Learning for Sustainable Futures Awards 

Project Lead: Richard Millican, Subject Group Leader - Young Peoples Service in Education

What is the project focus?
The project explores the use of educator competencies as a means of delivering EfS in the curriculum. It uses an EfS competency framework for educators recently developed by UNECE through a working group across member states. It will focus on ways to embed these principles in the Education Studies programme to support its emphasis on education for change.

How will the project run?
The process will involve initial assessment of the educator competences against the existing curriculum to identify synergies and gaps. Workshops and consultation with staff, students and the external examiner will help to develop an approach to remodel the curriculum in line with the competency framework and to make appropriate changes in learning design and assessment.

What will the project achieve?
The project will map, develop and embed principles of EfS across the Education Studies programme, resulting in a redesigned programme for approval in 2013-14. It takes the unique step of testing the use of EfS educator competences in the HE curriculum and will produce findings and outcomes applicable to a wide range of subject areas.

Project Lead: Dr David Webster, Subject Group Leader – Religion, Philosophical and Historical Studies; Faculty Learning and Teaching Co-ordinator

What is the project focus?
The project uses EfS approaches to inform the review of a cross-faculty humanities module, providing extra coherence and ‘real world’ relevance for students whilst offering more opportunity for cross-departmental student and staff interaction. It extends the module focus to consideration of ways that cultural legacies inform the creation of alternative futures and human prospects.

How will the project run?
The project runs in tandem with the planned review process, addressing the need for a unified approach and learning objectives. It will involve consultation with staff and students, review of best practice in EfS in the humanities, to inform the revised module framework and assessment.

What will the project achieve?
This project will generate a unique cross-departmental approach to EfS, providing a valuable example that can be adapted across faculties and that connects several principles of the Learning and Teaching Strategy. It address the need for innovative ways to engage students with EfS through real world, future-focused learning that connect different subjects and issues.

Project Lead: Angela Kalisch, Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management

Project Partners: Tourism Concern, ABTA, ATO, Gloucestershire Tourism

What is the project focus?
This project is developing an integrated framework for EfS in the tourism curriculum, to connect the pedagogic and conceptual ground with the professional and industry context. It builds on prior work to introduce sustainability, ethical action and active learning in the curriculum and to enable students to respond more effectively to complex sustainability challenges in industry.

How will the project run?
The project involves a process of review and reflection on existing teaching approaches in this subject, taking in practical experience, international literature, as well as input from students and industry. Following development of the framework, consultation with members of the tourism teaching team will identify improvements and plans for further curriculum development.

What will the project achieve?
The project is seeking to integrate and scale up approaches to EfS in Tourism Management, building on module level work to develop an inclusive, adaptable programme level response. In this fast growing industry which is facing multiple sustainability issues, it will identify ways of improving learning processes and involving industry more effectively in delivering EfS.

Project Partners: Local businesses, e.g. Cheltenham Racecourse

What is the project focus?
The project explores ways to integrate EfS principles effectively in the teaching of Business Management, to improve student understanding of sustainability as a real-world and ‘cross-business’ issue that is easily applied and made relevant to organisational strategy and practice, and to engage staff with EfS across all levels of the BM course group.  

How will the project run?
The project identifies and assesses the challenges students face in understanding sustainability in business contexts and evaluates previous attempts to improve the learning process for EfS in BM. It will review practice and literature to inform the creation of a framework approach to EfS in BM that can be adapted by the teaching team to inform future curriculum enhancement plans.

What will the project achieve?
The project builds on prior work in this course group to introduce EfS at entry level and to gauge student responses and staff development needs. It addresses the challenge of creating more sophisticated ways to bring EfS into BM teaching and includes specific focus on building partnerships with local businesses to inform curriculum development for EfS.

Project Lead: Yolanda Megroff, Student Helpzone Manager (Oxstalls)

What is the project focus?
The project address issues of motivation, retention and performance among mature learners, using the holistic, applied approaches that underpin EfS. It inquiries into the challenges and support needs of mature learners, to identify the ways that EfS could improve their learning experience and to propose steps to enhance institution-wide support for these learners.

How will the project run?
The process will involve inquiries with mature learners across several subject areas to identify the connections between their learning ambitions and the principles of EfS. It will then involve discussions with staff in Student Services and the development of proposals for action to improve understanding and support in this area across the institution.

What will the project achieve?
The project is unique in exploring connections between EfS, learning support and the broader student experience, addressing specific issues for mature learners. The findings will help to improve understanding of how EfS could be valuable in institutional learning support and informal learning, including collaboration between academic and professional departments. This project examines a new area of EfS for the sector and for institutional practice.

Project Lead: Sally Palmer, Course Leader - Early Childhood Studies

Project Partners: Early Years Professional Status Consortium, RCE Severn – UNU Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development.

What is the project focus?
The project is developing a series of practice-informed principles and actions to improve EfS for the community of early years practitioners across the region, in line with new Ofsted guidance in this area. The project will involve the teaching team, students and alumni working in schools, as well as members of the early years regional consortium.

How will the project run?
The project will engage in consultation with all stakeholders across the professional early years community, to gauge understanding of EfS in this context and to develop proposals for the improvement of education and training in this area, aligned with changing policy contexts.

What will the project achieve?
The project will generate and propose a practice-informed set of principles, needs and actions for enhancing the inclusion of EfS principles in early years education, training and professional practice. Its innovative approach involves the key professional stakeholders, brokering shared approaches across the curriculum, school-based mentoring and professional development.