Sustainable development competencies and student-centered teaching strategies in higher education institutions: the role of professors as gatekeepers
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 3 February 2022
Issue publication date: 26 July 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the role of professors as gatekeepers for sustainable development competencies (SDC) in disciplinary study programs. It aims to understand which factors are crucial for professors to integrate SDC into their teaching, their basic understanding of SDC, the actual degree of SDC integration and how suitable they perceive student-centered teaching strategies for teaching SDC.
Design/methodology/approach
The results are based on the qualitative content analysis of interviews with 16 professors after they participated in a didactic training program focused on combining student-centered teaching strategies with SDC.
Findings
Psychological factors, like the attribution of responsibility, value orientations and cost-benefit considerations, are not the only reasons for integrating SDC into a course, as disciplinary requirements play their role. When teaching SDC, professors focus on systems-thinking, strategic and normative competencies. They consider student-centered teaching strategies especially suitable to teach systems-thinking and interpersonal competencies.
Social implications
Promoting changes toward teaching SDC may best be done by supporting professors’ intrinsic motivations: by fulfilling the need for growth in teaching skills, activating values and creating an environment in which everybody feels responsible for teaching SDC.
Originality/value
Teaching SDC with student-centered teaching strategies is relevant even in study programs that show little relation to sustainability issues. professors are experts in their field, but not necessarily in the field of sustainability. Understanding how such professors might include sustainable development competency development in their syllabi can widen the influence of SDC on higher education.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors want to express their gratitude to all interview partners for providing valuable insights into their approach to teaching SDC. We thank Fabienne Maile and Valerie Gunzenhäuser for valuable research assistance. Charles Duquette deserves credit for editorial assistance.
Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Research funding: The research for this paper (including didactic training program for professors, interviews and data analysis) was funded by the federal Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg within the funding programs “Wissenschaft Lehren und Lernen-WILLE” and “Fonds Erfolgreich Studieren in Baden-Württemberg - FESt-BW.”
Citation
Rögele, S., Rilling, B., Apfel, D. and Fuchs, J. (2022), "Sustainable development competencies and student-centered teaching strategies in higher education institutions: the role of professors as gatekeepers", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 23 No. 6, pp. 1366-1385. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-02-2021-0069
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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