Teaching Sustainability in European Higher Education Institutions: Assessing the Connections between Competences and Pedagogical Approaches

Lozano, Rodrigo; Barreiro‐Gen, María; Lozano, Francisco J.; Sammalisto, Kaisu

doi:10.3390/su11061602

Cited by 181 publications

(197 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(29 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

176

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Nevertheless, they can learn from each other. For example, UAM, in terms of the Academic dimension can use teaching methods more based on new technologies like the ones used in distance learning at UAb, allowing also more transdisciplinary research and less theory (in accordance with authors like Lozano et al [15]). UAM can also develop more lifelong learning programs or open courses to increase society sustainability awareness, like MOOCs, learning from the experience of UAb.…”

Section: Application Of the Tools In The Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…The assessment was complemented with stakeholder's engagement. European HEIs have been ahead in the implementation of sustainability at the different dimensions [13,15]. In particular, in southern Europe neighbor countries like Portugal and Spain, despite the lack of national policies, HEIs are working towards ESD implementation through the development of plans and actions in sectorial areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a crucial role in implementing practices for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This implementation should be done in different dimensions according to a holistic and whole-school approach. Different tools have been adapted and developed to assess this integrated approach. The aim of this research is to critically reflect the existing tools to assess and benchmark ESD implementation and to discuss their applicability in two case studies. Two public Universities in Southern Europe, with headquarters in the capitals of Portugal and Spain were selected to assess and compare the integration of ESD according to a whole-school approach-Universidade Aberta in Portugal and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain. After a critical analysis of the existing tools based on literature review and a list of criteria classified by experts, two tools were selected to be applied in the case studies. The online Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System Reporting Tool was used in Universidade Aberta and Green Metrics tool was used in Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. The tools were complemented with focus group with key-actors in both universities. The results obtained allowed to identify the need to define a common objective of the assessment tools and limitations they still have. The tools need improvements on their development namely to integrate the external impact of Higher Education Institutions on sustainability, to integrate participatory processes and to assess non-traditional aspects of sustainability. This research hopes to contribute to the continuous research about the usefulness of these assessment and benchmarking tools as drivers to HEIs improve their sustainability performance and their role as agents of changes.

show abstract

Section: Application Of the Tools In The Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A survey was developed to investigate teaching SD competences in European HEIs. The survey consisted of six sections as follows: Background questions about the respondent's HEIs, the respondent characteristic, and her/his teaching (in general and SD); Self‐assessment of SD criteria taught, based on the STAUNCH® criteria, and on a four scale (not covered, mentioned, described, and discussed); Pedagogical approaches used, on a five‐point scale (never, seldom, from time to time, often, and all the time); Competences covered in the course, on a five‐point scale (not at all, mentioned, discussed, complementary to the course, and integral to the course); Types of learning, on a five‐point scale (never, seldom, from time to time, often, and all the time); and Open‐ended questions about the incorporation of SD in courses. The connection between how pedagogical approaches are used and how they may develop sustainability competences (sections and ) has been analysed previously (see R. Lozano, Barreiro‐Gen, F.J. Lozano, & Sammalisto, ). This paper focuses on Sections and .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the factors affecting the incorporation of sustainable development into European Higher Education Institutions' curricula

Lozano

Barreiro‐Gen

2019

Sustainable Development

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There has been an increase in sustainable development (SD) integration into Higher Education Institutions' (HEIs) curricula. Several tools have been developed to assess SD in HEIs; however, only a few have focussed on curricula assessment, such as the “Sustainability Tool for Assessing UNiversities' Curricula Holistically.” Curricula assessment can provide an overview on how courses and programmes incorporate SD. This paper analyses the factors affecting the incorporation of SD in curricula using a survey sent to a database of 4,099 European contacts, with a response rate of 9.85%. The responses were analysed using descriptive statistics, t test, ANOVA, and correlations. The analyses showed that (a) teaching in European courses covers many issues of sustainability in a fairly good balance, with the exception of social issues that are the least addressed; (b) there are correlations between the economic, environmental, social, and cross‐cutting themes; (c) females tend to teach SD in a more balanced way than men; (d) the HEIs types have no influence on how SD is being taught, but the education level has; and (e) some countries, in the case of this research, Italy and Spain, may show more interest, yet the average results tended to be lower than those others, in this research, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Curricula assessment provides a diagnostic of SD incorporation and the factors that affect it. This can help educators improve their courses and provide students with better SD skills and insights.

show abstract

“…According to different perspectives, it is necessary for HEIs to integrate the idea of sustainable development with the educational system, and they have become increasingly experienced in doing so. However, it was found in the literature review that studies on how to combine the idea of sustainable development with higher design education are few [31,32]. Therefore, this study explores the teaching effectiveness of teachers in higher design education for sustainable development, in order to improve the teaching of sustainable development and motivate teachers to make self-improvements in teaching.…”

Section: Higher Education and Design Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effective Teaching and Activities of Excellent Teachers for the Sustainable Development of Higher Design Education

Lai

Peng

2019

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is regarded as a key element of high-quality education. Hence, the United Nations proposed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, in an attempt to achieve the harmony and shared prosperity between humans and the Earth, and advocate for fair and high-quality education. With the aim of exploring "high-quality sustainable teaching", this study intends to probe into the idea and meaning of the high-quality design education for sustainable development and elaborate on the teaching effectiveness and sustainable teaching activities by the teachers of higher design education. According to the research results, the effectiveness of high-quality teaching is introduced in seven categories, as follows: (1) Faith in sustainability in teaching, (2) the trend of talent demand, (3) the teaching value of sustainability, (4) curriculum mapping, (5) teaching approach, (6) teaching evaluation, (7) the sustainable management of teaching development. The factors of high-quality teaching include: The teacher has passion for teaching, the teacher pays attention to the student's independent learning ability, the teacher intrigues student's interest in learning, the teacher places emphasis on furnishing the student with professionalism and confidence, the teacher highlights learning through doing to increase the student's competitiveness in the job fair, the teacher reviews teaching effectiveness and makes progress in pursuing the value of high-quality ESD.Sustainability 2020, 12, 28 2 of 27 Sustainable Development. GAP is the most important pillar for UNESCO to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and has two goals: (1) To reset education and learning, in order that everyone will have access to knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes, and thus, make contributions to a sustainable future, (2) to improve education and learning in all agendas (i.e., other SDGs) and schemes to publicize sustainable development [4]. The UNDESD advocates incorporating Education for Sustainable Development into educational policies, and while it offers relevant suggestions and guidelines, it is not a mandatory rule for all. Hence, there are some difficulties and challenges in putting it into practice [5][6][7].In summary, this study aims to understand the importance of sustainable education. Education is not only to impart knowledge and guide the development of personal careers but also to guide the hope of our advancement. "Design" is representative of creativity and aesthetics. In the current environment, people realize that "design is a national strength" and "creativity is competitiveness" [8]. Due to industrial demands and the influence of government policies, the number of higher education schools equipped with design-related departments in Taiwan is increasing year by year. Therefore, design education has become a vigorous eye-catching research area [9]. Higher education institutions (HEIs) continuously strive to develop and deliver impactful educational programs, thus, they perform p...

show abstract

Teaching Sustainability in European Higher Education Institutions: Assessing the Connections between Competences and Pedagogical Approaches

Cited by 181 publications

References 28 publications

Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection

Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection

Analysing the factors affecting the incorporation of sustainable development into European Higher Education Institutions' curricula

Effective Teaching and Activities of Excellent Teachers for the Sustainable Development of Higher Design Education

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About