Annotated Bibliography – Teaching Sustainability
This is an annotated bibliography of some of the available literature on Education for Sustainability (EfS) in higher education. The bibliography is organised by type of publication to assist users locate information. The terms ‘environmental education’ (EE), ‘education for sustainability’ (EfS) and ‘education for sustainable development’ (ESD) are used interchangeably in the literature. While education for sustainability (EfS) is Macquarie’s preferred definition, the terms used in the following reviews will reflect those used by the authors in that particular reference.
There is currently a strong emphasis on using constructivist frameworks to integrate sustainability issues into curricula. This involves the adoption of interdisciplinary / trans-disciplinary approaches to learning and teaching in conjunction with cooperative/collaborative learning. Research on sustainability and learning and teaching practices is sparse in some disciplines, for example the arts and humanities. Resources are more commonly available in fields linked to science-based subjects such as engineering and geography, with business and management also well documented. To reflect this trend we have included a section titled Interdisciplinary Approaches, which contains research papers, case studies and projects across disciplines which may be particularly useful for those involved in teaching sustainability in the less well documented areas. Another important point to note is that much of the literature remains focused on teaching the environmental aspects of sustainability, even though sustainability is now conceptualised in a much broader way to include social, political and economic dimensions.
Table of Contents
Annotated Bibliography – Teaching Sustainability 1
Table of Contents 1
Journals 2
Sustainability learning and teaching literature 2
Discipline specific approaches 17
Policy / research reports 56
Websites 57
Journals
Source / LocationAustralian Journal of Environmental Education / http://search.informit.com.au/
Canadian Journal of Environmental Education / www.emeraldinsight.com
Environmental Education Research / www.tandf.co.uk/
Higher Education / www.springer.com
Higher Education Policy / www.palgrave-journals.com
Innovative Higher Education / www.uga.edu/ihe/ihe.html
International Journal of Sustainable Development / www.inderscience.com/
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education / www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/
Journal of Cleaner Production / www.elsevier.com
Journal of Education for Sustainable Development / http://jsd.sagepub.com/
Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability / http://ise-lv.eu/
Journal of Sustainability Education / www.jsedimensions.org/
Sustainability learning and teaching literature
Author and year / Title / Notes / KeywordsBanjerjee, S.B.
(2004) / Teaching sustainability: A critical perspective. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Conference, New Orleans, USA, August 2004. / In this discussion paper Banjerjee explores different meanings of the term ‘sustainable development’ and their implications for business education. He considers assumptions behind the concept and critically analyses how it is being deployed in organisational studies literature. The paper begins with a discussion of the discourse of ‘sustainable development’, drawing attention to limitations in way it is being taught in business schools. He uses this as the basis for his framework on teaching sustainability, which he believes should be taught from a critical perspective that challenges existing ways of thinking and stimulates debate among students. Several themes central to the successful implementation of a critical approach to teaching sustainability are addressed. Banjerjee is a strong proponent of the multidisciplinary approach, arguing that sustainability must be taught from a critical perspective using a broad range of theoretical views. He believes that the current focus on issues around sustainability as taught in most business schools takes a narrow economic perspective.
This is a thoughtful consideration of current issues relevant to the teaching of sustainable development in business education. While Banjerjee provides a teaching framework, the paper does not include specific information on teaching/assessment of sustainability. For a continuation of this discussion refer to Banjerjee’s chapter, Teaching sustainability: A critical perspective, which is reviewed under the discipline specific section of this resource. / Analytical and conceptual paper
Business education
Environmental sustainability
Social sustainability
Sustainable development
Teaching sustainable development
Barth, M.
Godemann, J.
Rieckmann, M.
Stoltenberg, U.
(2007) / Developing key competencies for
sustainable development in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8(4), 416-430. / This research paper reports on an explorative qualitative study undertaken in Germany. The aim of the study was to add to the limited amount of research available on developing key competencies for sustainable development within higher education (both in formal and informal learning environments). Focus groups (representing formal and informal learning situations) with students reveal that the development of key competencies is based on both cognitive and non-cognitive dispositions. In order to enhance competence development, the authors recommend the creation of a new learning culture which involves a mix of formal/informal learning settings, encouraging learners’ to take responsibility for their own learning and the promoting of interdisciplinary collaborations. / Competencies
Learning
Qualitative research
Research paper
Sustainable development
Blewitt, J.
(2010) / Higher education for a sustainable world. Education & Training, 52(6/7), 477-488. / This paper presents a discursive analysis of the skills and knowledge requirements of a ‘green knowledge-based economy’. Using policy and academic research literature, Blewitt explores the nature and purpose of higher education in the 21st century and how it can help create such an economy by developing approaches to learning and teaching that are social, networked and ecologically sensitive. / General review
Higher education
Learning
Graduate attributes/skills
Sustainable development
Blewitt, J.
Cullingford, C. (Eds)
(2004) / The sustainability curriculum: The challenge for higher education. London: Earthscan. / A collection of papers written by scholars from a wide range of disciplines, analysing the impact of the concepts and practices of sustainability and sustainable development on various academic disciplines (with the exception of science), institutional practices, fields of study and methods of enquiry. Part one presents a variety of views on sustainability and higher education, and its relationship to issues such as lifelong learning and educational theory. A range of approaches are used, including eco-feminism and the global citizen. Part two focus on the way in which different disciplines (built environment, logistics, accounting, economics, social policy, sociology, politics, geography, philosophy and accounting) have responded to the sustainability agenda and offers suggestions for further development. / Environmental education
Interdisciplinary approach
Sustainable development
Corcoran, P.B. Wals, A.E.J. (Eds)
(2004) / Higher education and the challenge of sustainability: Problematics, promise, and practice. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. / A collection of theoretical and research papers which critically explore sustainability as an outcome and process of learning, and as a mechanism for educational change and institutional innovation. The authors provide historical, philosophical and pedagogical perspectives on environmental learning and organisational change within higher education through a diverse range of perspectives offered by scholars from a variety of disciplines and cultures. Part one provides a history of sustainability initiatives in higher education and critically analyses the meanings of ‘education’ and ‘sustainability’ within the context of diverging interests, norms, values and epistemologies. Part two presents different perspectives on learning about sustainability within a higher education context, including topics such as environmental education, environmental justice, eco-feminism and transformative education. Part three brings together these multiple perspectives, supporting them with case studies. / Case studies
Environmental education
Environmental responsibility
Environmental science
Sustainable development
Cortese, A.D.
(2003) / The critical role of higher education in creating a sustainable future. Planning for Higher Education, 31(3), 15-22. / This paper provides a brief introduction to the relationship between higher education and sustainability. The author presents his vision of the role of higher education as a leader in creating a sustainable future. The paper is pitched at academics, senior university administrators and planners. Cortese reflects the mainstream view of his contemporaries, calling for an urgent paradigm shift to transform education as a necessary step towards preparing students to achieve a sustainable society. He promotes a systemic perspective emphasising collaboration and cooperation.
A model of a university where the educational experience of students is fully aligned with the principles of sustainability and where sustainability is incorporated in all its operational functions and actions is proposed. According to Cortese the curriculum needs to be closely integrated with; research, understanding and reducing the negative ecological and social footprint of the institution, and improving local and regional communities so they are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable. Interdisciplinary systems thinking is critical to addressing sustainable action on local, regional, and global scales over short, medium, and intergenerational time periods. He emphasises active, experiential, inquiry-based learning, real-world problem solving and the role of the institution in practicing sustainability. That is, making sustainability an integral part of operations, planning, facility design etc., and forming partnerships with local and regional communities. A small number of examples are provided which highlight changes that have occurred in US universities. / Conceptual paper
Long term planning
Higher education
Sustainable development
Sustainability education
Cotton, D.
Bailey, I.
Warren, M.
Bissell, S.
(2009) / Revolutions and second-best solutions: Education for sustainable development in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 34(7), 719-733. / Abstract only
Despite widespread policy support for education for sustainable development in higher education, and a strong academic literature arguing for a radical rethink of curriculum, pedagogy and institutional culture, progress towards the educational reforms advocated remains limited. Based on in-depth interviews with lecturers at a case-study university, this article explores reasons for the slow pace of change, in particular how constraining variables (such as class size, patchy managerial support,
perceived irrelevance to some disciplines, and conflict with prevalent higher education pedagogies) inhibit the widespread use of the holistic, interdisciplinary, transformative learning approaches advocated by theorists. Coping strategies employed by lecturers to bring education for sustainable development into their
teaching practices are investigated and reviewed in the context of the ‘theory of the second best’. We conclude with a plea for greater recognition in the literature of the merits of such ‘second-best’ approaches in higher education. / Education for sustainable development
Qualitative study
Ferreira, J.
Ryan, L.
Tilbury, D.
(2007) / Mainstreaming education for sustainable development in initial teacher education in Australia: A review of existing professional developmental models. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research & Pedagogy, 33(2), 225-239. / This research paper reports on a study undertaken by the Australian Research Institute of Education for Sustainability (ARIES) and funded by the Department of the Environment and Water Resources. The purpose of the study was to find a model capable of facilitating the system-wide engagement needed to mainstream education for sustainable development (ESD), as there are presently no models available even though many local and international policies recommend the incorporation of sustainability into teacher education. The researchers evaluate seven models of professional development underpinning a number of teacher education initiatives (both in Australia and internationally). The methodology is based on literature searches, a review of program documentation, and discussions with leaders of the initiatives evaluated. No empirical data is collected, rather the authors focus on how each of the initiatives intended to bring about change in teacher education. Three models of professional development are identified and discussed: the Collaborative Resource Development and Adaptation Model, the Action Research Model and the Whole-of-System Model.
The paper concludes by arguing that a systemic approach that engages the whole of the teacher education system is necessary if ESD is to be successfully mainstreamed in initial teacher education. The authors propose a ‘Mainstreaming Sustainability Model’ one that combines the best features of the Whole-of-System and Action Research Models. / Australia
Education for sustainable development
Research paper
Teacher education
Gonczi, A.
(2006) / A conceptual framework for sustainable leadership. Paper presented at the sustainable leadership in education symposium and conference, Sydney, NSW. Available at http://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/professional_learning/resources/papers/GoncziA_06_SustainableLeadership.pdf [accessed 21 June, 2010] / Abstract only
The notion of sustainability is, of course, most commonly associated with the environment and focuses on the need to sustain diversity, conserve our resources and to ensure that what we do today in meeting our perceived needs does not have a
deleterious impact on future generations. How useful is this metaphor of sustainability for the field of education? In their recent book Hargreaves and Fink (2006) argue that it is apposite as the pace and direction of reform and change over the last decade has been such that it is has damaged educational systems and the students in them in serious ways. One example they cite
is the standardization of curriculum, the very opposite of diversity. The impact of recent reforms on educational leadership has also been substantial – so much so that there is evidence accumulating that many potential leaders are opting not to take up such roles and that many existing leaders are retiring early. Again this is the antithesis of conservation of our resources / Conceptual paper
Sustainable leadership
Gough, S.
Scott, W.
(2001) / Curriculum development and sustainable development: Practices, institutions and literacies. Education Philosophy & Theory, 33(2). / This is a philosophical paper which proposes a terminological framework to analyse the relationship between sustainable development and curriculum development. The authors attempt to define both curriculum development and sustainable development in an inclusive way. Their framework proposes that literacy, practices, organisational institutions and cultural institutions provide a set of conceptual categories to analyse the task of developing curricula that will promote the targets set by the international community with respect to sustainable development. Refer also to Scott and Gough (2004), Key issues in sustainable development. / Curriculum development
Philosophical
Policy
Sustainable development
Terminology
Learning & Teaching Centre Macquarie University (2009) / Sustainability in the curriculum project. Available at www.mq.edu.au/ltc/pdfs/039_sust_in_curric.pdf [accessed 21 April, 2010] / This booklet provides views about sustainability in the curriculum from around Macquarie University, and is an excellent introductory resource to sustainable education within higher education. Section 1 introduces the Macquarie principles of sustainability (environmental protection, social justice, economics well-being, and diversity), explores the contexts of sustainability in education and in the strategic direction of the university. Section 2 presents a collection of papers authored by academics around the university: “Thinking about sustainability in statistics” (Petocz), “Sustainability in the curriculum at MGSM” (Jones), “Reflections of sustainability in the curriculum: Linguistics, human sciences” (Rieschild), “Incorporating sustainability in the business curriculum” (Chen), and “Sustainability in the Faculty of Arts” (Techera). The booklet also includes a list of references and other useful resources. / Definitions