IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v30y2022i4p620-635.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adopting sustainability competence‐based education in academic disciplines: Insights from 13 higher education institutions

Author

Listed:
  • Rodrigo Lozano
  • Maria Barreiro‐Gen
  • Janna Pietikäinen
  • Carmen Gago‐Cortes
  • Claudio Favi
  • Maria Teresa Jimenez Munguia
  • Ferenc Monus
  • João Simão
  • Javier Benayas
  • Cheryl Desha
  • Sevket Bostanci
  • Ilija Djekic
  • Jose Mariano Moneva
  • Orlando Sáenz
  • Bankole Awuzie
  • Bartlomiej Gladysz

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been incorporating sustainability into education and curricula, where recent research has focussed on sustainability competences, pedagogical approaches, and how to connect them, generally on a single HEI. The process of integrating sustainability into education based on curricula assessment has been explained using adoption of innovations; and has the potential to explain the process of developing competences through pedagogical approaches. The aim of this paper is to investigate this process at academic discipline level. An online survey was developed to investigate teaching sustainability competences in 13 HEIs, from which 678 responses from educators were obtained. The competences and pedagogical approaches from the responses were ranked, and then the connections between the competences and pedagogical approaches per discipline were analysed using a correlations‐based framework, from which three disciplines groups were created. The groups were categorised using diffusion of innovations theory, which indicated that some disciplines are more innovative than others in adopting sustainability competence‐based teaching. The results are used to propose two frameworks to better understand the adoption of sustainability competence‐based teaching: (a) the D‐RAPID framework; and (b) the Disciplinary Multi‐dimensional Sustainability Influence Change for Academia (D‐MuSICA) memework. The adoption of sustainability competence‐base education must expand from a single HEI perspective to a disciplinary collaborative one spanning many HEIs, where academic disciplines should learn from each other's insights and mistakes and provide students with more transdisciplinary skillsets to make societies more sustainable.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodrigo Lozano & Maria Barreiro‐Gen & Janna Pietikäinen & Carmen Gago‐Cortes & Claudio Favi & Maria Teresa Jimenez Munguia & Ferenc Monus & João Simão & Javier Benayas & Cheryl Desha & Sevket Bostanci, 2022. "Adopting sustainability competence‐based education in academic disciplines: Insights from 13 higher education institutions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 620-635, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:30:y:2022:i:4:p:620-635
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.2253
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2253
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.2253?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rodrigo Lozano & Maria Barreiro-Gen & Francisco J. Lozano & Kaisu Sammalisto, 2019. "Teaching Sustainability in European Higher Education Institutions: Assessing the Connections between Competences and Pedagogical Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Rodrigo Lozano & Michelle Y. Merrill & Kaisu Sammalisto & Kim Ceulemans & Francisco J. Lozano, 2017. "Connecting Competences and Pedagogical Approaches for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: A Literature Review and Framework Proposal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Cheryl Desha & Karlson 'Charlie' Hargroves, 2014. "A Peaking and Tailing Approach to Education and Curriculum Renewal for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(7), pages 1-19, July.
    4. D. H. Drury & A. Farhoomand, 1999. "Innovation Diffusion And Implementation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(02), pages 133-157.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rodrigo Lozano & Maria Barreiro‐Gen & Dalia D'Amato & Carmen Gago‐Cortes & Claudio Favi & Ricardo Martins & Ferenc Monus & Sandra Caeiro & Javier Benayas & Savindi Caldera & Sevket Bostanci & Ilija Dj, 2023. "Improving sustainability teaching by grouping and interrelating pedagogical approaches and sustainability competences: Evidence from 15 Worldwide Higher Education Institutions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 349-359, February.
    2. Carolina Feliciana Machado & João Paulo Davim, 2022. "Higher Education for Sustainability: A Bibliometric Approach—What, Where and Who Is Doing Research in This Subject?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Alba Manresa & Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent & Úrsula Faura-Martínez & Juan-Vicente Llinares-Ciscar, 2021. "What Do Freshmen Know about Sustainability? Analysing the Skill Gap among University Business Administration Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Vasiliki Kioupi & Nikolaos Voulvoulis, 2019. "Education for Sustainable Development: A Systemic Framework for Connecting the SDGs to Educational Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-18, November.
    5. Antonia Lozano-Díaz & Juan S. Fernández-Prados, 2020. "Educating Digital Citizens: An Opportunity to Critical and Activist Perspective of Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-14, September.
    6. Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo & David López, 2021. "A Service-Learning Based Computers Reuse Program," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-32, July.
    7. Miguel Leiva-Brondo & Natalia Lajara-Camilleri & Anna Vidal-Meló & Alejandro Atarés & Cristina Lull, 2022. "Spanish University Students’ Awareness and Perception of Sustainable Development Goals and Sustainability Literacy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-26, April.
    8. Marieke Versteijlen & Arjen E. J. Wals, 2023. "Developing Design Principles for Sustainability-Oriented Blended Learning in Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-25, May.
    9. Helen Lee Curtis & Lucas Catalani Gabriel & Marlyne Sahakian & Sandro Cattacin, 2021. "Practice-Based Program Evaluation in Higher Education for Sustainability: A Student Participatory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-14, September.
    10. Shuyu Qi & Danning Huang & Qiutong Ma & Mi Zhou, 2023. "Factors Influencing Sustainable Development Literacy among Engineering Undergraduates in China: Based on the College Impact Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-19, January.
    11. Paul Vare & Grete Arro & Andre de Hamer & Giovanna Del Gobbo & Gerben de Vries & Francesca Farioli & Chrysanthi Kadji-Beltran & Mihkel Kangur & Michela Mayer & Rick Millican & Carlien Nijdam & Monika , 2019. "Devising a Competence-Based Training Program for Educators of Sustainable Development: Lessons Learned," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-21, March.
    12. Luiza Olim de Sousa, 2021. "Learning Experiences of a Participatory Approach to Educating for Sustainable Development in a South African Higher Education Institution Yielding Social Learning Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-16, March.
    13. Rodrigo Lozano & Núria Bautista‐Puig & Maria Barreiro‐Gen, 2022. "Developing a sustainability competences paradigm in Higher Education or a White Elephant?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 870-883, October.
    14. Míriam Hernández-Barco & Jesús Sánchez-Martín & José Blanco-Salas & Trinidad Ruiz-Téllez, 2020. "Teaching Down to Earth —Service-Learning Methodology for Science Education and Sustainability at the University Level: A Practical Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, January.
    15. Luis Alípio Gomes & Tânia Suely Azevedo Brasileiro & Sandra Sofia F. S. Caeiro, 2022. "Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions in the Amazon Region: A Case Study in a Federal Public University in Western Pará, Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-20, March.
    16. Auður Pálsdóttir & Lára Jóhannsdóttir, 2021. "Key Competencies for Sustainability in University of Iceland Curriculum," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-17, August.
    17. Audronė Telešienė & Jelle Boeve-de Pauw & Daphne Goldman & Ralph Hansmann, 2021. "Evaluating an Educational Intervention Designed to Foster Environmental Citizenship among Undergraduate University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-19, July.
    18. Göran Finnveden & André Schneider, 2023. "Sustainable Development in Higher Education—What Sustainability Skills Do Industry Need?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-7, February.
    19. Rocío Valderrama-Hernández & Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo & Lucía Alcántara Rubio & Dolores Limón-Domínguez, 2019. "Methodology to Analyze the Effectiveness of ESD in a Higher Degree in Education. A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, December.
    20. Rodrigo Domínguez-González & Laura Delgado-Martín, 2022. "Arousing Early Strategic Thinking about SDGs with Real Mathematics Problems," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:30:y:2022:i:4:p:620-635. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.