Article Gold Open Access 2017

Connecting competences and pedagogical approaches for sustainable development in higher education: A literature review and framework proposal

Sustainability (Switzerland)
Journal · Vol. 9 · Issue 10 · Art. 1889
Abstract

Research into and practice of Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD) have been increasing during the last two decades. These have focused on providing sustainability education to future generations of professionals. In this context, there has been considerable progress in the incorporation of SD in universities' curricula. Most of these efforts have focussed on the design and delivery of sustainability-oriented competences. Some peer-reviewed articles have proposed different pedagogical approaches to better deliver SD in these courses; however, there has been limited research on the connection between how courses are delivered (pedagogical approaches) and how they may affect sustainability competences. This paper analyses competences and pedagogical approaches, using hermeneutics to connect these in a framework based on twelve competences and twelve pedagogical approaches found in the literature. The framework connects the course aims to delivery in HESD by highlighting the connections between pedagogical approaches and competences in a matrix structure. The framework is aimed at helping educators in creating and updating their courses to provide a more complete, holistic, and systemic sustainability education to future leaders, decision makers, educators, and change agents. To better develop mind-sets and actions of future generations, we must provide students with a complete set of sustainability competences. © 2017 by the authors.

Keywords

Author Keywords

pedagogy Competence teaching and learning educational outcomes Curriculum planning Higher education for sustainable development

Index Keywords

Teaching Sustainable development higher education learning curriculum university sector literature review Planning process hermeneutics
Author Affiliations
Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Hogskolan i Gavle, Gavle, Gävleborg, Sweden, Organisational Sustainability, Ltd., Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom
Independent Researcher and Consultant, Ridgecrest, CA, United States
Organisational Sustainability, Ltd., Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom
Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse, Toulouse, Occitanie, France
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, NLE, Mexico
Funding & Acknowledgements
University of Victoria, UVic
Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge Carol Scarff Seatter for her contributions to previous versions of the paper. Kim Ceulemans’s post-doctoral fellowship at the Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation, Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria (2016 to 2017) was funded by a donation from Goldcorp Inc.
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