Educating academic staff to reorient curricula in ESD
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 2 January 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a professional development experience for higher education academic staff within the framework of an international Tempus project focused on reorienting university curricula to address sustainability. The project included revising curricula to phase sustainable development principles into university courses.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was used to examine perceived professional development. Focus groups have been conducted with the academic staff who participated in the project.
Findings
The results provided evidence that revising their curricula offered the participants an opportunity to discuss different principles, teaching methods, didactic processes and practices in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Several strategies emerged during curricula revision such as a positive attitude towards meta-cognitive strategies and a goal-oriented approach to curriculum planning. Moreover, the project induced the academic staff to reconsider their teaching methods.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is the restricted generalisability of the findings, because of the small number of participants. Further research is needed to confirm the theoretical model that emerged. Implications of the results for professional development and the induction of change in academic staff are also discussed.
Originality/value
There is little information about training experiences for enhancing professional development in academic staff using ESD principles, and this study provides a starting point. According to the results, the project had an impact on the participants’ attitudes, teaching principles and methods, course design skills and assessment approaches.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work has been developed within the framework of the Reorient University Curricula to Address Sustainability (RUCAS) project that has been funded by the European Commission (European Commission, TEMPUS No. 511118-2010-GR-JPCR). The content of the paper reflects the views of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
Author Contributions: MB was the idea originator of the paper, contributed with the literature review, data collection and analysis, results interpretation and wrote the paper; VM was the director of the project, designed the RUCAS actions and implemented and coordinated the project activities; EC contributed with the data analysis, the literature review and the results interpretation; SF contributed with the data analysis and the literature review.
Citation
Biasutti, M., Makrakis, V., Concina, E. and Frate, S. (2018), "Educating academic staff to reorient curricula in ESD", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 179-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-11-2016-0214
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited