Arjen E.J. Wals

Case studies, make‐your‐case studies, and case stories: a critique of case‐study methodology in sustainability in higher education

In this paper we raise serious concerns about existing case-study research on sustainability in higher education. Our key concern is that the research does not live up to its potential for improving the field of sustainability in higher education. We have argued that case-study research in the field falls short of its promise due to a lack of theorizing about the research methodology or an understanding about the methodology. If case-study research is to lead to an improvement in the way universities respond to sustainability in their curriculum, activities, policies and functions then researchers need to address the manner in which they conduct and report their research. Based on an analysis of 54 journal articles on sustainability in higher education, four areas of concern have been identified. The paper converges in a set of critical considerations for conducting case-study research in sustainability in higher education.

Social learning towards a sustainable world : principles, perspectives, and praxis

This comprehensive volume - containing 27 chapters and contributions from six continents - presents and discusses key principles, perspectives, and practices of social learning in the context of sustainability. Social learning is explored from a range of fields challenged by sustainability including: organizational learning, environmental management and corporate social responsibility; multi-stakeholder governance; education, learning and educational psychology; multiple land-use and integrated rural development; and consumerism and critical consumer education. An entire section of the book is devoted to a number of reflective case studies of people, organizations and communities using forms of social learning in moving towards sustainability.This book brings together a range of ideas, stories, and discussions about purposeful learning in communities aimed at creating a world that is more sustainable than the one currently in prospect...The book is designed to expand the network of conversations through which our society can confront various perspectives, discover emerging patterns, and apply learning to a variety of emotional and social contexts - From the Foreword by Fritjof Capra, co-founder of the Center of Ecoliteracy. Joining what is so clear and refreshing in this book with the larger movements toward a critically democratic and activist education that is worthy of its name, is but one step in the struggle for sustainability. But it is an essential step if we are to use the insights that are included in this book - From the Afterword by Michael Apple, author of Educating the Right Way: Markets, Standards, God, and Inequality.

Between knowing what is right and knowing that is it wrong to tell others what is right: on relativism, uncertainty and democracy in environmental and sustainability education

This contribution provides an ‘outside’ commentary on several of the articles provided in this special issue on environmental education and education in the context of sustainability in Denmark and Sweden. Although there is no uniform position or shared single outlook expressed in the articles in this special issue, there are some re‐current tendencies that may have received less attention elsewhere in the world but clearly are in need of further investigation there as well. These tendencies are delicately intertwined and include: (1) a concern for democracy and participation minimally distorted by inevitable power imbalances; (2) a commitment to solidarity and preservation of the public good, including the outdoors; (3) a privileging of transactional and dialogical forms of meaning‐making characterized by indeterminism and co‐creation; (4) the need to reflect on and expose the, often‐times, implicit normativity of education in general and of education for sustainable development in particular. It is suggested that these tendencies are quite crucial, but are also at odds with the increasing sense of urgency in dealing with sustainability challenges and a corresponding temptation to revert to instrumentalism. At the same time elevating these tendencies to norms or universal principles is internally inconsistent with the principles themselves.

Learning Our Way to Sustainability

Should environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) try to change students’ behaviours or should it focus on capacity building and critical thinking? The latter is more likely to lead to a citizenry that can examine new challenges and act wisely. New forms of learning are entering the arena of EE and ESD such as ‘social learning’, learning by mirroring one’s own ideas, views, values and perspectives with those of others, and ‘transformative social learning’, which requires the integrative switching back and forth among a set of mindsets. Four areas of research in new learning methods are identified.

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: business as usual in the end

An analysis of the literature supporting the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and a sample of its key products suggests that it failed to acknowledge or challenge neoliberalism as a hegemonic force blocking transitions towards genuine sustainability. The authors argue that the rationale for the Decade was idealistic and that global education for sustainability citizenship provides a more realistic focus for such an initiative. They anchor such education in appropriate social theory, outline its four dimensions and use these to review four key products from the Decade, before suggesting remedial measures to render ESD a more effective vehicle for promoting democratic global governance and sustainability.

Learning for sustainability in times of accelerating change

This chapter challenges sustainability researchers to reflect on how they can stimulate social learning and collaborative knowledge production within the research process. Crucially, there are three challenges that need to be addressed: (1) how to increase the transdisciplinary capacity of the research processes that we facilitate; (2) how to integrate academic and non-academic knowledge types more effectively in order to develop common solutions; and (3) how to amend our roles as researchers to enhance the potential for social learning. We respond to these challenges using a conceptual road map that enables researchers to develop their capacity to facilitate more effective and interactive stakeholder dialogue within their research. We then draw on practical experience of using the road map to work with a transdisciplinary group of stakeholders to develop a sustainability assessment toolkit for rural landowners in upland Scotland. The chapter alerts us to the potential for sustainability to adopt a transformative role in social learning processes, facilitating a real-world, problem-focussed approach and combining perspectives and knowledge from a range of academic and nonacademic participants.

A Mid-DESD Review Key Findings and Ways Forward

This article lists the key outcomes and recommendations of Phase I of the monitoring and evaluation of the DESD. Phase I focused on a review of the structures, provisions and conditions countries and regions have put in place in order to facilitate the development and implementation of ESD. The author also touches upon the constraints and limitations of conducting such a review on a global scale. In a concluding personal reflection, the author calls for more engaging local forms of monitoring and evaluating, using locally determined indicators, appropriate languages and multiple literacies (not just print based) as well as for more equitable and dialogical forms of interaction as a first step towards monitoring and evaluation systems that are better aligned with the foundations of sustainabilityThis article lists the key outcomes and recommendations of Phase I of the monitoring and evaluation of the DESD. Phase I focused on a review of the structures, provisions and conditions countries and regions have put in place in order to facilitate the development and implementation of ESD. The author also touches upon the constraints and limitations of conducting such a review on a global scale. In a concluding personal reflection, the author calls for more engaging local forms of monitoring and evaluating, using locally determined indicators, appropriate languages and multiple literacies (not just print based) as well as for more equitable and dialogical forms of interaction as a first step towards monitoring and evaluation systems that are better aligned with the foundations of sustainability.

The practice of sustainability in higher education: an introduction

The higher education community is called to respond to times of disastrous anthropogenic environmental crises, failing political systems, religious intolerance, and unsustainable and inequitable economic development. The scope and range of the negative impacts of university-educated people on the natural systems that sustain Earth are unprecedented. Characterizing this crisis, leading environmental academic David Orr has written “the crisis of the biosphere is symptomatic of a prior crisis of mind, perception, and heart. It is not so much a problem in education, but a problem of education (Orr, 1994).” Orr goes on to say:

Social learning for adaptive delta management: Tidal River Management in the Bangladesh Delta

ABSTRACT The article analyzes Tidal River Management in Bangladesh from a social learning perspective. Four cases were investigated using participatory assessment. Knowledge acquisition through transformations in the Tidal River Management process was explored as an intended learning outcome. The study finds that social learning occurred more prominently at the individual stakeholder level and less at the collective level. For Tidal River Management to be responsive and sustainable, especially in times of increased uncertainty and climate vulnerability, more attention needs to be paid to coordination and facilitation of multi-level learning that includes all stakeholders.

High performance sport and sustainability: a contradiction of terms?

Success in high performance sport has always been highly valued. Today, lucrative contracts, sponsorship deals and opportunities for celebrity status are balanced against substantial time spent training and high chances of failure. With pressure mounting on athletes to make the most of their athletic ‘investment’, the temptation to compromise their future well-being by exploiting their bodies for short-term gain and/or by cheating is growing. The aim of this paper is to explore the utility of sustainability science for thinking about these types of issues. Sustainability science is an emerging field which seeks to preserve the well-being of the planet and those on it by exploring the potential of nature and culture without compromising the future resource base. It specializes in developing holistic perspectives, considering multiple time scales, optimizing current systems without compromising the carrying capacity of the Earth, but also questioning the values and principles that dominate current ways of producing and consuming. Sustainability science acknowledges that we live in a rapidly changing world characterized by high levels of complexity and uncertainty. The proposition developed in this paper is that an exploration of sustainability perspectives can be generative in re-thinking and re-orienting the principles of high level competitive sports.