Matthias Barth

Developing Key Competencies for Sustainable Development in Higher Education

Purpose – To date, little attention has been given to the circumstances in which developing key competencies for sustainable development may take place. Within higher education, the possibilities both of formal and informal learning and their relationship to competence development should be considered.Design/methodology/approach – Based on focus groups an explorative, qualitative study was designed, using different groups from formal and informal learning settings.Findings – The development of key competencies is based both on cognitive and non-cognitive dispositions and asks for multiple contexts. Through combining formal and informal learning settings within higher education – as part of a new learning culture – a variety of contexts can be given and competence development can be enhanced.Research limitations – While aspects of both formal and informal learning settings could be identified, the interdependencies between them remain elusive.Practical implications (if applicable) – Based on the findings, some main aspects can be pointed out that may be crucial for competence development in higher education settings.Originality/value – The paper analyses the implications of new ways for both formal and informal learning settings for developing key competencies within higher education. Particular attention is given to interdisciplinarity and students’ self-responsibility.

Learning for change: an educational contribution to sustainability science

Transition to sustainability is a search for ways to improve the social capacity to guide interactions between nature and society toward a more sustainable future and, thus, a process of social learning in its broadest sense. Accordingly, it is not only learning that is at issue but education and educational science, of which the latter is about exploring the preconditions of and opportunities for learning and education—whether individual or social, in formal or informal settings. Analyzing how educational science deals with the challenge of sustainability leads to two complementary approaches: the ‘outside-in’ approach sees the idea of sustainability influencing educational practice and the way the relationship of learning and teaching is reviewed, theoretically as well as within the social context. In an ‘inside-out’ approach, an overview is given of how educational science can contribute to the field of sustainability science. An examination of the literature on education and sustainability shows that, while sustainability features prominently in one form or another across all sectors, only little work can be found dealing with the contributions of educational science within sustainability science. However, as sustainability is a concept that not only influences educational practices but also invites disciplinary contributions to foster inter- and transdisciplinary research within the sustainability discourse, the question remains as to how and to what extent educational science in particular can contribute to sustainability science in terms of an ‘inside-out’ approach. In this paper, we reconstruct the emergence of education for sustainable development as a distinctive field of educational science and introduce and discuss three areas of sustainability research and throw into relief the unique contribution that educational science can make to individual action and behavior change, to organizational change and social learning, and, finally, to inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration.

Many roads lead to sustainability: a process‐oriented analysis of change in higher education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyze activities to integrate sustainability in teaching, research and operational practice in different higher education institutions which differ both in the degree of how far implementation goes and in regards to the most active stakeholders. Against that background the paper explores in a process-oriented focus which drivers and barriers are experienced as most important and how they relate to each other.Design/methodology/approach – A comparative multi-case study has been conducted, with two main steps to structure the research process: first, desktop research was used to select appropriate cases in a theoretical sampling. Second, data from interviews with relevant stakeholders in each case was analyzed according to the constant comparison method.Results – Across all cases, three distinctive patterns of implementation processes emerged, each of them with a unique set of influencing factors. For each pattern, drivers and barriers as well as their relevance are experienced differently and specific key constructs can be found to explain the implementation process.Research limitations – Research focused on German institutions of higher educations and all cases are drawn from that population, which might limit the generalizability.Practical implications – It is hoped to provide valuable insights for future implementation processes and for various ways to support a sustainable transition in higher education.Originality/value – This is one of the first papers to consider the process of implementation and the interaction between drivers and barriers. The value of the paper lies in its potential to help in understanding what role different drivers and barriers play in different patterns of implementation.

Synthesising case-study research - ready for the next step?

Within the emerging field of research on education for sustainability (EfS), case studies are an important if not the predominant research approach, although often criticised for its lack of internal and external validity and a tendency to draw conclusions with insufficient rigour. While, basic concerns have been expressed and discussed in an early issue of this journal, main assumption still hold true after more than 10 years of research in the field. Only a few approaches so far have tackled the challenge to provide cross-case comparison and the synthesis of case-study results still remains a research desideratum. In this paper, we argue that developments in the field of qualitative and quantitative meta-analysis in educational science offer a framework, which can be used to overcome that shortcoming. After describing the idea of research synthesis, different types of such a meta-analysis are identified and their potential is discussed for existing case studies in higher EfS. This paper concludes with recommendations for further case-study research in the field.

Towards a ?Sustainable University?: scenarios for sustainable university development

Universities are key actors in sustainable development by generating new knowledge as well as contributing to the development of appropriate competencies and raising sustainability awareness. Within a project called ‘Sustainable University’ at the Leuphana University of LA¼neburg (Germany), a scenario analysis was carried out in order to think structurally about both the challenges that universities could face in the long run and to establish what chances and problems might arise in future from implementing an orientation towards sustainable development. This analysis results in the characterisation of a ‘Higher Education Landscape 2035’ consisting of eight clusters of possible future developments. This paper describes the process of inter- and trans-disciplinary scenario development, gives an overview of the scenarios identified, and finally discusses the adaptability of the LA¼neburg idea of a sustainable university to the future system of higher education.

Tackling the Knowledge-Action Gap in Sustainable Consumption: Insights from a Participatory School Programme

In the international policy discourse on sustainable consumption and production, education is acknowledged to be a powerful tool in changing unsustainable patterns of consumption. Current educational policies and programmes have responded to the consumption challenge mainly by including and addressing consumption issues in formal tuition in different subjects. This article criticises such a perspective for neglecting informal and non-cognitive consumer learning processes that take place outside the classroom. As a more comprehensive approach to consumer learning in school settings, a whole-school approach is outlined. The article reports on some insights of an empirical study that examined the relevance of active participation in, and exposure to, activities promoting sustainable consumption at schools.

Experiencing the Global Dimension of Sustainability: Student Dialogue in a European-Latin American Virtual Seminar

This article suggests as important elements of education for sustainable development an active engagement with global issues, and involvement in international communication and cooperation. As there is a dearth of learning settings that offer and stimulate an interactive dialogue between learners from the North and the South, this paper proposes as a possible model the International Virtual Seminar ‘Sustainable Development in Europe and Latin America’, which involved participants from Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Germany. Results show how students experienced the global dimension of sustainability; and that they improved their competencies crucial for international communication about and cooperation in sustainable development. The findings also indicate the main challenges faced by students during their learning process.

Key Competencies: Reconciling Means and Ends in Education for Sustainable Consumption

Sustainable consumption is a focal point of interest in the interplay of school-based health promotion and sustainability. It calls for alternative ways to satisfy the objective needs of current society and future generations whilst respecting “planetary boundaries”. Action is called for that protects and safeguards environmental conditions that allow all humans to live a good and healthy life. In the pursuit of sustainable consumption, education is widely ascribed a pivotal role as an instrument for disseminating more sustainable consumer behaviors. However, beneath this seemingly consensual surface the questions of which sustainability objectives are appropriate in an educational engagement with consumption issues and how they can be pursued is the subject of controversial debate. This controversy is addressed in this chapter. In a first step, it suggests the development of key competencies as a valid and legitimate objective that addresses both individual and societal needs. The authors systematically derive a framework of key competencies for sustainable consumption and discuss the framework’s application to educational practice. Secondly, the chapter addresses the question of how formal and informal learning settings need to be designed in order to promote the acquisition of such competencies among students. A participatory whole-school approach to changing the “culture of consumption” in educational organizations is presented that was developed, implemented and evaluated in a transdisciplinary 3-year project. The chapter concludes with a discussion of synergies between the sustainability and health agendas for the emergence of innovative schools for the twenty-first century.

Teaching and Learning in Sustainability Science

The concept of sustainability does not present the pathway or distinctive solution which needs to be followed and is defined differently by different actors around the globe. Thus, the transition towards sustainability relies on constant negotiation and societal learning processes. To achieve this, education and learning must be seen as key processes. It is the area of education for sustainable development that is concerned with aspects of learning that enhance the transition towards sustainability – an area that can best be described as a vision of education that seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural traditions and respect for the Earth’s natural resources. This chapter elaborates upon how education for sustainable development translates research outcomes of sustainability science into educational practices and guides the selection of learning objectives, relevant content and appropriate forms of teaching and learning.

Seeking sustainability competence and capability in the ESD and HESD literature: an international philosophical hermeneutic analysis

Abstract Education for sustainable development (ESD) and higher education for sustainable development (HESD) are complex, multidisciplinary fields of enquiry, drawing on concepts and terms from different disciplines and languages. Although the fields are advancing in their acceptability within educational systems worldwide, they are currently struggling to achieve sought-after graduate and societal outcomes such as environmentally-responsible or sustainability-focussed-citizenship. The research described in this article explores the possibility that miscommunication or misunderstanding of basic concepts within these fields is contributing to slow progress towards their objectives. We used a philosophical hermeneutic analysis to explore how the terms ‘competence’ and ‘capability’ are used within selected ESD/HESD papers. We identify substantial internal contradictions and inconsistencies with respect to differences between learners’ abilities and their willingness to perform these abilities, and to the educational context in which these outcomes are sought. We emphasise the importance of linking educational objectives with pedagogical approaches to teaching and assessment.