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This paper aims to present key findings from an inquiry into engineering accreditation and curricula renewal. The research attempted to ascertain conceptions of requisite sustainability themes among engineering academics and professionals. The paper also reflects on the potential role of professional engineering institutions (PEIs) in embedding sustainability through their programme accreditation guidelines and wider implications in terms of rapid curricula renewal.

This research comprised an International Engineering Academic Workshop held during the 2010 International Symposium on Engineering Education in Ireland, on “accreditation and sustainable engineering”. This built on the findings of a literature review that was distributed prior to the workshop. Data collection included individual questionnaires administered during the workshop, and notes scribed by workshop participants.

The literature review highlighted a wide range of perspectives across and within engineering disciplines, regarding what sustainability/sustainable development (SD) themes should be incorporated into engineering curricula, and regarding language and terminology. This was also reflected in the workshop discussions. Notwithstanding this diversity, clusters of sustainability themes and priority considerations were distilled from the literature review and workshop. These related to resources, technology, values, ethics, inter‐ and intra‐generational equity, transdisciplinarity, and systems and complex thinking. Themes related to environmental and economic knowledge and skills received less attention by workshop participants than represented in the literature.

This paper provides an appreciation of the diversity of opinion regarding priority sustainability themes for engineering curricula, among a group of self‐selected engineering academics who have a common interest in education for SD. It also provides some insights and caveats on how these themes might be rapidly integrated into engineering curricula.

This article presents a synoptic view of the dramatic environmental change which presently confronts Australian management educators. Written at the same time as the landmark Karpin Committee’s enquiry into the needs of Australian management into the next century, the discussion echoes many of Karpin’s sentiments although it presents the views of educators, which may not always coincide with the views of practitioners. Important issues discussed include: the underlying “philosophy of management education”; the perennial “theory versus practice” debate; the present role of government in influencing the “shape” of management education; the relationship between universities and their industrial clients; the necessity to continuously renew the curriculum; the desirability of collaboration between universities; appropriate use of technology as a delivery mechanism and in the curriculum; the supply of appropriately qualified academics; accreditation; “students as customers” and, finally, the nature of management itself. As might be anticipated, the necessity for business schools to be innovative, flexible and responsive to the dictates of the changing environment is emphasised as is the importance of developing a national character of Australian management education which reflects Australia’s needs and position in the global and regional marketplace.

This article is an Information File made available by the International Bureau of Education. It summarises issues and trends in primary education worldwide, looking at general policy, organisation, management, the content of curricula, and teaching methods. A bibliography is provided together with a list of national and international centres which may provide information about primary education.

The purpose of this paper is to present the case for engineering departments to undertake rapid curriculum renewal (RCR) towards engineering education for sustainable development (EESD), to minimise the department's risk exposure to rapidly shifting industry requirements, government regulations and program accreditation. This paper then outlines a number of elements of RCR.

This paper begins by proposing that Higher Education Institutions face a “time lag dilemma,” whereby the usual or “standard” curriculum renewal approach to embed new knowledge and skills within the curriculum may take too long, lagging behind industry, regulatory, and accreditation shifts. This paper then outlines a proposed RCR approach. This paper presents a number of preliminary “elements of RCR” formulated from a literature review of numerous existing but largely ad hoc examples of curriculum renewal within engineering and other discipline areas, together with the authors' experience in trialling the elements.

This paper concludes that a strategically implemented process of curriculum renewal to EESD can help a department address its risk exposure to likely and impending shifts in industry, regulations and accreditation. A number of examples of implementing “elements of RCR” are emerging and this literature can inform a strategic approach to curriculum renewal.

The aim of this paper is to highlight the potential risks and opportunities for engineering departments as they consider “how far” and “how fast” to proceed with curriculum renewal for EESD, along with providing an overview of a range of options for implementation.

This paper fulfils an identified information/resources need.

The aim of this paper is to present the challenges external drivers and internal inertia faced by curriculum designers and implementers at institutions of higher education. The challenges to academics from competing factors are presented: internal resistance to changing existing curricula vs the necessity to continuously evolve programmes to reflect a dynamic, uncertain future. The necessity to prepare future leaders to face global issues such as climate change, dictates changing curricula to reflect changing personal, environmental and societal needs.

This paper uses the case study method to examine two models of climate change curriculum design and renewal. One model, from an Australian university, is based upon national education standards and the second is a non-standards-based curriculum design, developed and delivered by a partnership of four North American universities.

The key findings from this study are that the highest level of participation by internal-to-the-programme academics and administrators is required. Programme quality, delivery and content alignment may be compromised with either stand-alone course delivery and learning outcomes, or if courses are developed independently of others in the programme. National educational standards can be effective tools to guide course and programme management, monitoring, review and updating.

The paper includes implications for postgraduate level curricula design, implementation and programme evaluation.

The paper is the first to compare, contrast and critique a national standards-based, higher education curriculum and a non-standards-based curriculum.

There is a growing emphasis on teaching patient safety principles and quality improvement (QI) processes in medical education curricula. This paper aims to present how the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland engaged medical students in quality improvement during their recent curriculum renewal process.

In the 2013-2014 academic year, the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland launched an undergraduate medical education curriculum renewal process. This presented a unique opportunity to teach quality improvement by involving students in the ongoing development and continuous improvement of their undergraduate curriculum through the implementation of quality circles and other related QI activities.

The authors’ experience shows that implementing QI processes is beneficial in the medical education environment, particularly during times of curriculum redesign or implementation of new initiatives.

Student engagement and participation in the QI process is an excellent way to teach basic QI concepts and improve curriculum program outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the use of the Delphi technique to support curriculum development with a view to enhancing existing literature on use of the technique for renewal of business course curricula.

The authors outline the Delphi process for obtaining consensus amongst a diverse expert group, provide an overview of the results of the study to demonstrate its value and present an analysis of participants’ reflections on the Delphi process experience. Drawing on participants’ reflections and the experience of using the technique the authors present a “good practice guide” for others seeking to apply the technique and discuss implications for practice and research.

Analysis of participants’ feedback identified strengths and limitations of the process. Participants perceived that the process was efficient and fostered reflection on their own practice. The technique’s capacity to draw out varied views due to absence of dominant voices was highlighted. Limitations were perceived to be restrictiveness of the process and potential inability to address varying understandings. Participant feedback suggests the process may provide a fragmented approach to curriculum design.

The findings suggest avenues for future research, including examining how the Delphi technique can be incorporated into a holistic set of curriculum design field studies that are linked and ultimately lead to a well-designed curriculum.

Current literature on the Delphi technique does not provide participants’ perspectives on the process nor researcher reflections on use of the technique. The authors address this gap and generate good practice guidelines for using the Delphi technique as a tool for curriculum renewal.

Teacher learning communities (TLCs) formed within subject departments are conceptualized as reform platform for facilitating school improvement and teacher development. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which three TLCs were structured and managed for generating change capability in secondary schools in Hong Kong.

A review of the literature on the contribution of learning communities to teacher professional development, and the functions and styles of subject leadership provides the theoretical background of the study. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews were employed as the main instruments for the investigation into the potentials of TLCs for enhancing professional renewals. Narrative accounts were obtained from a total of 21 teachers (including three subject leaders) on the nature and process of their participation in the renewal projects.

The findings of the interview study reveal the landscape of subject leadership orientations that shaped the collaborative practices, power relations and knowledge representations within TLCs. Variability is noted in the subject leaders’ concerns for harmonious relationship, executive control, professional growth and leadership empowerment. The spectrum of knowledge structure in these communities is marked by a hierarchical relationship on one end, and a heterarchical relationship on the other.

This paper portrays the dynamics within three TLCs, and depicts a continuum of three leadership styles. The literature on subject leadership in TLCs could be enriched with further investigations into the contextual variables and sources of influence that affect the choice of leadership orientations of subject leaders who grapple with a balance between managerial imperative for control and accountability and a learning imperative for participative explorations that satisfy teachers’ aspirations for autonomy and creative investments in their own professional enhancement.

Subject leadership training should emcompass reflective discourse on epistemological beliefs and assumptions on teacher learning and development, and leadership orientations that shape collaborative professional renewal practices.

While research studies conducted in the Western world show that reflective and collaborative inquiries within professional communities have helped to improve classroom practices and teacher development (e.g. Hord, 1997), yet little is known about the management practices of subject leaders that shape the internal cultural conditions, power relations and knowledge representation within their departments in the context of Hong Kong.

This study aims to explore the role of planned, sudden shifts in lived experiences, in influencing learner capabilities towards improved problem-solving for sustainable development outcomes. The authors responded to employers of engineering and built environment graduates observing limited “real-life” problem-solving skills, beyond using established formulae and methods, in spite of attempts over more than two decades, to train engineers and other built environment disciplines in areas such as whole system design and sustainable design.

A grounded theory approach was used to guide the analysis of data collected through ethnographic methods. The process involved reflecting on authors’ efforts to develop context appreciation within a course called “International Engineering Practice”, using two years of collected data (archived course information, including course profile; completed assessment; lecture and field visit evaluations; and focus groups). The study is built on the authors’ working knowledge of Bloom’s Taxonomy and Threshold Learning Theory, and the well-established role of “context appreciation” in complex problem-solving. After the first iteration of the course, the authors looked for additional theoretical support to help explain findings. The Cynefin framework was subsequently used to augment the authors’ appreciation of “context” – beyond physical context to include relational context, and to evaluate students’ competency development across the four domains of “clear”, “complicated”, “complex” and “chaotic”.

This study helped the authors to understand that there was increased capacity of the students to distinguish between three important contexts for problem-solving, including an increased awareness about the importance of factual and relevant information, increased acknowledgement of the varying roles of professional practitioners in problem-solving depending on the type of problem and increased appreciation of the importance of interdisciplinary teams in tackling complex and complicated problems. There were several opportunities for such courses to be more effective in preparing students for dealing with “chaotic” situations that are prevalent in addressing the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals (UNSDGs). Drawing on the course-based learnings, the authors present a “context integration model” for developing problem-solving knowledge and skills.

The research findings are important because context appreciation – including both physical context and relational context – is critical to problem-solving for the UNSDGs, including its 169 targets and 232 indicators. The research findings highlight the opportunity for the Cynefin framework to inform holistic curriculum renewal processes, enhancing an educator’s ability to design, implement and evaluate coursework that develops physical and relational context appreciation.

The study’s findings and context integration model can help educators develop the full range of necessary problem-solving graduate competencies, including for chaotic situations involving high degrees of uncertainty. Looking ahead, acknowledging the significant carbon footprint of global travel, the authors are interested in applying the model to a domestic and/or online format of the same course, to attempt similar learning outcomes.

Connecting Bloom’s taxonomy deep learning and threshold learning theory critical path learning insights with the Cynefin framework context domains, provides a novel model to evaluate competency development for problem-solving towards improved holistic physical and relational “context appreciation” outcomes.

Parts of a recent (1989) Educational Testing Service publication are reprinted here: a report of a comparative survey (by tests) of mathematics and science education among 13‐year‐olds in Canada, Ireland, Korea, Spain, the UK and the USA.