Course overview

Topic 2 - February 19 - March 8, 2024

In this topic, participants will learn to work with key sustainability competencies such as systems thinking, values thinking, self reflection, and teacher competencies. Also, you will learn how to work practically with learning activities to support attaining key competencies, and systematically to assess curriculum integration of key competencies.Responsible: Teresa & Ola

Activities for all learners

Read Brundiers et al. (2021) and specifically, pay attention to the section before the discussion (page 22 in the pdf version), the paper outlines learning objectives, based on "widely held prejudices that sustainability science aims to overcome".

Do you see these learning objectives as similar to or different from those in degree programs that you teach? If these learning objectives are different from those currently included in your curriculum, do you see a value in including key sustainability competencies?
If so, do you see any institutional (e.g. cultural, administrative) challenges to doing so?
Do you recognize the prejudices the authors of the paper list in your environment?
If so, what would you like to do to address this?

For additional reading, if you are interested in questions of how to approach these learning objectives as a teacher: Read the material in the framework A rounder sense of purpose, especially with respect to competencies for educators described there. Do you see those competencies as different from those generally promoted in teacher education?

Common course activities

Workshop and discussion around the preparatory material.

Introduction webinar

Monday, February 19, 13:00-14:00 CET

on how to understand competencies, how to avoid a crowded curriculum, how to avoid simplifications and misinterpretations, whether "integration of ESD" makes sense in light of critical perspectives of ESD.

🌍 Please check your timezone

Go to Zoom link for HEDS241 webinars

Recording

Miro board

Presentation material

💬 Discussion webinar

Wednesday February 28, 13:00-14:00 CET

The webinar features professor Marco Rieckmann from the University of Vechta, and will be based on your questions. Please post your questions (individual or group) in advance of the webinar. Read about papers on key competences (1, 2) to understand about Marco's work on key competences for sustainability.

Go to Zoom link for HEDS241 webinars

Recording of discussion webinar

💬 Discussion webinar

Wednesday March 6, 13:00-14:00 CET

The webinar is an opportunity to discuss perspectives on competences and learning as presented in the material in the whole group.

Go to Zoom link for HEDS241 webinars

Miro board for discussion webinar

Activities in PBL groups

PBL group work

Scenario:

As a PBL-group, you are tasked with suggesting different ways to integrate competences relevant for sustainable development to the teaching in your different subject areas. During the meetings with your colleagues, you encounter various opinions.
"This is mostly a question of marketing what we're already doing: we're [problem-solving engineers/resource-managing economists/health professionals] after all"
"Great, we'll add an example during a lecture"
"Find me some exercises that we could do in parallell to their project"
"Fine, but how should we assess them on 'Empathy'? Are you serious?"
"How can we formulate detailed learning goals if students get to choose what they study?"
"This is higher education, we shouldn't be indoctrinating students here!"
"We can only assess that which concerns the course literature, what they choose to do on their own is their business"
"We already integrate sustainable development as we give examples of environmental problems during lectures in this course"
"This is exactly what we should be doing instead of rote learning of facts and procedures. Let's get started! How can we do this with our students?"
"ESD sounds very nice, but are these competencies really appropriate for higher education degree programmes?"
How do you as a PBL-group approach this task?

Course synchronous activities

Group meeting week 1 to start the study of scenario, revisiting scenario week 2.

Individual reflection

HEDS241 individual reflections - topic 2

Aims

This topic aims to contribute to familiarity with specific competence frameworks, an understanding of how to work as teachers in a university and curriculum setting and understanding and critically reflecting upon the relationship between institutional practices, regulations and key sustainability competence frameworks.

Checklist

Week 1

Preparation and participation in webinar.
Starting up group work.

Week 2

continued group work
discussion webinar with Marco Rieckmann

Week 3

Discussion webinar
Completing and presenting group work.
Posting 400 word individual reflection.

Readings and other resources

References in bold used in the description above.

Competence frameworks:

Brundiers, K., Barth, M., Cebrián, G. et al. Key competencies in sustainability in higher education—toward an agreed-upon reference framework. Sustain Sci 16, 13–29 (2021). (overview of sustainability competencies)
UNESCO (2017). Education for sustainable development goals: Learning objectives (Key competencies, learning objectives and learning activities related to the SDGs).
Rieckmann, M. (2012). Future-oriented higher education: Which key competencies should be fostered through university teaching and learning? Futures, 44(2):127–135. Special Issue: University Learning.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (2012). Learning for the future: Competences in education for sustainable development (Competencies for educators, graphical and easy to read).
A Rounder Sense of Purpose (2020). (Recent framework that builds on UNESCO and UNECE frameworks).
Wiek, A., Bernstein, M. J., Foley, R. W., Cohen, M., Forrest, N., Kuzdas, C., Kay, B., and Keeler, L. W. (2015). Operationalising competencies in higher education for sustainable development. In Routledge handbook of higher education for sustainable development, pages 265–284. Routledge. (specific content and proposed learning objectives related to key sustainability competences)

Critical perspectives:

Osberg, D. and Biesta, G. (2020). Beyond curriculum: Groundwork for a non-instrumental theory of education. Educational Philosophy and Theory. (argument against viewing education as a result of a curriculum)
Stein, S., Andreotti, V., Susa, R., Ahenakew, C., and Cajková, T. (2022). From “education for sustainable development” to “education for the end of the world as we know it” Educational Philosophy and Theory, 54(3):274–287. (Proposes critical lenses to be applied when introducing sustainability in education to recognise potentially harmful, unproductive attitudes)
Lotz-Sisitka, H., Wals, A. E., Kronlid, D., and McGarry, D. (2015). Transformative, transgressive social learning: Rethinking higher education pedagogy in times of systemic global dysfunction. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 16:73–80. (argues that higher education should be oriented away from building competences to promote unsustainable systems, and "break with maladaptive resilience of unsustainable systems")

National guideline documents

Examensordningen (Swedish Higher Education Degree Ordnance) (learning objectives of national degrees in higher education in Sweden, including attitudes and skills related to a sustainable development)
How Swedish HEI:s work in promoting sustainable development (Assessment by the Swedish Higher Education Authority) (national review of HEI:s and criteria for evaluating sustainability integration in higher education, now only available in Swedish)

International policy agreements for ESD

Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development (UN policy agreement on why and how to change education globally in response to the needs for a sustainable development)