Sustainability champions?

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of academic staff who are committed to embedding sustainability within tertiary curricula and pedagogy. Design/methodology/approach -The focus of this paper is on a New Zealand university. A survey of staff was undertaken and in-depth interviews conducted with 11 sustainability "champions". A narrative variant of thematic analysis was used to examine the ways these sustainability "champions" made sense of the work they do. Through an analysis of their metaphors and metaphorical language, a sense of the identities that they held as educators of sustainability was gained. Findings -Three types of identities emerged -the sustainability "saviour", "nurturer" and "struggler". These identities reflected the champion's experiences, disciplinary affiliations and pedagogical approaches. Interdisciplinarity emerged as a key tenet and challenge for such sustainability champions. Originality/value -This paper provides rare insights into the experiences, identities and teaching approaches of sustainability champions within higher education. It highlights the need for university-wide conversations and cross-discipline support for such academics.

Key characteristics of academics promoting Sustainable Human Development within engineering studies

“…The promotion of change at the individual level as a starting point to bring about greater change has been emphasised in current research (Barth and Rieckmann, 2012;Cebrián et al, 2015;Hoover and Harder, 2014). However, support and appropriate incentive structures aimed at maximising academic engagement are still lacking (Krizek et al, 2012;Wood et al, 2016). Furthermore, which kind of incentive structures should be offered to academics appears to be still largely undefined, with a risk of oversimplification (such as the increase of research funding, fostering career perspective, etc.).…”

“…The increased relevance of rankings, benchmarking and the focus on scientific and economic productivity of HEI, has turned academics, according to Morrissey (2013), into "economic units of use" where managing tasks and achieving 'business' targets have exceeded traditional goals, such as excellent teaching. Contextually, recent research highlights different "academic identities" among sustainability champions committed to embedding sustainability in curricula and pedagogy (Wood et al, 2016). Accordingly, engaged academics give meaning to their role as educators in their efforts towards the integration of sustainability in their teaching approaches, through personal motivation and different narratives that emphasise a diverse and personal way to engage with and practice SD (ibid.).…”

Predictors of Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Comparison of University Students in the United States and China

“…We recognize that due to the changing lifestyles of University students; promoting and inculcating positive pro-environmental behavior modification initiatives requires using diverse social and psychological appeals by all stakeholders at the micro and macro level. Based on the findings on the effect of social norms, we suggest that policy makers use youth environmental champions to influence positive social norms (Cordano et al, 2003;Pollock & Whitelaw, 2005;Wood et al, 2016). Local initiatives should include designing of basic information to overcome knowledge gap and increase environmental awareness.…”

Marketing and Sustainability: Business as Usual or Changing Worldviews?

“…However, these studies [132,134,135] focus on those already adopting a sustainability position within an organization and more research is needed on how those interested in sustainability, and who do not hold such positions (of power), could implement sustainability in their organization's practices. Wood et al provides such an insight for sustainability educators, and also identify three types of motivations and experiences; the "Saviour" uses instructive and transmissive pedagogies and has positivist views of sustainability, while the "Nurturer" aims to increase knowledge and discuss differing worldviews, and the "Struggler" goes 'against the tide' of their discipline and colleagues [136]. However, more research is needed on how to enact change in higher education, as faculty are attributed to over half of the implementation of sustainability initiatives [137].…”