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Sustainability Education
This project identifies, at a strategic level, the status and needs of environmental education in the key sectors of formal education, industry and the community in Australia. The results of the project will inform the next stage in the development of environmental education in Australia and the review of the National Action Plan on Environmental Education for a Sustainable Future. The final report is in five volumes, with summary findings available for each volume.
A national review of environmental education and its contribution to sustainability in Australia
The research examined overseas initiatives, and reflected upon experiences, achievements and lessons learnt. The results of the research informed the development of the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative. The final report about this project, completed in 2004, is Whole-school Approaches to Sustainability: An international review of sustainable school programs .
To achieve the cultural change needed to ensure tomorrow's business leaders know the principles of sustainability, MBA courses and business schools need to be engaged in education for sustainability. This project: examined the current level of education about and for sustainability in Australian MBA courses and short courses directed at business professionals; identified best practice in Australia and benchmarked it against international standards; and recommended core areas to further integrate sustainability into MBA and short course programs. The final report about this project, completed in 2005, is Education for and about sustainability within Australian business schools .
Stage 2: The findings of the initial research identified key needs that must be addressed if business schools are to build capacity for sustainability in business and industry. In this study, ARIES worked closely with four of Australia's leading business schools - Macquarie Graduate School of Management, the Australian Graduate School of Management, the University of Technology Sydney Graduate School of Business and the University of Queensland Business School. These schools then partnered with the ANU College of Business and Economics, University of Queensland Business School and RMIT Graduate School of Management. The project resulted in increased staff capacity, new sustainability courses, new curriculum material, including case studies, industry partnerships and an increased profile of sustainability within the business schools. A summary of findings is entitled Embedding sustainability in MBA programs . An independent evaluation of the project was undertaken by Molino Stewart .
There is a large array of information and publications designed to assist business and industry to shift towards more sustainable practices. What is lacking is guidance on the practical steps to begin making changes within an organisation. The objective of this research was to examine the range of resources which exist to help business and industry engage with sustainability concepts. The final report about this project, which assesses products' contribution to sustainability, is Industry Sustainability Toolkit Project - A review of sustainability resources for industry .
Stage 2: An action research project engaged participants from large Australian companies and organisations in managing change towards sustainability. The organisations were Amcor, BHP Billiton, National Australia Bank, Parramatta City Council, Toyota, VISY, Wesley Mission, Westpac, Yarra Valley Water and the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Participants developed and implemented internal action plans to assess and improve the effectiveness of sustainability practices and processes within their organisations. These will act as drivers for developing a sustainability culture within their organisation. In addition, the research brought together the experiences of participating organisations to produce a practical resource booklet to assist a broader range of organisations, entitled Shifting Towards Sustainability - Six insights into successful organisational change for sustainability .
Two research development forums, facilitated by ARIES, occurred on 20 and 21 September 2004. The objective of these forums was to identify the strategic research priorities for the Industry and Vocational Education and Training (VET) sectors in collaboration with those who represent their interests and concerns. These forums identified possible future research projects to be undertaken by ARIES. The reports about these forums are Research Dialogues: Industry and VET research forums on education for sustainability .
The Reef Water Quality Protection Plan addresses the impact of diffuse pollutants on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. This project worked with stakeholders from farming sectors in the Reef catchments, to identify what catalyses action and change, and to determine what is needed within education and awareness programs to support farmers in moving towards sustainability. The results of this research will be used by agencies to increase the effectiveness of the actions being implemented under the Plan. The report for this project is Reef Water Quality Protection Plan - Scoping of issues associated with industry practices .
This project reviewed air quality community education programs from Australia and overseas to identify the critical success factors that improve the effectiveness and outcomes of such programs. The report for this project is A Review of Air Quality Community Education .
This project will help us to deliver against the education and training objective of the Implementation Plan for the Framework for a National Cooperative Approach to Integrated Coastal Zone Management. It researched what constitutes an effective coastal management education and capacity-building program, identified gaps, and developed a tool to assess the effectiveness of existing programs. The report for this project is Assessing Provision and Effectiveness of Coastal Management Education and a summary brochure is also available. The Sustainability Education Assessment Tool is an interactive website which helps you to assess your program and improve its effectiveness. It also includes case studies and resources.
Through a collaborative approach with Australian Public Service staff, the project investigated the concepts of leadership, organisational learning and change for sustainability within Australian Government departments and agencies. The participants reflected on their knowledge and practical experiences and worked together to identify opportunities for change towards sustainability in the public sector. The report for this project is Sustainability in Government: Making Change for Sustainability - Perspectives from the Australian Public Service
The goal of this research project was to identify and assess the critical success factors of a range of professional development strategies and models that could be used to mainstream learning for sustainability approaches in pre-service teacher education programs in Australia. The final report is Whole-school approaches to sustainability: A review of models for professional development in pre-service teacher education .
ARIES undertook a mentoring program with a number of local councils across Australia. The aim of the project was to build the capacity of local government capacity to use education and learning based strategies for change towards sustainability. In addition to improving practice in the participating councils, the project also developed a Mentoring Handbook on Education for Sustainability in Local Government.
ARIES has been commissioned to undertake the first stage of a project that aims to build a broad framework of national Education for Sustainable Development indicators. The indicators will be used to assess the effectiveness of national Education for Sustainable Development initiatives, report on Australia's progress during the Decade and improve implementation and effectiveness of relevant Australian government policies and programs. A background report is now available - Developing ESD indicators to assess progress during the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development .
This project will assist in mainstreaming climate change adaptation within accredited professional education. Using an action inquiry process, change agents within selected professional accrediting bodies investigated realistic and relevant ways of improving the quality of training and education of engineers, architects and planners so that they can make informed and effective contributions to climate change adaptation. The project partners were:
The report is ShiftingTowards Sustainability: Education for climate change adaptation in the built environment sector .
This project aims to achieve environmental improvements and general sustainability gains in supply chain companies and operations via learning based change. The project will recruit 5-6 Australian-based organisations that are receptive to making sustainability improvements and can exert a significant effect through their supply chain position, influence and reach. Each organisation will target sustainability changes to specific aspects of their supply chain system (e.g. product line, resource use, transport, waste management, site locations, a particular production focus or a subset of their procurement relationships).
This project aims to accelerate effective sustainability practices by sharing experiences, and developing and strengthening partnerships between business schools and corporations. The project will engage sustainability champions from a selection of Australia business schools and corporations.
ARIES has prepared a case study on Noosa Shire as an example of sustainability in action, focusing on the role of education, as well as the other factors that have led to the Noosa Council’s and community’s approach. The intention is that the case study be used as a way of sharing experiences and learnings and assisting other regions in the pursuit of similar goals. See Sustainability in Noosa: a living change case study .
ARIES has commenced a project to pilot mainstreaming sustainability into pre-service teacher education. The project will use a combined action research and whole-of-system approach across the teacher education system, including federal and state government agencies, teacher accreditation bodies, curriculum bodies, teacher educators, schools and community-based organisations engaged in sustainability within formal education.
The Education for Sustainability (EfS) Portal has been developed by ARIES to provide a central source of information relating to Education for Sustainability. It contains a comprehensive explanation of EfS, extensive weblinks and key documents.
Copies of completed ARIES research reports and summaries are available in hardcopy from ARIES or for download from the ARIES web site .