assist the coordination and dissemination of policy, research and practice relating to ESD in institutions, the HE Academy and the wider field’.

Sustainability Literacy: Skills, Knowledge & Attributes

• Understand environmental, social & economic contexts of each discipline• Understand key principles of sustainable development• Develop non-reductionist (systemic) problem-solving skills• Develop creative & holistic thinking• Exercise personal & professional self-reflection

Sustainability Literacy: Skills, Knowledge & Attributes

• Understand, critically evaluate and adopt values conducive to sustainability• Initiate and manage change which supports sustainable development in personal, institutional and social contexts• Work collaboratively and participate in interdisciplinary teams

- Based on SD in HE: Current practice and future developments, Higher Education Academy 2005

Skills for Sustainability and Employability

Employable Graduates for Responsible Employers www.heacademy.ac.uk/esd

Research and support

Findings of Student Force report

• The trend to more responsible employers is affecting the graduate job market and the demand for more particular competencies from recent graduate recruits.

• The graduate employability agenda is becoming more closely linked to the employer sustainability agenda.

• There is mounting evidence that students want to work for ethical employers who are environmentally and socially responsible.

• Many HEIs are responding to the challenges of ESD through institutional changes in terms of ‘Campus, Curriculum and Community’, but not so much in terms of competencies or careers.

Research and support

• Advice from the Student Force report – a need to:

• Raise academic staff awareness about SD and CSR• Relate student and staff volunteering to academic

learning around SD• Link universities and employers on SD themes• Link SD and CSR on campus with teaching and learning• Build on student behaviour/interest

Research and support

Small Grant Funding• 15 projects from 11 HEIs and/or Subject Centres• 13 disciplines

Mini Grant Funding• 8 projects from 9 HEIs• covering all disciplines • around theme of sustainability, skills and employability

New mini-grants funded

• Are Employers Seeking Sustainability-Literate Graduates?

• Developing Participative ESD to Enhance the Links between Sustainability Literacy, Sustainability Competencies, and Employability

• Green Collar Graduates for the Future of the Fashion Industry

• Greening Business: Employability and Sustainability

• Improving Student Awareness of SD and Related Employability Issues through Embedded Course Content

• Regional Reflection: Sustainable Career Guidance

• Soundings in Sustainability Literacy

Capacity building and networking

Solo HEI Events• University of East Anglia• University of Gloucestershire and Harper Adams College• One planned for Scotland soon

A Three-Day Interdisciplinary Seminar Series• 3 universities, 15 disciplines represented, report produced

Capacity building and networking

Regional ESD Networking Events• East Midlands, November 2006• South West, Bristol, March 2007• Scotland, Dundee, June 2007• Wales, Cardiff, 21 May 2008 (all are welcome)

Community Project• Thornbury: involving University of Cardiff, University of the West

of England, University of Gloucestershire, Leeds University

Conference• 10-11 July 2007 ‘Sustainability and the Curriculum’• Presentations available• http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/esd under Events (Past)

Coordination and dissemination

Subject Centre Activity• Projects• Workshops• Joint events• Publications

Module Guidance Document, and Learning and Teaching Framework*

Sustainability Policy*

* (joint post with Centre for Sustainable Futures - Plymouth)

Coordination and dissemination: The Academy ESD Website

• http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/esd • Our strategy• Publications• Latest news on ESD in the HE sector• Information on all of our projects• Regional networking lists for the South West, Scotland and Wales• ESD events, past (including presentations) and future• Links to disciplinary-specific ESD resources via Subject Centres• Quarterly e-Newsletter (sign up on the site)• Links to relevant policy documents/web pages and partners

Curriculum policy The university          Recognises the importance of developing sustainability-literate graduates

possessing the skills and dispositions necessary for engagement with the sustainability agenda as professionals, citizens and in their personal lives;

         Commits to engaging all students with sustainability concepts and issues in an appropriate context through learning;

         Recognises the need for students to appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of the sustainability agenda;

         Invites all disciplines to consider how they might best embed sustainability within their curricula and utilise the learning and research opportunities provided by campus and community sustainability initiatives.

University of Plymouth Sustainability Policy March 2008

CSF’s curriculum-related work includes…

• UP Sustainability Policy and Action Plan • Sustainability module guidance• Building in sustainability dimension to ‘Skills Plus’• Building into LTHE• Staff ‘wiki’ site on ESD resources and practice• Professional Support Programme (PSP)

Possible curriculum responses

• Minor modifications• ESD in PDP• New “podules” • New modules• New programmes• Generic or common modules • Cross-disciplinary and extra-curricular events• Dissertations, projects and work place learning

placements• SD infusion in assessment

Indicative module guidance aims- egs.

• To encourage critical reflection on sustainability issues in the context of xxxx (this subject). (Level I/H)

• To encourage students to critically evaluate their own and others’ values and attitudes and behaviours in relation to sustainability issues and determine what constitutes ethical responsibility in relation to such issues.(Level H/M)

• To develop a critical appreciation of and ability to identify differences and common ground between different viewpoints and key terms in the sustainability debate. (Level H/M)

U of Plymouth Sustainability Module Guidance document 08

Today’s Swap Shop

• Find a couple of other people• Spend a minute or so briefly outlining one idea for embedding

sustainability into the curriculum EITHER which you have used, OR which you would like to use OR which you have observed in use. (It does not have to be particularly well developed or innovative!)

• Allow a couple of minutes for questioning and observation from the others

• Move on to the next person’s offering• After everyone has swapped, briefly explore the elements which make

for successful embedding of ESD into the curriculum. • Also: what policy/resource changes would help you take it further? We

will feed this back to WAG, HEFCW and our own HE Academy ESD Project.

Reflections from Our Swap Shop…

Some key sites• HEFCE’s online resource for sustainable development in HE

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/susdevresources/ • Higher Education Academy ESD Project

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/esd • Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC)

http://www.eauc.org.uk• Student Force for Sustainability www.studentforce.org.uk/ • Centre for Sustainable Futures (CSF) at UP www.csf.plymouth.ac.uk• Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement (Green

Gown Awards) http://www.heepi.org.uk • Forum for the Future http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk • People and Planet Green League 2007• http://peopleandplanet.org/greenleague2007• Ecocampus project http://www.ecocampus.co.uk/