Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T11:30:29.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Education for Sustainability in Australian Universities: Where is the Action?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Josephine Lang ,
Ian Thomas  and
Andrew Wilson
Josephine Lang
Affiliation:
RMIT University
Ian Thomas*
Affiliation:
RMIT University
Andrew Wilson
Affiliation:
RMIT University
*
†School of Social Science & Planning, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

As institutions of education and learning, the higher education sector has a significant role to play in implementing the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014). Some institutions have already acknowledged, and are shaping, their roles in working towards sustainability through appropriate development and implementation of institutional policy and practices, including the signing of international agreements related to sustainability. Such institutions are specifically linking learning to sustainable development. This study was initiated as a result of our interests to i) identify the current commitment to education for sustainability and ii) learn from the institutional lived experiences about how education for sustainability may be realised, within the Australian university context. This is a preliminary investigation to provide baseline insights into how education for sustainability with a focus on curriculum innovation is being implemented within the Australian university landscape. This investigation is informing our further research to understand institutional change of education for sustainability in universities.

Keywords

education for sustainabilitycurriculuminstitutional changeuniversitieslearningcurriculum innovation
Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , 2006 , pp. 45 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003 

References

Appel, G. (2002, 09). Integrating sustainable development into a university curriculum with emphasis on content, value education and reflection. Proceedings of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) 2002 Conference. Grahamstown, South Africa: Rhodes University.Google Scholar
Alvarez, A., & Kyle, L. (1998). Integration of Waste Minimisation Principles into Higher Education Curricula. Melbourne: EcoRecycle Victoria.Google Scholar
Barbera, M. (1994) Environmental Issues: A Challenge for Management Accountants. Melbourne: Australian Society for Certified and Practicing Accountants.Google Scholar
Bawden, R. (2004). Sustainability as emergence: The need for engaged discourse. In Corcoran, P. B. & Wals, A. E. J. (Eds.), Higher education and the challenge of sustainability: Problematics, promise and practice (pp. 21–32). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Bekessy, S., & Burgman, M. (2001). Environmental Best Practice in Australian and International Universities. Unpublished report to the Vice Chancellor University of Melbourne, 11.Google Scholar
Bekessy, S., Burgman, M., Wright, T., Filho, W. L., & Smith, M. (2003). Universities and sustainability. Carlton, VIC: Tela Papers, Australian Conservation Foundation.Google Scholar
Cairncross, F. (1995). Green Inc: Guide to Business and the Environment. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Carpenter, D., & Meehan, B. (2002). Mainstreaming environmental management: Case studies from Australasian Universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 3(1), 19–37. Available ProQuest Information and Learning Company [05, 2002].Google Scholar
Council on Environmental Education (NSW) (2002). Learning to live sustainably, NSW environmental education plan 2002–05. Sydney, NSW: NSW Council on Environmental Education.Google Scholar
Council on Environmental Education (NSW) (2005). Learning to live sustainably, NSW environmental eeducation plan 2006–09: Consultation Draft. Sydney, NSW: NSW Council on Environmental Education.Google Scholar
Corcoran, P. B., & Wals, A. E. J. (Eds.) (2004). Higher education and the challenge of sustainability: Problematics, promise and practice. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Cosgrove, L., & Thomas, I. (1996). Categorising tertiary environmental education in Australia. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 12, 27–34.Google Scholar
Department of Environment (2004). Environmental education strategy and action plan. Perth, WA: Department of Environment.Google Scholar
Department of Sustainability and Environment (2005). Learning to live sustainably: Victoria's approach to learning-based change for environmental sustainability; Draft – September. Melbourne, VIC: Department of Sustainability and Environment.Google Scholar
Environment Australia (2000). Environmental education for a sustainable future: National action plan. Canberra, ACT: Environment Australia.Google Scholar
Ferrer-Balas, D. (2002, 09). Global environmental planning at the Technical University of Catalonia. Proceedings of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) 2002 Conference. Grahamstown, South Africa: Rhodes University.Google Scholar
Filho, W. L. (2000). Dealing with misconceptions on the concept of sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 1(1), 9. Available ProQuest Information and Learning Company [05, 2002].Google Scholar
Haddad, C. (Chief Ed.) (2005). A situational analysis of education for sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region, UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Bangkok. Retrieved February 2006, from http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=993 Google Scholar
Hesselink, F., van Kempen, P. P., & Wals, A. (Eds.) (2000). ESDebate: International debate on education for sustainable development. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN The World Conservation Union.Google Scholar
Holdsworth, S., Bekessey, S., Mnguni, P., Hayles, C., & Thomas, I. (in press). Beyond Leather Patches (BELP): Sustainability education at RMIT University. In Leal, W. & Carpenter, D. (Eds.), Sustainability in the Australasian University context. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Publishers.Google Scholar
International Institute for Sustainable Development (2005). Agenda 21. Retrieved September, 2005, from http://www.iisd.org/rio+5/agenda/agenda21.htm Google Scholar
IUCN. (2004). What is education for sustainable development. Retrieved February 3, from http://www.iucn.org/themes/cec/education/whatis.htm Google Scholar
Kliucininkas, L. (2001). Assessment of sustainability: Studies at universities and colleges in Lithuania. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2(3), 250–256. Available ProQuest Information and Learning Company [05, 2002].Google Scholar
Moore, J. (2005). Barriers and pathways to creating sustainability education programs: Policy, rhetoric and reality. Environmental Education Research, 11, 537–555.Google Scholar
Noonan, D., & Thomas, I. (2004). Greening universities in Australia: Progress and possibilities. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 20(2), 67–80.Google Scholar
Orr, D. W. (1992). Ecological literacy, education and the transition to a postmodern world. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Ridener, L. R. (1997). University students' attitude to the environment: An Australian/USA comparison and the effects of an educational program. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 13, 77–84.Google Scholar
Roorda, N. (2002, 09). Assessment and policy development of sustainability in higher education with AISHE . Proceedings of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) 2002 Conference. Grahamstown, South Africa: Rhodes University.Google Scholar
Rowe, D. (2002). Environemtnal literacy and sustainability as core requirements: Success stories and models. In Filho, W.L. (Ed.), Teaching sustainability at universities: Towards curriculum greening (pp 79–104). Frankfurt: Peter Lang, Frankfurt.Google Scholar
Royal Australian Institute of Architecture (1995). Environmental design guide. Melbourne: RAIA.Google Scholar
Second Nature (2002) Resource center. Retrieved May 22, from http://www.secondnature.org/resource_center/resource_center.html Google Scholar
Sterling, S. (1996). Education in change. In Huckle, J. & Sterling, S. (Eds.), Education for sustainability. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Sterling, S. (2004). Higher education, sustainability, and the role of systemic learning. In Corcoran, P. B. & Wals, A. E. J. (Ed.), Higher education and the challenge of sustainability: Problematics, promise, and practice. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Thomas, I. (2003, 10). The green university curriculum. Proceedings of the Green University Workshop. Taiwan: National Kaohsuing Normal University.Google Scholar
Thomas, I. (2004, 06). Factors that Facilitate Curriculum Change for Sustainability Education. Workshop paper presented to Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities, Technolologico de Monterrey.Google Scholar
Thomas, I., Kyle, L., & Alvarez, A. (1999). Environmental education across the curriculum: A process. Environmental Education Research, 5(3), 319–337.Google Scholar
Thomas, I., Kyle, L., & Alvarez, A. (2000). Introducing environmental literacy in the tertiary curriculum. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 15/16, 95–101.Google Scholar
Thomas, I. G., & Nicita, J. (2003). Employers' expectations of graduates of environmental courses: An Australian experience. Applied Environmental Education and Communication, 2, 49–59.Google Scholar
Tilbury, D., Keogh, A., Leighton, A., Kent, J. (2005). A national review of environmental education and its contribution to sustainability in Australia: Further and higher education. Report prepared by Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government, Sydney. Retrieved from http://www.aries.mq.edu.au/project.htm Google Scholar
University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (2001). History. Retrieved April 1, from http://www.ulsf.org Google Scholar
University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF). (2005). Talloires declaration signatories list. Retrieved September 20, 2005, from http://www.ulsf.org Google Scholar
Wolfe, V. L. (2001). A survey of the environmental education of students in non-environmental majors at four-year institutions in the USA. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 2(4), 301–315. Available ProQuest Information and Learning Company [05, 2002].Google Scholar
Wright, T. S. A. (2002). Definitions and frameworks for environmental sustainability in higher education. Higher Education Policy, 15, 105–120.Google Scholar