PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the extent and type of extra‐curricular ESD‐related practice in UK universities and to record opinions about the utility of such work.Design/methodology/approachA postal questionnaire survey of all UK universities was undertaken in 2006. Over half (51 per cent) of the UK's 140 universities with degree‐awarding powers responded.FindingsExtra‐curricular ESD‐related interventions were found to be widespread and in 31 per cent of cases were the primary approach to ESD. Respondent opinions highlight a paradox whereby the voluntary nature of extra‐curricular interventions can both extend and limit the reach of ESD.Research limitations/implicationsThe survey approach gathers impressions of UK practice at one point in time, only. Further case study research to look at the impact of such practice is now under way.Practical implicationsIn the UK, much recent work to support ESD has focused on efforts to support curriculum change. The paper suggests that attention should also be directed at the extra‐curricular sphere in parallel.Originality/valueThis paper partly fills a gap in the literature, there being little empirical enquiry into extra‐curricular ESD in higher education.
The extra-curricular sphere may possess certain qualities that could make it a useful arena for the advancement of education for sustainable development (ESD) work in higher education (HE). Speculation on these qualities and potential functions is examined with reference to research into UK HE practice, including a postal questionnaire survey of UK universities and an ongoing case study to explore the impact of extra-curricular practice at one institution over a year. Extra-curricular ESD practices are found to be common in UK HE. Their potential utility is confirmed but set alongside several limiting factors. The case study in progress illuminates some of the connective attributes speculated to be useful in a systemic change process. IntroductionThis paper discusses research-in-progress to examine the impact of extra-curricular education for sustainable development (ESD) work in higher education (HE) in the UK. Extracurricular in this context is taken to mean work not directly part of formal HE courses, nor the planning and delivery of these courses. Extra-curricular approaches to ESD have to date received little or no specific consideration in the academic literature. The paper seeks to begin to address this deficiency and to highlight the potential of the extra-curricular sphere for those with an interest in systemic change towards more sustainable patterns of human progress.First, the paper suggests some particular qualities and potential roles for the extracurricular sphere that may be valuable for ESD in the HE context. These aspects are advanced following consideration of a critique of HE's response to sustainable development and ideas about systemic change in education developed by Sterling (2001). Second, a summary of the research design and methodology is presented. The paper then briefly reviews the implications of results from the first part of the research -a 2006 UK-wide postal survey of Higher education institutions (HEIs) to determine the extent, type and perceived potential of extra-curricular interventions. There follows an outline of the second part of the research a work-in-progress to build a case study through action research to examine the impact of extra-curricular interventions at one institution over the course of a year. The paper summarises extra-curricular activity in the case study institution. It then considers this activity in relation to the findings from the postal survey and to the qualities and roles speculated at the beginning of the paper.The paper combines and develops ideas from material originally presented at a workshop (Lipscombe and Ribchester 2007) run as part of the UK Higher Education Academy's
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