Education for Sustainability: Guides for Teaching and Learning
Education for sustainability (EfS) uses approaches specific to the content and concerns of different programmes and subject areas, but also draws upon shared teaching and learning priorities. Critical pedagogies geared to futures and systems thinking, participatory and experiential learning, critical thinking, partnership working and values reflection, are all widely used in EfS across varied disciplines and in inter-disciplinary contexts.
To support academic staff in curriculum enhancement in this area, the University has developed an institutional framework to provide guidance about these teaching and learning approaches. This covers basic pedagogic methods, approaches to curriculum design and signs of demand among students and organisations for sustainability skills in the graduate employment arena.
Using consultation internally and across the sector, the following materials have been developed:
EfS: A Guide for University Managers on Needs and Opportunities – explores strategic needs, benefits and the potential for EfS in the curriculum and in partnership with external organisations, including recent research evidence of demand and interest among students and employers.
EfS: A Guide for Educators on Teaching and Learning Approaches – provides orientation on the aims and principles of EfS, to inform curriculum development work, including pedagogic approaches, definitions and entry points, as well as different ways to bring EfS to life in programmes.
EfS: Subject Guides - additional discipline-specific guidance has been produced for the main areas of academic provision across the University, making links to existing QAA subject benchmarks and to the distinctive interests and priorities of individual disciplines and professional courses.
These tools indicate shared points of focus and dialogue for both enthusiasts and newcomers, to support teaching teams in identifying EfS principles in existing programmes and in planning enhancements and innovation to address sustainability issues and skills in the curriculum.
These documents will shortly be available for download from this page.