‘More Than Scaling Up’: A Critical and Practical Inquiry Into Operationalising Sustainability Competencies

Author(s):

Stephen Sterling(presenting / submitting)Marco Rieckmann(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

30 SES 11 B, Citizenship and Competencies

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-25

17:15-18:45

Room:

NM-G109

Chair:

Johan Öhman

Contribution

This paper will outline a pilot and current collaborative research project between Plymouth University (UK), the University of Vechta (Germany), and the Western Michigan University (USA). The project takes as its starting point the UNESCO DESD Final Report’s call that in HE, ‘more than scaling up of good practice’ and ‘greater attention to systemic approaches to curriculum change and capacity building for leaders will be needed’ (UNESCO 2014a: 31). The project is informed by this need, and by the rather profound reform and transformation of educational policy and practice necessary to meet the heightened expectations of education in an increasingly volatile and challenging world – as reflected in the context of the UN’s ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the response of UNESCO’s Global Action Plan (GAP) (UNESCO 2014b).

The project is both a critical inquiry into the status of work to date on sustainability competencies, and a practical inquiry into the possibility of innovative and transformative pedagogies around a suite of specific such competencies. The foundational platform is the existing research on sustainability competencies (e.g. Wiek et al., 2016; Rieckmann, 2012; de Haan, 2010) – using data from an extensive current literature review on the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) competence discourse. This gives rise to further rationale for the research – that the literature on competencies in ESD is characterised by a sea of labels, lacking in consensus as to what constitutes a comprehensive and relatively non-overlapping representative set of sustainability competences. Additionally, there is still a lot of terminological confusion, and a relative lack of research around the policy and pedagogic implications of these competencies.

The project is characterised by the exploration of four related questions:

(1) Is the current debate on sustainability competencies sufficient and appropriate in the light of the proposed SDGs and UNESCO GAP and, if not, what additional key questions persist and how can these be best addressed systematically on national and local scales, while still retaining a global perspective?

(2) How far does HE policy accommodate and reflect the need for sustainability competencies and how can capacity for teaching for competencies be built and supported through new policies?

(3) How can curricula and pedagogy be better aligned to facilitate the building of sustainability competencies in learners and teachers?

(4) What effect and influence do education for sustainability competencies have in terms of facilitating transformative social learning, supporting systems structure change, and cultivating informed responsibility?

Whilst this is a broad and challenging framework, the current pilot project is seen as an initial inquiry and which can inform and inspire a wider and deeper international initiative. By the time of the ECER, a chapter contributing to structuring the debate and identifying relevant research gaps and priorities will have already been submitted to an edited book (Corcoran et al., in prep.).

Method

Methodology The project is currently working to the following research schedule during 2016: 1. Review the implications of the SDGs and Global Action Plan for HE policy and practice, particularly in relation to UNESCO’s ‘more than scaling-up’ challenge. 2. Extensive literature review and meta-analysis of existing work relating to education and sustainability competencies; international visits and internet communication to establish parameters and elaborate initial frameworks, drawing on existing work of the research team and of other leading players. 3. In the light of above, elaborate meanings and implications for HE policy and practice of up to four widely acknowledged competencies and each partner formalise a participative method of inquiry (such as action research, cooperative inquiry, etc.). 4. Review current policy and pedagogic strategies for integrating these competencies into courses and elaborate with the ‘more than scaling up’ aspiration in mind. 5. Core members of the research team to host “advancing sustainability competencies” workshops for faculty in their universities—with the commitment that participants incorporate at least one competency and several of the new pedagogical approaches and report on their “successes and messes”. Ownership, meaning-making, and innovation on the part of participating groups of staff and students will be central to the methodology employed here. 6. In the light of this work, create a small exploratory handbook for faculty, made open source and available on-line, and invite use and feedback by interested HEIs/academics. 7. Develop a collaborative evaluation process for all participating core research team member universities for judging the efficacy of this work. 8. Compare notes, write a paper on the process and outcomes, and consider the potential for developing a larger, international research project building on this initial work.

Expected Outcomes

1. Scholarly international review of the implications of the SDGs and Global Action Plan for HE policy practice; 2. Review of the current understanding of sustainability competencies and assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the international sustainability competencies debate; 3. Review of policy and practice with regard to the implementation of sustainability competencies along with clear, generic suggestions for how these efforts might be improved, leveraged, and scaled-up; 4. Testing and development of the model and ideas for leading change for pedagogical innovation, through faculty workshops in core team members’ universities, which would seed change and facilitate professional development; 5. Development of an exploratory open source handbook; 6. A report and academic paper structured and positioned to encourage wider take-up of the insights and solution strategies generated during the project; 7. Create the foundation for and initiate the process of creating a large-scale, collaborative, international research bid that can meet UNESCO’s aspirations for systemic and transformative change in the education sector, as outlined in their Global Action Plan (2014); 8. Tested ideas to inform the international graduate attributes debate.

References

Corcoran, P. / Wals, A.E.J. / Weakland, J. / Lotz-Sisitka, H. (in prep.): Envisioning Futures for Environmental and Sustainability Education, Wageningen Academic Publishers: Wageningen de Haan, G. (2010): The development of ESD-related competencies in supportive institutional frameworks, in: International Review of Education 56 (2): 315-328 Rieckmann, M. (2012): Future-oriented higher education: Which key competencies should be fostered through university teaching and learning? in: Futures 44 (2): 127-135 UNESCO (2014a): Shaping the Future We Want – UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) Final Report, UNESCO: Paris. Online at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco-world-conference-on-esd-2014/esd-after-2014/desd-final-report/ (accessed 14 January 2016) UNESCO (2014b): Roadmap for Implementing the Global Action Programme on Education Development, UNESCO, Paris. Online at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002305/230514e.pdf (accessed 14 January 2016) Wiek, A./Bernstein, M. J./Foley, R. W./Cohen, M./Forrest, N./Kuzdas, C./Kay, B./Withycombe Keeler, L. (2016): Operationalising competencies in higher education for sustainable development, in: Barth, M./Michelsen, G./Thomas, I./Rieckmann, M. (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Higher Education for Sustainable Development, Routledge: London, pp. 241-260

Author Information

Stephen Sterling (presenting / submitting)

Plymouth University

Teaching and Learning Support

Plylmouth

Marco Rieckmann (presenting)

University of Vechta

Department I / Education

Vechta

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