Using a Masters Course to Explore the Challenges and Opportunities of Incorporating Sustainability into a Range of Educational Contexts

Abstract

Issues in the environment drive societal change (Brown in Seven global issues to watch in 2018, blog post. United Nations Foundation, New York, 2018); and hence challenge the purpose of education. Participants on a Masters course, representing informal and formal education for children aged 4–19, discussed the question “How should the purpose of education change in the light of environmental change?” The course introduces education in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UNESCO range of competences for children forming the next generation. Participants were challenged to characterise the knowledge and skills needed by children to evaluate evidence on climate change, as well as identify and respond to local environmental issues. They also reflected on the most challenging aspects of putting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into practice and gave examples of integrating sustainability into educational practice. This paper reports an analysis of the responses of students who wanted to contribute, according to six dimensions of ESD (biosphere; spatial; temporal; critical; creative and active). Findings suggest that students are clear that pedagogic changes are needed and they embrace a holistic view of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, but need support if they are to show the agency they want to support children’s understanding of the impact of environmental change and how to find solutions.

The following Masters students on the module EE830: Educating the Next Generation contributed the data on which this paper is based: Anita Bjelke, Susannah Burrell, Elizabeth Edwards, Ross Griffin, Sofia Idrissi, Charlotte Jukes, Anne Kagoya, Sarah Kemsley, Karen Maddison, Jo McMullen, Llinos Nelson, James Nevin, Manka Rangar, Damian Rayner, Chris Saunders, Melanie Tickle, Emma Wilkinson, Ibrahim I. Yahaya.