The University’s Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy includes ‘Learning for Sustainable Development’ as a key thematic principle, to enable all students to engage in sustainability education. The University’s Sustainability Strategy ‘Promising Futures’ highlights the importance of learning based change approaches to sustainability and strives to embed sustainability within all professional courses at the University by 2015.
‘Promising Futures’ also includes the wider aim of bringing a culture of sustainability learning to the whole institution, so that the University serves as a model of good practice in this area. Modelling good practice in sustainability education also means reaching beyond the University campus, to work in partnership with local and regional communities and groups via our UN Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development .
Sustainability education or learning involves more than providing expert knowledge to inform people about sustainability issues. It is about encouraging transformative learning - the capacity to construct knowledge, to challenge practice, to critique and debate sustainability issues. Various labels are used to describe this process – Education for Sustainability (EfS); Education for Sustainable Development (ESD); Education for Sustainable Future; Learning for Sustainability. Although there are variations in the content (and often in the context) of these, underpinning these labels is a common pedagogical approach which seeks to empower the learner to explore and engage with sustainability.
Sustainability in the Curriculum
Sustainability issues take on different forms across subject areas and this flexibility is fundamental for effective sustainability education. ‘Sustainability’ is a contested, changeable concept and a challenge that shifts in relation to different problems and contexts. Providing education for sustainability is not just about creating courses that target sustainability as a new subject area. It is about integrating sustainability learning opportunities across all subject areas, so that students will be better equipped to deal with sustainability issues in all aspects of life and question social thinking and practices which influence global-local futures.
Sustainability Education Support at the University
Recognising that staff need support in creating learning opportunities for sustainability, inside and outside the curriculum, the University invests in supporting the professional development of staff across all faculties. This takes the form of expert seminars from key national and international figures; exploratory and skill development workshops; action research and reflective practice projects; thematic and pedagogical debates and resource development for particular subject areas. For up-to-date information on Sustainability Learning and Education opportunities please see Sustainability News and Events.
The culture of sustainability learning at the University is also supported by internal institutes so that staff can take advantage of symposiums, project funding, fellowship opportunities and pedagogical research, to develop their academic and teaching practice for sustainability:
- The Centre for Active Learning (CeAL) was a HEFCE-funded Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning inititative between 2005 and 2010 supporting sustainability learning in connection with active learning based on inquiry and reflection. The centre was instrumental in producing an Essentials of Teaching and Learning Toolkit.
- The Pedagogic Research and Scholarship Institute (PRSI) was established as part of the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund and includes sustainability as one of the priority themes for staff pedagogic research funding and events.
- The International Research Institute in Sustainability (IRIS) has a strong learning and professional education focus. IRIS offers annual PhD studentships in the field of sustainability educastion as well as opportunities for staff and students to develop their sustainability education research skills. IRIS undertakes commissioned research in this area for major international agencies funded by UNESCO and the European Union, as well as projects funded through competitive research bids.
Social Learning for Sustainability
The University recognises that learning for sustainability can also occur outside the formal courses offered at UoG – in the broader social context of University life. Through practising what we preach across our management, administrative and campus operations we provide a basis for staff and students to engage with sustainability in practice. This also provides concrete learning opportunities, for example through our fairtrade, recycling, energy and biodiversity initiatives on campus. The Student Union is actively involved in improving its own sustainability practice and organising projects linked to sustainability such as the Allotment Society and Eco-Power Rangers group. See the Student Union Sustainability pages for more details. The Chaplaincy is also a regular promotor of initiatives in this area, such as the Sport Malawi project and Forgiveness initiative.
Learning Empowerment through Public-Student engagement (LEAPSe) - 2009-2011
The LEAPSe project explores the potential of public-student engagement to enhance the student experience through active community and public engagement activities, contributing to the University's efforts to build capacity with local communities and for students to gain greater benefit from the potential of these co-generative relationships in connection with their studies. This exciting and innovative project is funded through the HE Academy National Teaching Fellowship scheme and works closely with the National Coordination Centre for Public Engagement. For further information contact Kenny Lynch: klynch@glos.ac.uk - LEAPSe co-ordinator.
The Edible Garden Launched The Edible Garden Project, is an innovative community gardening initiative established at the University's Frances Close Hall campus, with an additional site at Midwinter - behind the Hardwick campus. The Edible Garden provides the opportunity for staff, students and members of the local communities particularly in the St Pauls area of Cheltenham, to learn skills and principles of food awareness, permaculture design, ecological literacy and community building, and to enjoy and take home the produce they grow. The St Pauls Road Area Association and Gloucestershire Police support the venture which is funded through Cheltenham Borough Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for England Active Community Fund and the University's Centre for Active Learning. For more information about the Project see the Edible Garden website.
International Learning Partnerships for Sustainability
The University is striving to develop and promote global educational partnerships that support sustainable development and the principles of transformative collaborative working:
- In Uganda, we involve Geography and Environmental Management students with the National Teachers College in Kaliro. As part of this partnership, students are involved with the exchange of learning resources and IT equipment, and take part in linked projects, cultural exchange, field trips, mentoring and applied skills development.
- In Bangladesh, the University has a longstanding partnership with the University of Liberal Arts (ULAB), which shares our focus on active learning for sustainability and citizenship. ULAB engages students in projects on agricultural, community and educational development topics, and a project began in 2007 to explore active learning and institutional change in ESD and to exchange findings between our organisations.
Curriculum Innovation
Across the University there is a history of academic innovation in the field of sustainability education that began in earnest in the 1980s and has ranged across subject areas as diverse as landscape architecture, tourism and leisure studies, linguistics and ICT. The University’s strategic approach to Education for Sustainability was recognised through its selection to take part as an expert advisor and example of leading practice in the 2011 Green Academy initiative of the Higher Education Academy, supporting a range of universities in developing plans to engage more comprehensively with sustainability education across the curriculum. In connection with this initiative, the University was chosen as a case study of leading practice for its work in the area – see the ‘Story So Far’.
Colleagues have also received awards for individual work within different subjects across the curriculum and contributed to several publications. Some notable examples are:
“Greener by Degrees”
The University is home to a number of pioneering sustainability educators whose work was highlighted in the publication “Greener by Degrees: Exploring Sustainability through Higher Education Curricula”. This collection showcases examples of pedagogic innovation in subjects as diverse as accountancy, teacher education, landscape design and broadcast journalism, and was shortlisted for the 2009 Green Gown Awards for Continuous Improvement (Specific Area).
“Skills for Sustainability”
The undergraduate module ‘Skills for Sustainability’ was Highly Commended in the 2007-08 HEEPI Green Gown Awards, for its creative approaches to developing student capacity to engage actively in sustainability. These include a ‘Question Time’ style expert panel and a ‘Green Dragons’ Den’ process to judge sustainable business ideas proposed by students.
“Language and Ecology”
The first year undergraduate module ‘Language and Ecology’ (now renamed ‘Discourse and Sustainability’) was Highly Commended in the 2006-2007 HEEPI Green Gown Awards for its ability to engage students in active critique of ‘unsustainability’ in their societies and to enable them to envisage and promote sustainable future alternatives.
Projects and Resources
The HE Academy Education for Sustainable Development Project
The HE Academy ‘Education for Sustainable Development Project’ has a range of pedagogic development projects and resources and through this website colleagues can sign up to the SHED network for Sustainability in Higher Education Developers.
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
The UNESCO Decade of Education for Sustainable Development initiative 2005-2014 includes initiatives worldwide across formal, informal, community and professional education settings. A range of resources have been produced in connection with the Decade and are available through the UNESCO web area.
Learning and Teaching Sustainability
An initiative of the Australian Government, Australian Learning and Teaching Council and the University of Western Sydney. Learning and Teaching Sustainability has a range of resources on EfS frameworks and principles, tools for different subject areas, and materials on leadership, policy and professional development.
Engaging People in Sustainability
This IUCN book is a resource for teachers as well as others seeking to develop skills and understanding in the area of sustainability. It identifies the key principles and provides clear examples of what ESD looks like in practice.
Soundings in Sustainability Literacy
Soundings in Sustainability Literacy is a new multi-disciplinary publication on learning and skills for sustainability showcasing leading thinking and practical guidance from a range of subject viewpoints. Edited by Dr Arran Stibbe, the volume is also available in an extended multimedia version including interviews with the authors.
ARIES
The Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability, has an extensive and up-to-date ESD portal with project reports, reviews and resources on a range of topics and professional issues.
SORTED
The SORTED website hosted by EAUC contains resources, policy documents, links and case studies for the learning and skills sector, to support embedding sustainability in tertiary curricula.
Practical Tips for SustainabilityEducation
This series of briefings was produced by the Biosciences Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy and provides tips on ‘How to make your teaching more sustainable’ that cover the practical issues of delivering and organising field trips, lectures, practicals and tutorials.
MIT OpenCourseWare
As part of MIT’s open educational resources initiative to publish course content freely, the following tools and syllabus materials are available in connection with sustainability: social sustainability; economic sustainability; environmental sustainability.
Work-focused Learning Experiences for Sustainability at the University of Gloucestershire
This draft report reviews current opportunities and explores new possibilities for work-focused learning at the University of Gloucestershire (UoG), with a focus on extending Learning for Sustainability experiences in the curriculum.
Other Sustainability Webpages