Education and Sustainable Development in Oman: The Contribution from Higher Education

Abstract

This article presents a critical review of learning and teaching in a Higher Education Institute (HEI) in Oman using three key performance indicators (society, economy and environment). The performance indicators are used by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to monitor solution oriented approaches towards learning and teaching sustainable development in classrooms across global regions. The approach of this article towards identifying solution oriented practices was to qualitatively evaluate learning and teaching at a Higher Education Institute (HEI) in Oman over a sixteen week period. Data was collected using interview and observation of a targeted group of students studying the same course, asking about their opinions. The findings of this article show that assessment strategies play a key role in determining the effectiveness of solution oriented curriculum. The findings also showed that students were more satisfied with Solution Oriented Approaches to learning and teaching because they aligned with national problems with which they were familiar. The findings of this article are based on a single course and participation responses. The data collection method used in this article was restricted to observations and interviews. Future research could explore different institutions, and use pre/post studies of a group of courses. Future research could be undertaken over a longer period of time to allow for all HEIs within the Sultanate of Oman to partake. Results from such a study could be compared with those from the UNESCO monitoring station. This is currently being developed in association with the Research Council (TRC). This study found that the performance indicators used by UNESCO to monitor solution oriented approaches towards learning and teaching sustainable development in classrooms across global regions can accurately be used to explore the correlation of variables in different institutions using pre/post studies of a group of courses in the HEI. The research contributions from the selected student population used in this study shows correlation between the curriculums aim of preparing effective contributors to a sustainable society and assessment strategies used to obtain feedback on learning outcomes. This study found that the HEI to which the selected student groups belongs adopted the constructs developed by UNESCO to monitor solution oriented approaches towards learning and teaching sustainable development in classrooms across global regions. This studies value is that it provides insight into how one of Oman’s HEIs is contributing towards Oman’s commitment in meeting the 2014 target date set by the United Nations (UN) on Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD).