Moving from linear to systemic thinking about sustainability competences in higher education

Author: Dr Vasiliki Kioupi, Lecturer in Sustainable Curriculum, Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds

Linear thinking in sustainability competences research is evidenced in ESD researcher work around constructive alignment in curriculum design i.e. defining competences, selecting pedagogies, and developing assessments. In this linear thinking model, sustainability educators, academics, and experts are mainly the ones consulted to develop models of sustainability competence, with the student voice and other voice within and beyond the University e.g. professional services or support staff, alumni, employers, and the wider community remaining widely unexplored. This is problematic as sustainability competences are hypothesised to be mainly developed during curricular learning opportunities such as programmes or modules of study, when at university level, co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities are largely influencing student learning and take place in collaboration with other internal or external stakeholders. 

How does the landscape of sustainability competences integration look in practice? Competences selection is done by educators, curriculum designers, programme/module leaders, mainly based on published literature, expert elicitations, or workshops with sustainability professionals. For some selections, little justification is provided. The selected competences are then linked with intended learning outcomes (task done by educators), which are in turn linked with pedagogies (again by educators) and finally with assessments (also selected and applied by educators). There is a widespread belief that if this linear process is done correctly, then the students will develop the much-needed sustainability competences. 

There is little consideration that the students are stakeholders in the academic environment and as well as crucial stakeholders in achieving a sustainable world, as are other colleagues at the university and beyond. Our students have their own identities, personal characteristics, abilities, educational backgrounds, life histories, views, and aspirations. They are also interacting daily with many others in HEIs such as peers, colleagues, and externals. They also interact with the culture of the HEI and develop a sense of belonging/non-belonging and new identities. 

Why should academic staff have the sole power of making decisions for student learning? When the focus is on university educators delivering competences and pedagogies, this will likely result in increasing student awareness of sustainability for some students, but not competence development.  In fact, when students are given stakes in designing their learning, the learning outcomes are much better attained and the same applies when other stakeholders are involved. Beyond selecting specific pedagogies and assessments to enable student sustainability competences development, inclusive learning and assessment should be at the heart of what is on offer. Since a whole institution approach is advocated for in ESD that includes institutional sustainability mission and vision, policies, operations, culture, research, teaching and learning and community engagement, why is the focus still on the educator and the linear process that is hypothesised to empower students with sustainability competences? The students participate in the life of the University more fully than what their curriculum may prescribe, and they are shaped by this interaction. Why should they not be given opportunities to shape it as well?

What would competence development look like from a system thinking perspective? Firstly, it should entail a participatory approach in the competence conceptualisation and selection, multiple stakeholders should be involved to co-produce something that is meaningful for them and in alignment with the sustainability vision and mission of the university. Secondly the entire student journey in HE should be drawn, and this includes all activities from the time they enter to the time they graduate, taking into consideration the experiences of students before, and their futures after. What about the specific student journey when they are part of the HEI? Multiple, personal, institutional, and contextual factors influence student learning and this needs to be accounted for. What knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviours the students are developing is influenced by these factors and the students need to be able to articulate and evidence what they are learning and how they are progressing at the University. Sustainability competences development is a systemic process, and students should be given opportunities to feed into decision-making at multiple levels, from module design to university sustainability strategy planning, and enabled to reflect on their learning journey and process to better articulate it.

With my colleague Clare Jackson, programme manager of the Sustainable Curriculum Principle of the University of Leeds Climate Plan at the Sustainability Service, we have been awarded a Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence Accelerator Fellowship to explore more inclusive conceptualisation, teaching and assessment of student sustainability competences that include broader voices such as those of students and professional staff.  The project aims, research questions, and methods will be co-created with members of these groups. 

About the author

Vasiliki Kioupi is Lecturer in Sustainable Curriculum at the Sustainability Research Institute of the University of Leeds and is involved in the implementation of the sustainable curriculum principle of the university’s Climate Plan. She holds a doctoral degree in Education for Sustainable Development from the Centre for Environmental Policy of Imperial College London for which she received a highly prestigious and competitive President’s PhD Scholarship. Her research investigates sustainability transitions in Higher Education and the role of sustainability competences in empowering young people to act for the climate and sustainability. She has published her research in journals, books, and conferences.