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.).

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