Insights into the value of a ‘stand‐alone’ course for sustainability education

Abstract

Education for sustainability (EfS) is emerging as an urgent imperative and challenge for higher education. But what exactly does it mean to put sustainability into higher education? How do we bring sustainability themes into university curriculum, across the enormous diversity of academic disciplines? This paper describes the experience of teaching a large ‘stand‐alone’ EfS subject which sits within the professional contexts of the large first‐year cohort undertaking it. We describe the themes, architecture and approach to sustainability education taken in this course and evaluate the learning and assessment activities offered to students. We conclude with reflections on the student experience and feedback, which suggests that while academics build towards a deeply embedded sustainability ethic in higher education, specialist parallel courses have a valuable role to play in the transition to sustainable futures.

Keywords:

• education for sustainability
• triple bottom line (TBL)
• learner‐centered pedagogy
• transferable skills
• sustainable futures

Notes

1. The programmes are environment, legal and disputes studies, psychology, planning youth work and social science. The double‐degree environment/environmental science students take the course as core in their second year. Students from social work must choose between SSE and psychology. The international studies programme students may choose SSE as an elective. For two double‐degree programmes, in urban design, and social work/psychology, SSE is not core.

2. We located advertisements in major Australian daily newspapers during the period of the course (March–May 2008). We chose positions advertised across the professional fields enroled in the course.

3. The ‘good teaching score’ (GTS) is an aggregate based on 14 specific questions in the course evaluation survey, distributed each semester; GTS questions relate to specific issues around the learning experience and the role teaching staff played in it, particularly in relation to commitment to student learning, availability of staff for consultation, detailed feedback on assessment and so on. The GTS for SSE in 2008 was 82.4 (out of 100). This is a particularly high score in the context of undergraduate courses generally, particularly in large first‐year courses. The overall course score was 78; this number includes responses on questions related to physical environment, classrooms, library materials and so on.