Abstract
As reflected in the sustainable development goals (SDGs), sustainable development is a multi-dimensional concept integrating political, ethical, economic, and other factors. Reports from the United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) suggest that universities are more engaged with sustainable development in higher education. Despite promising signals about student awareness of sustainable development, survey studies suggest student engagement and knowledge is limited. Previous studies have tended to focus on undergraduates and examine basic attitudes to triple bottom line issues. This study examined knowledge and attitudes of postgraduate U.K. students enrolled in one-year taught sustainability degrees on the multi-dimensional issues of sustainable development. This study piloted a 39-question 7-point Likert scale survey with a cohort of U.K.-taught postgraduate (MSc, MPhil) students (n = 121, Cronbach’s Alpha 0.796, n = 39 questions). The study found this cohort able to recognize and respond to the multiple challenges of strong and weak sustainable development issues rather than exhibiting knowledge gaps previously reported. Results and qualitative comments from the survey suggest, however, that students resist the idea of strong interventions in social, political, and economic life.
Highlights
The United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2004–2015) aimed to promote greater impact of principles and practices in education globally
These pressures have contributed to the mainstreaming of conventional ecological modernisation arguments in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) (e.g., Coffey and Marston 2013), Amador et al (Amador et al 2015) conclude that the slow institutionalization of ESD is due to the resistance of universities to addressing the ideological and political challenges that strong sustainable development commitments suggest
This study focused on postgraduate (MSc/MPhil) students in Environment and Sustainability taught programs where a sustainable development unit was taught explicitly along with other disciplinary foci
Summary
The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2004–2015) aimed to promote greater impact of principles and practices in education globally. The acceptability of value-laden commitments to sustainability is a fraught issue in university contexts of academic neutrality, neoliberalisation and industry relationships (Mulder 2010). These pressures have contributed to the mainstreaming of conventional ecological modernisation arguments in ESD (e.g., Coffey and Marston 2013), Amador et al (Amador et al 2015) conclude that the slow institutionalization of ESD is due to the resistance of universities to addressing the ideological and political challenges that strong sustainable development commitments suggest. This and other obstacles suggest that we are still some distance from developing transformative ESD courses that challenge the mainstream (for example see Sipos et al 2008)
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