Competencies and Pedagogies for Sustainability Education: A Roadmap for Sustainability Studies Program Development in Colleges and Universities

Tina Lynn Evans
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Tina Lynn Evans: Colorado Mountain College, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 19, 1-36

Abstract: Sustainability studies educators in colleges and universities must identify and teach the knowledge, skills, and abilities their graduates will most need to advance sustainability while confronting perhaps the most serious, sweeping, and integrated set of challenges humanity has ever known. Using a rigorous grounded theory and hermeneutics based analysis/synthesis of the relevant literature, this study articulates and describes in depth a set of five competencies for the sustainability field and suggests potentially effective pedagogies for teaching them. Findings in the areas of both competencies and pedagogies for sustainability education imply the benefits of integrative, active, collaborative, and applied approaches to curriculum development and teaching—approaches that directly involve students in learning and practicing transdisciplinary engagement in service to sustainability. The Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability Studies program at Colorado Mountain College serves as an example of how the articulated competency framework is being applied to evaluate and enhance curriculum and learning outcomes. The competency framework and pedagogical recommendations offered may also serve as roadmaps for educators at other institutions who prepare graduates to address the pressing challenges of sustainability evident in communities, nations, and the world.

Keywords: sustainability competencies; sustainability pedagogies; sustainability studies; sustainability studies program development; sustainability education; sustainability studies curriculum development; transdisciplinary education; sustainability learning outcomes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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