Developing ESD Competences in Higher Education Institutions—Staff Training at the University of Vechta

Lukas Scherak and Marco Rieckmann
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Lukas Scherak: Department of Education, Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, University of Vechta, Driverstraße 22, 49377 Vechta, Germany
Marco Rieckmann: Department of Education, Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, University of Vechta, Driverstraße 22, 49377 Vechta, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-19

Abstract: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) competences have been widely discussed over the past decade. A number of frameworks have been developed, and the Erasmus+ Project “A Rounder Sense of Purpose” (RSP) set out to establish a profound and practical framework of competences to be used in any European context to enable in-service and pre-service educators to demonstrate their competence in ESD. Over the course of two years at the University of Vechta, staff training was provided using the RSP competences model as a guiding framework. Data were collected through a focus group and a self-assessment survey in order to answer the research question, “Which competences do university teachers need in order to work with the concept of ESD in higher education and how can these be developed in a series of staff training workshops?” The results show that all 12 RSP competences are indeed relevant for higher education teaching, but the potential for developing them into a staff training programme is limited. There are multiple trigger points and settings that are beneficial to and necessary for the development of ESD competences. If those conditions are not met there is limited opportunity for applying ESD methods within higher education.

Keywords: education for sustainable development; competences; staff training; higher education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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