Pedagogy for sustainable tourism: reflections on the curriculum space of a master programme in Sweden

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tourism education has matured from vocational to more liberal education while current trends underline the importance of critical studies and the shift of curricula to more action-oriented forms of education and citizenship education. However, a gap can be noticed between theory and practice in the development of pedagogy for sustainable tourism. The research reported here draws from debates in tourism education, education for sustainability, critical studies, and education for citizenship to develop a conceptual framework for pedagogy for sustainable tourism. This framework is used to reflect on the curriculum space of a master programme in tourism in Sweden in an analytic autoethnographic approach. The analysis indicates that the master programme addresses several aspects of the reflective vocational and reflective liberal curriculum space. It would also benefit from the integration of more experiential, action-oriented learning to strengthen the communal understanding of civil action and education for citizenship. This research contributes to the conceptualisation of the curriculum space for sustainable tourism. Such efforts are considered especially important in acknowledging the complex, dynamic character of tourism higher education. The aim is to invite a dialogue about the reform and evolution of tourism education to meet the needs for a sustainable future.