May 19th, 2025

A Sustainability Educational System: From Pedagogy to Competencies

By Kim Wahl and Belinda Rudinger

Link to the JSE May 2025 General Issue Table of Contents

Wahl Rudinger JSE May 2025 General Issue PDF

 

Abstract:  Sustainability education (SE) is a transdisciplinary field. Diverse disciplines support behaviors that consider interrelationships among our environmental and social systems, including our educational systems. Educational systems are complex systems and should be considered as such to promote SE and to understand the nature of complexity and the learners themselves as living systems. One such example is higher education. Supporting SE in higher education involves considering all the components within the system, including the educator as they design their approach. Teaching pedagogy should be holistic and experiential to engage learners in different sustainability learning paradigms. Learning about sustainability content (learning about sustainability), putting learning into practice (learning for sustainability), and having a sustainability mindset (learning as sustainability) are all features of such a system. These learning paradigms and teaching approaches help to support the knowledge and skills necessary to build sustainability literacy. Along with defining these components of a SE system, consideration should be given to the competencies that support sustainability literacy. The sustainability teaching-learning system can be organized into categories of foundational sustainability competencies: intrapersonal, knowledge, skills, and behavioral. Connecting these competencies to sustainability content and concepts allows flexibility and emergent learning for educators and learners alike in higher education settings.

Keywords: sustainability education, systems, systems thinking, holistic education, experiential education, teaching pedagogy, learning paradigms, sustainability literacy, sustainability competencies

 

Introduction 

Sustainability education (SE) supports systems thinking, ecological thought, and equitable practices that build inclusive learning communities across a range of settings. The learning community in higher education consists of individual living learner systems, including the instructor and students. From an instructor standpoint in higher education, designing educational experiences with this in mind invites us to consider the whole learner, holistic education, and experiential learning (Sipos et al., 2008; Roberts, 2015). This type of learning connects learners to their lived experiences, which impacts meaning. Beyond providing ‘hands-on’ learning, it also includes critical elements where learners connect, reflect, and share learning to promote growth and development (Kolb, 1984). Sustainability teaching pedagogy for higher education includes approaches that support equity and holistic, experiential education while also considering different learning paradigms that foster sustainability education (Fisher-Yoshida et al., 2009; Sterling, 2001).

A learning paradigm could be memorizing content, putting knowledge into action, or developing a new way of viewing our place in the world (Sterling, 2001). A goal of SE is to develop the values, attitudes, and abilities that support sustainable behaviors: having a sustainability mindset and putting behaviors into practice. This type of learning goes beyond traditional educational practices and must encompass not only engagement with the content, but also critical thinking, systems thinking, and visionary thinking (Wiek et al., 2011). Sustainability competencies should be general enough to allow for flexibility and emergent learning in any given educational setting (Holman, 2010). In this way, we are addressing social systems in how we teach and learn together while incorporating environmental systems and how we all interact to support sustainability.

In this article, our goal is to explore a sustainability educational system (a higher education teaching-learning system) in which we consider the elements needed to support sustainability literacy for learners. We will discuss a sustainability educational system which includes teaching pedagogy, learning paradigms that foster sustainability literacy, and foundational sustainability competencies. These competencies will help clarify what it means to be sustainability literate. We consider this educational system as we look to our own teaching practices in higher education, but these elements may be applied to a variety of educational contexts.

Sustainability Roots

Defining sustainability over the years has been challenging, leading to confusion and resistance to change. Often many have confused sustainability with green practices or environmental sustainability, without encompassing other systems or the complexity of its true meaning. To truly define and understand sustainability, the history of the term must be considered. Rooted in work on sustainable development and practices, sustainability includes development and progress as a social system (Brundtland, 1987). An example of this is reflected in the defining statement, “Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987). Seen as a process, sustainable development “aims to maintain economic advancement and progress while protecting the long-term value of the environment” (Emas, 2015, p. 1). Sustainability as a concept has evolved over the years to emphasize not only the environment, but also equity and the long-term viability of systems. Robertson (2017) defines sustainability as “systems and processes that are able to operate and persist on their own over long periods of time” (p. 3). Sustainability includes the health of a system and should consider connections between environmental and social systems in which component parts thrive and persist while considering future generations.

A Sustainability Educational System 

Sustainability teaching pedagogy and learning paradigms comprise a sustainability educational (SE) teaching-learning system. A system has a purpose and interrelated parts, and it also includes feedback (feedback loops) between the parts to inform the whole (Meadows, 2008). Feedback and the dynamic adaptive nature of educational systems should be considered as educators design pedagogical approaches and learning paradigms to support the outcome of sustainability literacy. In this approach, learners build competencies which lead to being literate in sustainability, and this literacy leads to action in the form of behavior (Kolb, 1984). In the higher educational system, we believe that the role of the instructor is to facilitate effective pedagogical practices that include learning about sustainability content, putting knowledge and skills into practice, and having a mindset to navigate and support systems through more sustainable behaviors. The purpose of the sustainability educational system is to support sustainability competencies that build literacy and lead to action. Sustainability education is a process, with ongoing reflection and improvements that inform the system through feedback loops. A feedback loop involves causal connections between components in a system (Meadows, 2008). There may be reinforcing or balancing loops within a system which determine the behavior in the system. Reinforcing feedback loops amplify change whereas balancing feedback loops counteract change (Meadows, 2008). Responding to feedback in a higher educational system is crucial in promoting learning and development (Elsawah et al., 2022). An overall understanding of the sustainability educational system (SES) and how teaching pedagogy and learning paradigms support SE is the foundation of sustainability literacy. In this article, we address parts of the SES to describe the whole as it relates to our teaching practices within a higher educational context.

Sustainability Education 

We envision the concept of sustainability education as having a focus on ongoing improvements at all levels of a given system, with the goal of supporting healthy and thriving systems long-term. SE is critical for communicating and enacting sustainability initiatives while holding individuals more accountable for positive sustainable change in socio-environmental systems and future decision-making (Gordon et al., 2019). SE is not simply a phrase describing more environmentally sustainable practices (such as recycling and responsible use of natural resources), nor is it an isolated content area that requires specific instructional practices. Rather, it represents a transdisciplinary way of providing instruction that applies to all content areas in all contexts. Transdisciplinary learning is “concerned with what lies between the disciplines, across the disciplines and beyond the disciplines” (Greig & Priddle, 2019, p. 3). This transdisciplinarity supports critical analysis and synthesis of the connections, the parts, and the whole within systems; it extends beyond any one discipline. We believe SE facilitates transdisciplinary opportunities to foster more sustainable behaviors in not only higher education, but other educational settings as well. SE supports more sustainable teaching-learning systems and also promotes emergent learning (Scharmer, 2018). Emergent learning results from “a process by which, through many interactions, individual entities or “agents” create patterns that are more sophisticated than what could have been created by an individual entity” (Darling et al., 2016, p. 60). This type of learning, along with best practices in sustainability, strengthen interrelationships among our environmental, social, and economic dimensions. SE encompasses not only what we are learning, such as content, but also how we teach and learn on the path to supporting more sustainable behaviors. Transdisciplinarity considers the context and honors history in our learning. Understanding our past informs future decision-making and problem-solving. Transdisciplinary learning is collaborative and integrative, considers diverse perspectives, addresses context and history, and it employs systems thinking (Figure 1). Sustainability education provides the critical link between successful sustainable behavior, sustainable development, and sustainability.

Sustainability Teaching Pedagogy

Sustainability education (SE) considers systems thinking and the whole learner (O’Neil, 2017; Nolet, 2016; Sipos et al., 2008; Capra, 2007; Orr, 2004; Sterling, 2001). A system is a group of parts (components or elements) that are interrelated, which share a common purpose (Betley et al., 2021; Meadows, 2008). Systems thinking involves using skills to identify and understand systems, including predicting behaviors while considering overall improvement (Arnold & Wade, 2015). Sustainability teaching pedagogy includes teaching approaches that consider the whole learner as a living learner system through holism, inclusivity, and systems thinking. Holistic education includes three dimensions in learning: affective (emotions), cognitive (thinking), and somatic (body) (Sipos et al., 2008).

Holistic experiential education goes beyond the whole learner as a living learner system. Teaching through a holistic experiential lens builds connections to learning experiences, people, and places for learners. Jaison (2017) considers holistic education as “a multi-leveled experiential journey of discovery, expression and mastery in which students and instructors learn and grow together” (p. 5). Consistently making connections through holistic experiential education supports active, meaningful learning experiences for students (Kolb & Kolb, 2005). Dewey (1938) states that educators should facilitate an “organic connection between education and personal experience” to render learning more relevant while allowing students to comfortably integrate learning into their current understanding of the world (p. 12). Through connections, reflections, and critical dialogue, students make sense of their learning. Considering the whole learner as a living learner system and leveraging experiential education can support meaningful learning, while an exploration of SE can help foster deeper connections to more inclusive practices in education (Figure 2). These practices honor student perspective and voice to foster a sense of belonging in the classroom. Holistic experiential education supports sustainability education when using systems thinking (Capra & Luisi, 2016) to help learners make connections to people, places, and things.

“Sustainability education utilizes applied learning models that connect real-world circumstances with the broader human concerns of environmental, economic, and social systems” (Hislop, 2017, para. 2). This holistic experiential approach based on a SE foundation closely connects to a sustainability worldview which “prompts us to seek out ways to become personally engaged with individual and collective actions that help create a safe and just space for humans and other species now and in the future” (Nolet, 2016, p. 63). Educators who reflect a sustainability worldview support a democratic learning process in which students are involved and empowered in their learning (Sterling, 2001). A sustainability worldview includes a holistic experiential education approach seen through an inclusive lens. This worldview supports healthy connections in systems while also considering levels of change or learning paradigms nested within the sphere of sustainability learning.

Sustainability Learning Paradigms

Sterling (2011) conceptualizes sustainability learning paradigms by adapting Bateson’s (1972) ecological systems theory, using nested levels of change. O’Neil (2017) states that, “Sterling’s application of the nested system model to sustainability education can be explained as the first (education about sustainability), second (education for sustainability), and third order (education as sustainability) of change” (p. 320). Learning about sustainability includes content relative to our natural and built environment and is key to sustainable development and sustainable individual behavior. Learning for sustainability includes content and knowledge but also involves the values and capability of learners (Sterling, 2011; Senge, 2014). This second order of change requires acting on sustainability knowledge, yet may not necessarily transform perceptions to deepen long-term sustainable change. Learning as sustainability moves beyond epistemology and involves an ontological shift which has the potential for transformation (Sterling, 2011; O’Neil, 2017; O’Sullivan, 2002). Sustainability learning paradigms, or orders of change, consist of a wide range of examples in higher education settings and are meant to be approached as a dynamic and complex teaching-learning system (Figure 3).

An example of learning as sustainability is applying a systems approach to innovative solutions-based learning. We can study a system in its entirety, understand its purpose and interrelationships, and develop more sustainable practices within that system to promote sustainable improvements to the system. Examples include inclusive learning or work communities, the sustainable life cycle of a product, or a holistic approach to medicine. Another example of learning as sustainability is navigating our way in the world in a more sustainable way of being. For instance, when considering inclusive learning communities, we demonstrate effective communication skills, listen to understand with empathy, and honor and respect diverse perspectives. Practicing inclusive, equitable practices in social systems may also be applied to environmental systems where all components of the system and relationships are addressed to promote healthier, sustainable systems. This type of behavior may involve a shift in how we perceive ourselves and our place in socio-environmental systems to be more sustainable. As a result, our worldview and behaviors will help us contribute to more sustainable systems, including economic, social, and environmental systems.

These three orders of change, or learning paradigms (about, for, as) can be fostered through holistic experiential teaching pedagogy. These levels of learning are constantly overlapping in nested systems that are interrelated through feedback loops to promote sustainability literacy for learners (Figure 4). Learning paradigms include learner feedback to inform teaching pedagogy. For sustainability education, instructors must facilitate these types of learning paradigms for students to promote sustainability literacy.

Sustainability Literacy

Sustainability literacy is built upon the three orders of change and includes systems thinking and ecological thought in its approach to learning. In general, literacy is a set of skills that support effective interactions and participation in social systems (Stibbe & Luna, 2009). Sustainability literacy is the outcome of sustainability education. As educators, we hope to promote experiential, holistic, and inclusive teaching practices to promote sustainability literacy for students. This literacy is built on content, but also the skills, mindsets, and actions that implement positive sustainable change in our economic, social, and environmental systems. Previous definitions of sustainability literacy include:

• “Knowledge, skills, and mindsets that help compel an individual to become deeply committed to building a sustainable future” (Décamps et al., 2017, p. 4);
• “The ability and disposition to engage in thinking, problem solving, decision making, and actions associated with achieving sustainability” (Nolet, 2009, p. 421);
• “Learning to: ask critical questions; envision more positive futures; clarify one’s own values; think systemically; respond through applied learning opportunities; and to explore the dialectic between tradition and innovation” (Tillbury, 2011, p. 13); and
• Perspectives that help students “understand the symbiotic relationships between environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development” (Parkin et al., 2004, p. 9).

Sustainability literacy is the destination of learning, while sustainability education is the pathway taken to arrive there. As noted by Wiek et al. (2011), “Sustainability education should enable students to analyze and solve sustainability problems, to anticipate and prepare for future sustainability challenges, as well as to create and seize opportunities for sustainability” (p. 204). We can look to sustainability competencies to strengthen our pedagogical approach as we support learning paradigms to encompass sustainability education. This comprises a Sustainability Educational System (SES) that involves a learning system community. Feedback and interrelationships impact the overall structure and function of this system.

Sustainability Competencies

The knowledge and skills of sustainability literacy can be organized into categories of sustainability competencies. To prepare learners for the complexity of our socio-environmental systems and to face current challenges, there has been a movement to support sustainability competencies, in particular (Gordon et al., 2019; Cloud, 2017). Brundiers et al. (2020), define a competency as a:

Cluster of specific and interrelated individual dispositions comprising knowledge, skills, motives, and attitudes, i.e., combining cognitive, affective, volitional and motivational elements. Competency facilitates self‐organized action, a pre‐condition to achieve successful performance and a positive outcome in various complex situations, responding to the specific situation and context. While competencies might be context‐dependent; key competencies ought to be applicable across different contexts (p.17).

Another definition of a competency includes “a complex combination of knowledge, skills, understanding, values, attitudes and desire which lead to effective, embodied human action in the world, in a particular domain” (Crick, 2008, p. 313). Cano García and Lluch Molins (2022) defines a sustainability competency as “the interlinked set of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that effectively enable embodied action in the world concerning real-world sustainability problems, challenges, and opportunities, according to the context” (p. 1).

Key sustainability competencies, including integrated and overlapping components, are necessary to support more sustainable behaviors (Brundiers et al., 2020) against the backdrop of complex challenges and opportunities in our social and environmental systems (Lambrechts et al., 2013; Mindt & Rieckmann, 2017). A foundational sustainability competency framework that synthesizes these competencies into an actionable form would support educational design rooted in sustainability education. Wiek et al. (2011) designed one of the most widely used sustainability competency frameworks, and Redman and Wiek (2021) expanded this original framework to eight competencies: systems-thinking, futures-thinking, values-thinking, strategic thinking, implementation, inter-personal, intra-personal, and integration.

An additional sustainability competency framework developed by Pacis and VanWynsberghe (2020) included a living systems approach and a systems model, in particular a tree model which symbolized their overall competency framework. Pacis and Wynsberghe (2020) reference Wiek et al. (2011) and attribute Glasser’s (2018a; 2018b) work in developing a key sustainability competency (KSC) framework based on a tree analogy (p. 583). This work (Pacis & VanWynsberghe, 2020) had the following comparisons (tree parts added): “values and commitments of sustainability (tree roots); knowledge and understanding of sustainability content (trunk); and social skills and agency of a sustainability practitioner (branches, leaves, and fruit)” (Pacis & VanWynsberghe, 2020, p. 582). Tree analogies, along with iceberg models, have been used extensively in systems thinking and learning (Betley et al., 2021). To show that the competencies are developing in a living learner system, we will be using a tree diagram to emphasize the systemic qualities of learning processes.

A Re-imagined Foundational Sustainability Competency Framework

Building upon the work of prior scholars (Wiek et al., 2011; Redman & Wiek, 2021; Glasser & Hirsch, 2016; Pacis & VanWynsberghe, 2020; Capra & Luisi, 2016; Widhalm, 2013), we introduce a re-imagined Foundational Sustainability Competency Framework (FSCF) to integrate the systemic nature of sustainability education. Sustainability education and living systems thinking provide the core of this framework. It supports a holistic approach, including both cognitive and affective learning dimensions to design the roots and tree for sustainability competencies – foundational competencies necessary to promote sustainability literacy.

As noted previously, a sustainability competency is “the interlinked set of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that effectively enable embodied action in the world concerning real-world sustainability problems, challenges, and opportunities, according to the context” (Cano García & Lluch Molins, 2022, p. 1). In this re-imagined framework, sustainability competencies are seen as the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that result from embodied (including affective, somatic, and cognitive dimensions) and holistic teaching-learning systems to promote more sustainable practices and actions. Sustainability teaching pedagogy and learning paradigms support these educational systems to foster sustainability literacy and competencies.

Past competencies that are based on prior scholarly work (Wiek et al., 2011; Redman & Wiek, 2021; Pacis & VanWynsberghe, 2020) are simplified, adapted, and categorized here into four foundational competencies for sustainable learning and behaviors: intrapersonal competency, knowledge competency, skills competency, and behavioral competency (Figure 5). These are intentionally broad in scope to relate to diverse courses and contexts that are rooted in sustainability concepts and applications.

Although simplified and compartmentalized, these competencies are interrelated and bound through connections and feedback, which supports holistic teaching and learning. A living system tree model (Figure 6) illustrates these competencies as part of a living learner system. The intrapersonal competency is represented by the roots and can be considered the foundation of the tree. The knowledge competency is represented by the trunk where connections are in constant motion from the roots to the rest of the tree. The trunk leads to the branches, which represent the skills competency. The health of the tree as well as environmental conditions determine the number and growth of the branches, which includes the leaves. The leaves represent the behavioral competency, an outcome that was driven by the connectedness of the system components or other competencies in this model.

Intrapersonal Competency

The intrapersonal competency includes the roots – the values, attitudes, and intrapersonal skills – that impact the other competencies through learning processes. It includes Redman and Wiek’s (2021) intrapersonal competency, and it connects to the affective dimension. The affective dimension includes emotions, feelings, and moods that lead to the overall health and well-being of the learner to promote sustainable happiness (O’Brien, 2010) and to facilitate healthy relationships. The affective dimension connects to Goleman’s (1995) work on emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence considers how we recognize and manage emotions – both within ourselves and with others (Ott, 2017, n.p.). The intrapersonal competency includes self-awareness and self-management in how we handle our own emotions. It consists of the ability to manage our emotions effectively as we try to interpret our surroundings and how we respond to external stimuli. Our values, attitudes, and beliefs influence how we respond to our surroundings and others. Being aware of our own biases and emotions as we develop our worldview is critical in navigating social and environmental systems successfully to support more sustainable systems. In this work, intrapersonal skills are separated out from interpersonal skills (which is addressed in the behavioral competency) but, in reality, they are in a closely intertwined relationship as our emotions drive our behaviors (and interpersonal skills) (Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2011). For the intrapersonal competency, emotional intelligence helps shape how we respond to external stimuli. This connects to our values and attitudes, which are shaped by lived experiences, learning, and growth.

Knowledge Competency

The knowledge competency, part of the cognitive dimension of learning, includes foundational concepts in sustainability, such as learning about sustainability, systems thinking, and ecological thought. Any understanding of concepts applied to sustainable systems should consider healthy and thriving parts as well as the whole. Additional sustainability themes consistently come up, such as meeting human needs, conserving resources, equity, and building connections between environmental, economic and social dimensions. This competency, along with other competencies, is intentionally general to apply to diverse circumstances and contexts.

Although it may mean different things to different people depending on the scale or context, we should keep in mind that sustainability is a process rather than an isolated outcome. Additional knowledge to support sustainability would be defining sustainability and learning concepts related to sustainable development. For the purpose of this paper, the authors define sustainability as ongoing processes that support equitable, self-sustaining, healthy, and resilient social, environmental, and economic systems over the long-term future. The long-term future includes being visionary about possible scenarios and considering resiliency in facing systemic challenges. Sustainability content may vary according to the course topics or context and types of learners.

An understanding of systems thinking as it connects to ecological thought and our socio-environmental systems is foundational to the knowledge competency. We can view our learners and learning communities as systems, in particular living systems. “Understanding human organizations in terms of living systems, i.e. in terms of complex nonlinear networks, is likely to lead to new insights into the nature of complexity, and thus help us deal with the complexities of today’s business environment” (Capra, 2002, p. 100). A system refers to an integrated whole and includes interacting parts. Key to systems thinking in sustainability is learning from our ecological systems while fostering ecological thought.

Ecological thought focuses on relationships and connectedness in our ecosystems. With an understanding of sustainability as an ongoing process, sustainability education continues to change based on our understanding and implementation of stronger pedagogies that mirror sustainability and ecological thinking – a mindset that includes systems and the interrelationships between components within the system. “Human and natural systems are dynamically interdependent and cannot be considered in isolation to resolve critical issues” (Dale & Newman, 2005, p. 352). Ecology studies these relationships and helps us learn about how relationships within systems impact the long-term viability of our natural systems. Ecological thought is connected to our natural habitat or ecosystems to help us think more deeply about the interrelationships between components within systems. In addition, understanding the principles of ecosystems and living systems helps to develop ecological thought and is sometimes referred to as ecological literacy or ecoliteracy (Capra & Luisi, 2016).

Skills Competency

Learning about sustainability concepts is not enough to enact sustainable change; we need to learn for sustainability and as sustainability. By structurally coupling knowledge with skills, we strengthen the teaching-learning system. The skills competency connects to the cognitive dimension and others holistically and to a certain degree, depending on the type of skill being learned by the student. This competency involves skills such as strategic thinking, critical reflection, visionary thinking, systems thinking, and technical skills. In this competency, systems thinking skills means putting foundational knowledge into practice, such as developing causal loop diagrams and examining leverage points to improve the system. Technical skills may include learning about tools, programs, or additional skills that would support more sustainable systems, such as learning to use a new computer software program, utilizing assistive technology, or using tools to build raised beds for a community garden. These technical skills would essentially overlap with other skills within the skills competency throughout the learning process. For instance, a student may use systems thinking or critical reflection skills in navigating a systems modeling software program. Critical reflection is one skill in which students analyze and synthesize information and reflect to construct meaning. For additional skills, we can refer to Redman and Wiek’s (2021) work. Educators may adapt time spent on teaching and learning these skills based on the learners or learning community (Figure 7).

Learning about these concepts, such as systems thinking, is not enough; students must apply the knowledge (Gunderson & Holling, 2002). For instance, focusing on concepts and practices used to define systems, while providing opportunities to describe, assess, understand, and manage complexity from local to global scales supports sustainability. Knowledge is processed with skills, which leads to more sustainable action and behaviors.

Behavioral Competency

For the behavioral competency, interpersonal skills are emphasized along with action and implementation for sustainability. Effective interpersonal behaviors correlate to Goleman’s (1995) emotional intelligence work. As we support sustainable behaviors, we work constantly on our own emotional management as well as empathizing with others’ emotions to strengthen positive interactions. Empathy is critical to understanding others while supporting more sustainable relationships – those that are built on common ground to support sustainability goals and actions. As we build empathy, we learn more about how to view situations from another person’s perspective to build understanding. We self-reflect and take in information from others as systems thinkers. “Perspective learning is learning about and analyzing diverse perspectives, integrating that learning, and can involve shifting perspectives” (Wahl, 2020, p.129). Shifting perspectives can lead to mindsets that support learning as sustainability. Interpersonal skills also includes effective communication, networking, and being able to successfully work on transdisciplinary teams.

In addition to interpersonal skills, the behavioral competency also includes implementation and actions for sustainability. Redman and Wiek (2021) mention integration along with implementation. The behavioral competency takes the contextual information and, through the skillful approaches, integrates and implements their understanding into systemic change. This can be done through designing and implementing action plans (Redman & Wiek, 2021).

Putting It All Together

In our own practice as instructors, we consider our higher education classrooms to be learning communities. We design spaces and learning experiences to promote learning connected to our re-imagined Foundational Sustainability Competency Framework (FSCF). The competency framework is intentionally designed to be general, as each learning community is different. We take ownership of the need to adapt to who is in the room, how they learn, and what the student learning outcomes are for the class. Even when we teach certain courses repeatedly, we see each iteration as unique, based on what life experiences students bring to the table and what kind of community we create collaboratively. This can require a dynamic balance between ensuring that student learning outcomes are appropriately addressed while holding space for the students to make their own contributions based on previous knowledge and experience.

As an example, one of the authors teaches sustainability and systems thinking classes, which are clearly aligned across all three orders of change in sustainability education. The other author infuses sustainability literacy into courses with special education content. While training future special education teachers may not initially be seen as related to sustainability, students need to learn about social justice, disability theory, collaboration, visionary thinking, and working within systems. We assert that teaching in different content areas in higher education involves developing practitioners who are self-reflective across the third order of change: being as sustainability. To be successful in this endeavor, we need to adopt a sustainability educational approach to our own instructional design and classroom.

Although the context of our learning communities vary, we both approach our teaching practices through a sustainability education lens while utilizing the Foundational Sustainability Competency Framework (FSCF) to inform our work. As the purpose and interconnectedness are both considered in constructing the syllabus and course design, particular learning experiences can support foundational sustainability competencies. These learning experiences should be experiential and reflect holistic education (Figure 8). Steeped in action, connection, and reflection, experiential education has the power to authentically support sustainability education whereas holistic education considers the whole learner. Active learning includes experiences that are also reflective of sustainability education. “Active learning is generally defined as any instructional method that engages students in the learning process” (Prince, 2004, p. 223). Having students actively engage in the learning process and holistic experiential education reflects sustainability education. Ways of garnering feedback from students, such as holistic reflections, should be implemented throughout the course. This will help improve practices while adapting to diverse learning styles and student interests as well as dynamically balancing processes and products.

As we design learning communities and experiences, we consider a systems lens in which we design the boundaries and purpose with the students, the higher education institution (HEI), and the overall environment in mind. Once a course has been initially designed, it is crucial that students are able to have a voice and choice on any necessary adaptations or modifications to the overall structure and learning experiences. Goals and student learning outcomes should be clear and transparent while connecting to the overall HEI goals. Students should have a consensus and understanding of the purpose and boundaries of the course. For feedback, we look to reflections, discussions, and assessments (examples may include surveys, holistic rubrics, journaling, projects, tests, or arts-based products). Critical reflection and dialogue foster learning and connectedness as we ask students to reflect on diverse learning experiences, the strengths of the course, and the opportunities for improvement. Prompts for reflection and feedback have included asking questions about the dynamic balance of processes and products in the course and if inclusivity and diverse perspectives are supported in class. For feedback, holistic rubrics may be given at midterm and the end of the course to provide feedback on the foundational sustainability competency attributes (Figure 9). Any competency attributes are based on ongoing feedback to contribute to sustainable teaching-learning systems.

 

Sustainability competency attributes vary among classes and are dependent on active learning experiences and the teaching approach relative to sustainability education. Sustainability education considers an educator’s approach to teaching and learning as well as learner needs and context. To enact sustainable change in support of thriving socio-environmental systems, we need an understanding of how we teach and learn while we include diverse perspectives. For sustainability learning, we should value not only content and skills but also relationships and communicating the meaning of sustainability to support behaviors that foster positive change. Sustainability education is key to this knowledge and understanding of the links between content, relationships, and communication (Capra, 2007).

Conclusion

All of the foundational sustainability competencies support sustainability literacy and are dynamically balanced through feedback loops within learning processes. Relationships, connectedness, and context are key to sustainability education and these foundational sustainability competencies. “Because living systems are nonlinear and rooted in patterns of relationships, understanding the principles of ecology requires a new way of seeing the world and of thinking—in terms of relationships, connectedness, and context” (Capra, 2007, p. 12). Learners have relationships within their learning community and the context of their environmental system. We need to address the connectedness between these nested systems of learner, learning community, and the environment. The tree is analogous to a living learner system who is within an environment where interactions are constantly taking place (Figure 10). In the case of the simplified tree model, nutrients in the soil, sunlight, and water provide what is necessary for tree growth and development. Various processes, such as photosynthesis and nutrient cycling, are happening dynamically, in real time, in the given tree system.

In higher educational systems, the components of the learning environment are continually impacting learning and the development of foundational sustainability competencies through a series of feedback loops for the living learner system. The context of place and the environment matter to help the learner build connections to active learning whereas the instructor facilitates orders of learning in sustainability (learning about, for, and as sustainability). Systemic and systematic approaches are dynamically in motion to create the conditions for sustainability literacy. As we work to support foundational sustainability competencies, such as the intrapersonal, knowledge, skills, and behavioral competencies, instructors need to approach the learning community as a complex adaptive system. As an adaptive system, it is continually changing and adapting to its environment. Within the learning community, learners should be supported as they work to self-organize their learning to foster sustainability literacy. Sustainability education must also promote a holistic approach along with flexibility, adaptability, and resiliency in teaching-learning systems. These factors reflect ecological thought and support a deeper understanding of our socio-environmental systems. Sustainability education considered as a system addresses pedagogical practices that support inclusive spaces where students are open to learning through different orders of change (learning about, for, as sustainability). As this leads to sustainability literacy, we can use competencies to guide our teaching and learning together within the sustainability educational system.

 

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