Transcript Education for a sustainable future

The Sustainability Challenge:
Wisdom and Learning for the
Future of HE Curricula
Society for Research into HE Conference,
15th December 2010
Daniella Tilbury, University of
Gloucestershire
Alex Ryan, University of
Gloucestershire
John Blewitt, Aston University
Future Shock, Innovation and
Sustainability
Business interests:
Specific technical skills in the ‘green jobs’ arena (ARUP, IPPR)
Leadership and management capabilities (IPPR, BITC/EDF Energy)
Student interests:
Sustainability blending with employability agendas and career aspirations
Growth of attention to sustainability among professional bodies
Public interests:
Economic recovery and entrepreneurship aligned with sustainability
HE tackling civic issues – justice, equity, wellbeing linked to sustainability
Creative Tensions for Sustainability in HE
• shifting conceptual ground around sustainability
• disciplinary self-perceptions around sustainability
• multiple delivery pathways – formal and hidden
• centrality yet diversity of disciplinary expertise
• structural challenges for inter-disciplinary T&L
• R-T interplay yet prioritisation of research agendas
•thematic overlaps between ESD and other priorities
• integration of learning – personal and professional
ESD Futures
- A national and global commitment to ESD
- ESD is rising in the HE policy arena as the focus
on SD and carbon targets grows, across
professions and agencies.
- Economic landscape shows that new skills will
underpin low carbon economies and green
industries and enterprises; these areas are
growing in tandem with technological shifts in the
knowledge economy.
- Research among students, career advisors and
employers indicates growth in market interest in
sustainability skills and competencies.
What are the tactics to address ESD
in the core functions of HEIs?
- Regardless of profile or mission, common mechanisms are used to
maintain quality of provision. These processes are a consistent point
of focus for encouraging ESD curriculum development sector-wide;
- The project views quality assurance and enhancement as critically
important in exploring ESD and organisational leadership
- Project intersects institutional and sector level changes:
i) Seeking systemic change, initiating dialogue and eliciting
contributions from national agencies as well as professional
stakeholders.
ii) Seeking to connect institutional setting with national context for
academic infrastructure in terms of QAA procedures and practices.
Beyond Truths and Certainties
• ESD HEI Project Partners are representative
of the UK HE sector as a whole
• Partner projects reflect a specific area of HE
activity:
• Aston: new media, lifelong learning &
CPD provision
• Gloucestershire: review and validation
guidance & graduate attributes
• Creative leadership and collegiality
• Holistic curriculum, depth and breadth
Re-imagining Higher Education
• sustainability literacy as a meta-capability
• sustainability education and learning proposes
far more than simply sectoral, institutional or
individual changes
• realising human capabilities through
transdisciplinary study
• revitalising educational principles
• creative and pragmatic disruption