Support for teaching sustainability

Embed sustainability in the taught curriculum with the help of a variety of development resources. No matter what your discipline or experience, we encourage you to start by joining our community of practice which is co-organised with the UN centre of regional expertise in education for Sustainable Development.

A group of staff and students at the launch event of the Teaching Climate and Sustainability Community of Practice, April 2023
A group of staff and students at the launch event of the Teaching Climate and Sustainability Community of Practice, April 2023

Community of Practice

Click the button below to join the Community of Practice Teams channel. If the link doesn’t work, use this code to join: a782wn5.

Teaching Climate and Sustainability

This group aims to support all stakeholders to embed climate and sustainability in curriculum and pedagogy at the University of Edinburgh.

It is co-hosted by:

  • The Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability
  • The UN regional centre of expertise in education for sustainable development, Learning for Sustainability Scotland.

It is endorsed by the Curriculum Transformation Project's Environmental Sustainability in the Curriculum subgroup.

We invite all staff and students with an interest in teaching climate and sustainability to join above to:

  • Access resources and training opportunities.
  • Share experiences and celebrate good practice.
  • Overcome challenges using the critical friend approach.
  • Network at regular in-person and online forums.
  • Collaborate across disciplines

Forum recordings

The Community of Practice meets four times a year to explore different approaches to teaching climate and sustainability. Each hybrid session includes a talk from a community member and a workshop to help you network and gain practical ideas for your teaching. 

Event details are shared on the Teams channel, and you can watch past recordings on our Media Hopper channel.

Resources for Teaching Sustainability

QAA Education for Sustainable Development Guidance

This guidance, created with input from across the UK higher education sector, including Pete Higgins, our academic and chair of Learning for Sustainability Scotland, offers advice on how to teach in a way that supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To summarise educators should:

 

  1. Baseline existing provision
  2. Incorporate the SDGs across content.
  3. Use pedagogies to deliver content that develop UNESCO competencies for sustainable development.
  4. Monitor and evaluate progress including student voice.

Mapping Sustainability in the Curriculum

Co-funded by the Curriculum Transformation Project and The Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability, a cohort of Earth Fellows have been undertaking mappings of sustainability in their schools curriculum. Through the use of keyword mapping and stakeholder consultation indicators of sustainability, such as content and skills, have been surfaced at course, program and school level.

 

Read the reports so far below or to discuss undertaking a similar mapping in your school, please contact Lucy.Patterson@ed.ac.uk.

Learning for Sustainability Scotland

Learning for Sustainability Scotland, based at the University, is part of the United Nations University Regional Centres of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development. They bring together networks across the education sector to promote learning for sustainability in local and regional communities. They have played a key role in Scotland’s leading approach to sustainability in education policy.

 

Explore their resources and opportunities to get involved.

Sustainability in Curriculum Transformation Project

Sustainability is core to the Curriculum Transformation Project. It aims to:

 

  • Generate an outstanding educational experience for students.
  • Increase our impact in how teaching is administered and supported, and
  • Create greater alignment with institutional strategic priorities such as that in strategy 2030 to ‘make the world a better place, to ensure that our actions and activities deliver positive change locally, regionally and globally.’

An Environmental Sustainability in Curriculum working sub-group was set up as part of the project which will produce recommendations around teaching sustainability. These will be shared in the Community of Practice above.

Sustainability training at the University of Edinburgh

Confidence in knowledge is often a barrier to embedding sustainability in teaching practice. There is training on offer for staff and students to improve confidence in communicating about sustainable issues:

 

  • Carbon Literacy Training is six-hour course, which includes an online introduction and a half-day interactive workshop that supports understanding of climate science and the impact of actions in terms of carbon emissions.
  • Introduction to Sustainability is an hour-long online training that provides insight into what the University is doing as part of its commitment to sustainability.

Further Resources

 

Students want SDGs in their curriculum

Campaigns such as Teach the Future show students nationally want to see sustainability meaningfully embedded in all their courses. Students here at the University of Edinburgh are just as invested.

Teach the Future [external]

 Past Reports

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