Exploring what university teachers think about education for sustainability

Abstract

The higher education literature reveals the highly subjective nature of thinking about the roles of higher education and its teachers with respect to ‘education for sustainability’. We used Q methodology to help to clarify and categorise commonly held viewpoints about this complex issue held by teachers in one university in New Zealand. We developed 50 statements about the issue and asked 43 participants to rank them and to record their responses to written questions. Our analysis confirms four significantly and qualitatively different viewpoints, one of which advocates for sustainability and for education for sustainability. The other three viewpoints do not, and each has distinct characteristics that prevent those who own them from using their position within the university to encourage students to act sustainably. Our article interprets these viewpoints and discusses their implications to higher education.

Keywords:

• education for sustainable development
• environmental education
• Q methodology
• functions of higher education

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the 49 university teachers who contributed to this research. Of these our gratitude is greatest to those who do not identify their role as encompassing ‘education for sustainability’. These colleagues must have felt some duress as they were encouraged to participate, but without their input we would have just part of the story and no basis for forward planning.