Purpose: Higher education is uncertain which sustainability-related education targets should be sought and monitored. Accepting that something needs to be measurable to be systematically improved, the authors explored how measures relate to potential targets. This paper aims to focus on dispositions to think critically (active open-minded thinking…

We wondered how "democracy" was being used and communicated within the higher education discourse of "education for sustainability," or "for sustainable development" (ES/ESD). We used a philosophical hermeneutic approach to explore the sense or senses in which the concept of democracy is used within this literature…

We used a modified circuit of culture enquiry to explore processes of production, representation and consumption of global perspective at our university, in the context of fostering this perspective as a graduate attribute. We identified four frame packages by which this perspective is understood and communicated. Global perspective is framed…

This article addresses the important questions that higher education institutions ask concerning their impact on their students' sustainability-related attributes "How do our students" worldviews change as they experience higher education with us?" The process of monitoring such a dynamic entity is fraught with statistical…

We analyzed two educational frameworks that seek to embed "education for sustainable development" into higher education (HE). Both identify that HE is failing to educate graduates able to address the sustainability needs of society and suggest approaches to remedy the situation. We used discourse analysis and framing analysis to explore…

This article shares and extends research-based developments at the University of Otago, New Zealand, that seek to explore how students' worldviews change as they experience higher education with us. We emphasise that sustainability attributes may be described in terms of knowledge, skills and competencies but that these are underpinned by…

We report the development and piloting of an evaluative instrument and process for monitoring the environmental literacy (EL) of undergraduate students in one large research-led university in New Zealand. The instrument addresses knowledge, affect and competencies in the general area of EL in line with this institution's adoption of EL as a…

The higher education literature reveals the highly subjective nature of thinking about the roles of higher education and its teachers with respect to "education for sustainability". We used Q methodology to help to clarify and categorise commonly held viewpoints about this complex issue held by teachers in one university in New Zealand.…

Universities are increasingly using advanced video-conferencing environments to interact for teaching and research purposes at a distance and in situations that combine distant participants with those face-to-face. Those who use these technologies expect professional development support to do so but we do not yet have a comprehensive research…

This paper describes some of the drivers for "education for sustainability" that exist in universities and also explores some of the rationales that underpin higher education's reluctance to engage more formally in education for sustainability. It attempts to provide a balanced commentary on the role and capability of higher education in…

Educational outcomes related to sustainability often include affective attributes such as values, attitudes and behaviours. Educators in higher education who attempt to research, monitor, assess or evaluate learning of affective attributes can face a bewildering array of methodologies and approaches and a research literature that spans several…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to interpret aspects of education for sustainability in relation to educational theories of the affective domain (values, attitudes and behaviours) and suggest how the use of these theories, and relevant experience, in other educational areas could benefit education for sustainability.…

Describes Web conferencing in a staff development program for lecturers at the University of Southampton (United Kingdom), designed to enhance the quality of learner support in higher education through the use of learning technologies. Highlights include use of the Web conference; perceived usability; appropriate use; and whether it influenced…