One of the topics my husband and I can get lost in long rants about is the many ways we, as a society, fail at educating ourselves and future generations. Simply put, despite our best efforts to date, our education system is not successfully creating well-informed, socially responsible, and independent lifelong learners. Many of the lessons a person needs that were previously passed on by parents and other members of a person's inner circle are now left to schools, or worse, pop culture and the media.
This past week, I was tasked with researching a topic with global reach to consider how educators and researchers in other countries are addressing educational issues. I wasn't planning on studying sustainability education at the outset. But in a rather serendipitous path through some articles, I found myself focusing in on this framework. Given my passion for developing the whole student, it's a natural fit and I'm honestly surprised I had never encountered the subject before.
If you're like I was 7 days ago, you may have never heard of the topic of sustainable education either. In a nutshell, "sustainability is about maintaining a high quality of life for humans and other species, both now and in the long-term" ((McMillan & Higgs, 2003, p. 1) and "meet[ing] current needs without jeopardizing the needs of future generations" (Potter-Nelson & Myers, 2022, p. 7). "[Sustainability education] hopes to educate citizens who will ultimately contribute to systemic level reform to shape communities, nations, and a planet that can continue to thrive long into the future" (McMillan & Higgs, 2003, p. 2).
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Environmental & Sustainability Education (ESE) are closely related to sustainability education. They are focused heavily on teaching students to become knowledgeable of our impact on the world, society, economies, the climate, global resources , and equity to become responsible developers and change agents (UNESCO, 2024; OISE, n.d.).
By the way, "sustainable" translates to the least effort needed to ensure continuance. What a low bar! Yet, by many measures, we aren't reaching this level, yet. Many researchers and faculty in universities throughout the world are actively trying to help us reach that bar, though.
For example, Gamage, Ekanayake, and Dehideniya (2022) reviewed how sustainability was embedded in STEM programs in a dozen universities in a variety of countries at various stages of development and found that the tried and true 'sage on the stage' approach of traditional teaching was not effective at producing responsible citizens. If you're not familiar with that phrase or approach, it is where a teacher stands at the front of class and lectures while students sit at desks and attempt to absorb knowledge.
The flaw in that system, which, by the way, has been the predominant style of teaching for the past 100 years, is that the goal for students in that system is not to develop any kind of emotional connection to the material, but rather to merely succeed at regurgitating it later when assessed. Instead, "problem/project-based learning, real-world or experiential learning, case studies, and e-learning" get students connected to the content through active and authentic learning, and this leads to attitudinal shifts towards sustainability (Gamage et al., 2022, p. 17).
When a Malaysian university allowed students to serve as change agents for issues related to university sustainability, they discovered sustainability education created a win-win scenario in which students received practical experience as change agents, developing leadership skills and appreciation of the complexities related to sustainability, while improving university sustainability (Mohamad et al., 2021).
An action research project involving collaboration between programs in Norway and Brazil explored how to best integrate active learning in higher ed curriculum with sustainability learning objectives (Hermann et al., 2022). A problem-based approach proved successful after reflection and adaptation as students explored a scenario of a post-oil world while considering sustainability issues.
These examples revealed that authentic learning experiences were the best conduit for sustainability education. It's almost as if a glimpse of genuine problems in the world that have direct relevance to students' lives and communities inspires students to care, think critically, and generate creative solutions. Imagine that!
With educational solutions like this, maybe we'll get to raise that bar from sustenance to prosperity soon.
References
Gamage, K. A. A., Ekanayake, S. Y., & Dehideniya, S. C. P. (2022). Embedding sustainability in learning and teaching: Lessons learned and moving forward--approaches in STEM higher education programmes. Education Sciences, 12(225), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030225
Hermann, R. R., Bossle, M. B., & Amaral, M. (2022). Lenses on the post-oil economy: Integrating entrepreneurship into sustainability education through problem-based learning. Educational Action Research, 30(3), 480–506. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2020.1823239
McMillan, V. M., & Higgs, A. L. (2003). Implementing Sustainability Education: Lessons from Four Innovative Schools [MS Thesis]. University of Michigan. https://s3.amazonaws.com/usp_site_uploads/resources/145/Implementing_Sustainability_Education_Thesis.pdf
Mohamad, Z. F., Mamat, M. Z., & Muhamad Noor, M. F. (2021). Students as change agents for campus sustainability in Malaysian universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 22(2), 404–422. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2020-0224
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). (n.d.). Defining environmental & sustainability education. https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/scan/defining-environmental-sustainability-education-0
Potter-Nelson, E., & Meyers, S. (2022). An introduction to sustainability education. MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. https://environmentalsolutions.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Intro-to-sustainability-education-white-paper.pdf
Salovaara, J. J., & Soini, K. (2021). Educated professionals of sustainability and the dimensions of practices. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 22(8), 69–87. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-09-2020-0327
UNESCO. (2024, May 30). What you need to know about education for sustainable development. https://www.unesco.org/en/sustainable-development/education/need-know?hub=72522
Comments