Month: January 2020

Sustainability Competencies

by Elham (Ellie)

Various ways are engaged by scholars to define competencies (Baartman, Bastiaens, Kirschner, & van der Vleuten, 2007). However, as for sustainability, competency is a combination of knowledge with skill and attitude which enables individuals to act and behave with respect to the environment (Anderson, 2015; Baartman et al., 2007; Barth et al., 2007; Brundiers, Wiek, & Redman, 2010; Cebrián & Junyent, 2015; de Haan, 2006; Engle, 2015; Lambrechts, Mulà, Ceulemans, Molderez, & Gaeremynck, 2013; Rieckmann, 2012; Vega-Marcote et al., 2015; Wiek, Withycombe, & Redman, 2011; Willard et al., 2010). In a more specific view, Wiek, Lauren, and Redman (2011) define it as “complexes of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable successful task performance and problem-solving concerning real-world sustainability problems, challenges, and opportunities.” While they added to this definition the importance of competencies as a “reference point for developing the ambitious knowledge and skill profile,” which enables people to be better decision-makers, problem solvers, and game-changers (Wiek, Withycombe, & Redman, 2011a, p. 204). Rieckmann claims that competency can facilitate self-organized behaviors and actions in complex situations. It lets an induvial defines her/his actions based on the current situation and the future consequences of these actions (Rieckmann, 2012a). Willard and his colleagues in a competency survey report asserted that “a competency is an observable, behavioral act that demonstrates a professional’s knowledge, skill, and ability” (Willard et al., 2010, p. 4). Walls offers a category for competencies that contains three parts, competencies of the head (cognitive), competency of the heart (emotions) and competency of hands (skills) (Wals, 2009).

What is apparent is that, in all these definitions, competencies find their reflections and roots in successful actions. Also, all these abilities, or let us say competencies, are achievable and can be developed through experience and action (de Haan, 2006; Rieckmann, 2012b), “they are learnable, not teachable” (Barth et al., 2007, p. 4). Those who have gained these competencies can play a vital role in moving society toward sustainability by their “active, reflective and co-operative participation” (Rieckmann, 2012b, p. 130) for leading future toward making a balance in ecological, technological and developmental aspects (de Haan, 2006; Rieckmann, 2012b). Moreover, competence is regarded as the possession and development of integrated skills, knowledge, appropriate attitudes, and experience for the successful performance of one’s life roles (Struyven & De Meyst, 2010). Different series of competencies are defined by scholars, for example, Delphi has introduced 19-23 key competencies, while Wiek, Lauren, and Redman (2011) categorized them into five main competencies, or in a review paper, Rieckmann (2012) has been subsumed 19 competencies of Delphi to 12. Other competencies are sometimes called sub-competencies and in all are categorized into three clusters:

Based on Brundiers, Wiek, and Redman (2010), the three clusters for competencies are 1. The strategic knowledge cluster; which is a combination of systemic thinking, anticipatory, normative, and action-oriented competencies. This cluster is mainly about the ability to analyze and evaluate the past, make a decision based on the present, and to define future scenarios with sustainability visions. It helps an individual to be able to gain knowledge about the historical trends and lead the current situation to a sustainable future. 2. The practical knowledge cluster; which involves competencies necessary for connecting knowledge and behavior and filling the gap between knowledge and action. This cluster mainly stands on the platform of experience and gaining opportunities for experiencing decision making in different scales and real-world situations. 3. The collaborative cluster; involves competencies necessary to work in teams and different knowledge groups and communities. These teams can be stakeholders, government, volunteers, industries, etc. This cluster refers to facilitating decision making and problem-solving in a participatory way (Brundiers et al., 2010).

Here is the list of five key competencies that are offered by Wiek et al. 1. Systems-thinking competence which is the capacity to think comprehensively, while you are making a decision based on the current situation, you bring future consequences of your actions into account. While you see one aspect of an issue, you can discuss possibilities in other aspects. 2. Anticipatory competence is the ability to assess, analyze, express and communicate long-term plans for various sustainability issues, which can reduce the harmful consequences of our decisions. 3. Normative competenc is an individual ability to convey, apply, and negotiate sustainability values, principals, targets and importance. It is centered around justice, fairness, equity, and ethics of sustainable development. 4. Strategic competence is the ability to getting things done using appropriate strategies for improving sustainability. It requires an understanding of real-world problems, power structures, administrative rules, and the ability to transfer information and technology to others. 5. Interpersonal competence is a combination of collaboration, participation, communication and creating motivation for problem-solving, which needs a comprehensive understanding of different cultures, social groups, communities, and individuals in various situations. (Anderson, 2015; Wiek, Withycombe, & Redman, 2011a).

Finally, let us have a look at other key competencies that are proposed in different kinds of literature (Baartman et al., 2007; Brundiers et al., 2010; Cebrián & Junyent, 2015; de Haan, 2006; Rieckmann, 2012a; Wiek, Withycombe, & Redman, 2011b):

  • Competence in foresighted thinking: the capacity to deal with uncertainty and future predictions;
  • Competence in interdisciplinary work: the collaboration of many scientific fields and various learning approaches;
  • Competence in cosmopolitan perception, transcultural understanding, and cooperation: the ability for identifying and localizing phenomena based on their local and global relations and effects;
  • Participatory competency and learning cooperation skills: shaping sustainable-development by participating in decision-making;
  • Competence in planning and implementation skills: being able to recognize and utilize resources that are necessary for an action, create networks, and calculate side effects of an action;
  • Competence in empathy, compassion, and solidarity: the capability to understand peace and justice, as well as acting and communicating in the interest of international solidarity;
  • Competence in self-motivation and in motivating others: making the concept of sustainability alive for motivating people to change their lifestyle.
  • Competence in distanced reflection on individual and cultural models: which is the ability to encourage strange and foreign to gain new perspectives and combine it with your own viewpoints.

We can find more competencies in the work of other scholars. For instance, competency in handling incomplete and complex information, competency in dealing with individual decision dilemmas, competency in self-motivation and motivating others, competency in independent action, competency in acting reasonably and ecologically. Furthermore, competence in communication and use of media, competency in ambiguity and frustration tolerance, competency in ethical action, and competency in planning and realizing innovative projects can be mentioned (de Haan, 2006; Rieckmann, 2012a).

References:

Anderson, E. L. (2015). Developing Key Sustainability Competencies through Real-World Learning Experiences. Evaluating Community Environmental Services.

Baartman, L. K. J., Bastiaens, T. J., Kirschner, P. A., & van der Vleuten, C. P. M. (2007). Evaluating assessment quality in competence-based education: A qualitative comparison of two frameworks. Educational Research Review, 2(2), 114–129.

Barth, M., Godemann, J., Rieckmann, M., & Stoltenberg, U. (2007). Developing key competencies for sustainable development in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8(4), 416–430.

Brundiers, K., Wiek, A., & Redman, C. L. (2010). Real-world learning opportunities in sustainability: from classroom into the real world. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(4), 308–324.

Cebrián, G., & Junyent, M. (2015). Competencies in education for sustainable development: Exploring the student teachers’ views. Sustainability (Switzerland), 7(3), 2768–2786.

de Haan, G. (2006). The BLK ‘21’ programme in Germany: a ‘Gestaltungskompetenz’‐based model for Education for Sustainable Development. Environmental Education Research, 12(1), 19–32.

Lambrechts, W., Mulà, I., Ceulemans, K., Molderez, I., & Gaeremynck, V. (2013). The integration of competences for sustainable development in higher education: An analysis of bachelor programs in management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 65–73.

Rieckmann, M. (2012a). Future-oriented higher education: Which key competencies should be fostered through university teaching and learning? Futures, 44(2), 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2011.09.005

Rieckmann, M. (2012b). Future-oriented higher education: Which key competencies should be fostered through university teaching and learning? Futures, 44(2), 127–135.

Struyven, K., & De Meyst, M. (2010). Competence-based teacher education: Illusion or reality? An assessment of the implementation status in Flanders from teachers’ and students’ points of view. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(8), 1495–1510.

Vega-Marcote, P., Varela-Losada, M., & Álvarez-Suárez, P. (2015). Evaluation of an educational model based on the development of sustainable competencies in basic teacher training in Spain. Sustainability (Switzerland), 7(3), 2603–2622.

Wiek, A., Withycombe, L., & Redman, C. L. (2011a). Key competencies in sustainability: A reference framework for academic program development. Sustainability Science, 6(2), 203–218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-011-0132-6

Wiek, A., Withycombe, L., & Redman, C. L. (2011b). Key competencies in sustainability: A reference framework for academic program development. Sustainability Science, 6(2), 203–218.

Willard, M., Wiedmeyer, C., Warren Flint, R., Weedon, J. S., Woodward, R., Feldman, I., & Edwards, M. (2010). The sustainability professional: 2010 competency survey report. Environmental Quality Management, 20(1), 49–83.

Education for Sustainable Development

by Elham (Ellie)

Having a sustainable future means exploring developing approaches that improve the quality of all creatures’ life in all parts of the world equally, without deteriorating environment and depriving future generations. It requires an understanding that human passivity might have the majority of consequences and we must find ways to revolutionize all levels of society. After first major conferences on the human environment in Brundtland (1987), Stockholm (1972), and the Rio Earth Summit (1992) critical worldwide decisions and guidelines were made regarding the role of education in achieving sustainability (Lozano et al., 2015; UNESCO Education Sector, 2010). United nation Agenda 21 declares explicitly that the role of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is to bring all sustainability concepts and skills into education, training and public awareness systems for the whole societies across the globe (Rieckmann, 2012; UNESCO Education Sector, 2010). That was a start point for re-orientation of education, training and public awareness towards sustainability. Following this agenda, in 2002, the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development was introduced for emphasizing the need for strengthening the role of education in sustainable development (Frisk & Larson, 2011; Rieckmann, 2012; UNESCO Education Sector, 2010). The implementation of ESD has been continued after 2014, the end of the ESD decade, after ESD World Conference in Japan which was an essential milestone for going forward (Anderson, 2015; Cebrián & Junyent, 2015).

ESD mission and aim are to lead the world to the point that every individual has the opportunity to benefit from quality education which allows him/her to learn and gain values, behaviors, and lifestyles so that they can make environmentally-responsible decisions, behave sustainably and be a part of decision-making processes for shaping a sustainable future (Labodová, Lapčík, Kodymová, Turjak, & Pivko, 2014; Milutinović & Nikolić, 2014; Vega-Marcote et al., 2015). By embracing these elements in a holistic and integrated manner, ESD enables all individuals to fully develop the knowledge, perspectives, values, and skills necessary to take part in decisions to improve the quality of life both locally and globally in terms which are most relevant to their daily lives (Milutinović & Nikolić, 2014). In this way, it increases earth citizens’ awareness about upcoming challenges and enables individuals to control their everyday actions. Moreover, they gain the ability to analyze current days and the consequences of their actions for society and environment in future as well as seeking for possible solutions in complex situations (Rieckmann, 2012b; Vega-Marcote et al., 2015). In all, it is asserted by experts that the most critical objectives of ESD can be categorized as “creating and changing values, attitudes and awareness” and “developing competencies” (Rieckmann, 2012b, p. 132). It worth mentioning that, ESD is responsible for considering all three main facets of sustainable development, society, environment, and economy, in its pedagogy in different cultural contexts (Milutinović & Nikolić, 2014).

However, literature shows that no direct relationship between the level of education within a society and its level of sustainability has been found (Segalas et al., 2010). But why? The reason is that sustainability needs specific kinds of teaching and learning methods. Conventional knowledge-based educational approaches show unsatisfying records in behavior-changing (Frisk & Larson, 2011). It is argued that environmental education or traditional ways of education failure to change individual behaviors and collective action in the first hand is because of debatable theories about the relationship between knowledge and behavior (Frisk & Larson, 2011). While the early assumptions, which are based on Knowledge > attitude> behavior, believed that problem-relevant knowledge could cause people to take action, it is now verified that knowledge itself is not enough for making individuals motivated for changing or having pro-environmental behaviors (Cincera, Czech, & Vasconcelos, n.d.; Frisk & Larson, 2011).

In the current system of education, the focus is mainly on the cognitive domain of learning; which is about our knowledge and its application, what we know and what we understand, as well as the way we analyze, synthesize and assess this knowledge and understanding (Frisk & Larson, 2011; Shephard, 2008). But what we need for ESD is something else, we need to concentrate on affective domain, which is about our values, attitudes, and behaviors and engages audiences emotionally (Frisk & Larson, 2011; Shephard, 2008). “It includes, in a hierarchy, the ability to listen, to respond in interactions with others, to demonstrate attitudes or values appropriate to particular situations, to demonstrate balance and consideration, and at the highest level, to display a commitment to principled practice on a day-to-day basis, alongside a willingness to revise judgment and change behavior in the light of new evidence” (Shephard, 2008, p. 88). It is essential to make a distinction between sustainability education and traditional disciplines or even environmental education field, but still necessary to make an interconnection in methods, theories, and knowledge from various disciplines (Anderson, 2015). In response to these needs, educations should move toward programs that shape competencies. “Shaping competence’’ or ‘‘Gestaltungskompetenz’’ in German should be set as the main aim of sustainable education (Barth, Godemann, Rieckmann, & Stoltenberg, 2007; Rieckmann, 2012a), what we can call competency-based education.

 

References:

Anderson, E. L. (2015). Developing Key Sustainability Competencies through Real-World Learning Experiences. Evaluating Community Environmental Services.

Barth, M., Godemann, J., Rieckmann, M., & Stoltenberg, U. (2007). Developing key competencies for sustainable development in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8(4), 416–430.

Cebrián, G., & Junyent, M. (2015). Competencies in education for sustainable development: Exploring the student teachers’ views. Sustainability (Switzerland), 7(3), 2768–2786.

Cincera, J., Czech, B., & Vasconcelos, C. (n.d.). Education . Overview discipline approach – report 3. 1–28.

Frisk, E., & Larson, K. L. (2011). Journal of Sustainability Education Vol. 2, March 2011 ISSN: 2151-7452. Journal of Sustainability Education, 2(March).

Labodová, A., Lapčík, V., Kodymová, J., Turjak, J., & Pivko, M. (2014). Sustainability teaching at VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. Journal of Cleaner Production, 62, 128–133.

Lozano, R., Ceulemans, K., Alonso-Almeida, M., Huisingh, D., Lozano, F. J., Waas, T., … Hugé, J. (2015). A review of commitment and implementation of sustainable development in higher education: Results from a worldwide survey. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, 1–18.

Milutinović, S., & Nikolić, V. (2014). Rethinking higher education for sustainable development in Serbia: An assessment of Copernicus charter principles in current higher education practices. Journal of Cleaner Production, 62, 107–113.

Rieckmann, M. (2012a). Future-oriented higher education: Which key competencies should be fostered through university teaching and learning? Futures, 44(2), 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2011.09.005

Rieckmann, M. (2012b). Future-oriented higher education: Which key competencies should be fostered through university teaching and learning? Futures, 44(2), 127–135.

Shephard, K. (2008). Higher education for sustainability: Seeking effective learning outcomes. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(1), 87–98.

Vega-Marcote, P., Varela-Losada, M., & Álvarez-Suárez, P. (2015). Evaluation of an educational model based on the development of sustainable competencies in basic teacher training in Spain. Sustainability (Switzerland), 7(3), 2603–2622.