Sustaining teaching and learning innovations: a scoping review

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ABSTRACT Sustaining innovation is a topic of broad concern to higher education, particularly in a pandemic-driven time of challenge to the sector. This scoping review of the literature examines thirteen studies that have considered sustainability of teaching and learning innovations within the past two decades. From these thirteen studies, we derive key enablers, barriers, and longitudinal insights into sustained innovations in higher education. Although there is consensus on the importance of staff engagement, collaboration and appropriate institutional conditions, some contradictions emerged around the roles of funding, leadership and time. In almost all of the included studies, innovation was framed as an intrinsic benefit, which limited consideration of challenges or innovations that ceased to be useful. Although some insights into the sustainability of teaching and learning innovations may be drawn from existing studies, there is scope for further research which extends longitudinal understandings of how and why innovation may be sustained in higher education.