A framework for mapping sustainability within tertiary curriculum
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 8 May 2019
Issue publication date: 23 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability within tertiary curriculum is hard to measure and often perceived to be illusive in nature. Existing higher education sustainability assessment tools rarely focus on the curriculum. This paper aims to establish and implement a tool that can measure sustainability integration within curriculum. The Faculty of Engineering and IT (FEIT) at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is used as a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
A set of seven sustainability competencies are identified by means of a systematic literature review as the current knowledge of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) competencies. ESD competency integration into the curriculum is assessed by implementing a two-tier scanning mechanism. In the first step, subject outlines (SOs) are used to identify sustainable subject learning outcomes (SLOs) and assessment learning outcomes (ALOs). Step 2 involves analysing ALOs and SLOs for constructive alignment with student experience. SPSS, a statistical software, is then used to statistically reflect the results.
Findings
An initial scan of SOs found that stated ESD outcomes made up 22.4 per cent of FEIT undergraduate courses. A more detailed investigation which involved assessing subject material and student experience for the seven ESD outcomes resulted in a 7.7 per cent sustainability integration into the FEIT undergraduate courses. SPSS produced tables showing individual competency distribution over course candidature year. Lifecycle assessment was invisible from the curriculum.
Research limitations/implications
Case study outcomes are limited to UTS, and therefore, specific-study outcomes cannot be generalised. This study attempted to trace sustainability learning outcomes through the curriculum. However, a more detailed study should also assess subject pedagogy and artefacts as these may enable or inhibit sustainability competency.
Originality/value
Study developed several methods to establish and evaluate subject level ESD claims. Academic staff and management are able to replicate methods of this study to map ESD within their courses, schools and/or faculties triggering conversation around ESD’s actual integration within curriculum. Based on ESD distribution, specific intervention recommendations are proposed.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author thanks his PhD supervisors Professor Roger Hadgraft and Associate Professor Anne Gardner at the UTS for providing their invaluable pearls of wisdom and expertise that shaped this research and inevitably this paper. The author would also thank Soumaya Trad for her assissatance with editing, which greatly improved the final manuscript.
Citation
Trad, S.P. (2019), "A framework for mapping sustainability within tertiary curriculum", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 288-308. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-09-2018-0151
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited