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Education for Sustainability in Australian Universities: Where is the Action?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Josephine Lang ,
Ian Thomas  and
Andrew Wilson
Josephine Lang
Affiliation:
RMIT University
Ian Thomas*
Affiliation:
RMIT University
Andrew Wilson
Affiliation:
RMIT University
*
†School of Social Science & Planning, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. Email: ian.thomas@rmit.edu.au
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Abstract

As institutions of education and learning, the higher education sector has a significant role to play in implementing the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014). Some institutions have already acknowledged, and are shaping, their roles in working towards sustainability through appropriate development and implementation of institutional policy and practices, including the signing of international agreements related to sustainability. Such institutions are specifically linking learning to sustainable development. This study was initiated as a result of our interests to i) identify the current commitment to education for sustainability and ii) learn from the institutional lived experiences about how education for sustainability may be realised, within the Australian university context. This is a preliminary investigation to provide baseline insights into how education for sustainability with a focus on curriculum innovation is being implemented within the Australian university landscape. This investigation is informing our further research to understand institutional change of education for sustainability in universities.

Keywords

education for sustainabilitycurriculuminstitutional changeuniversitieslearningcurriculum innovation
Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , 2006 , pp. 45 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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