Australian Govt Sustainability Curriculum Framework: A strong step in the right direction for sustainability education

This month, the Federal Government released the report Sustainability Curriculum Framework: A guide for curriculum developers and policy makers. The report aims to provide ‘information and guidance on how education for sustainability may be structured to support a progression of learning from Kindergarten to Year 10.’

Amid multiple environmental policy failures by the Rudd Government, including climate change policy and home insulation, the report represents a paradigm shift in how government frames sustainability education with implications for how it is delivered.

Firstly, the curriculum is action orientated, arguing that ‘consideration must be given to what people need to know and be able to do to achieve improved sustainability’ (emphasis added). The framework identifies developing learner motivation to act as a key part of sustainability.

The framework encourages students to learn about sustainability challenges through active participation in problem solving, enquiry-based learning and values reflection. This is a considerable change from curriculum based on rational change models that focus on presenting information about issues in the hope that more knowledge will inspire change.

The framework sets out a ‘sustainability action process’ to shape curriculum that involves:

• ‘making a case for change—exploring a sustainability issue, assessing the current situation, investigating sustainability concepts and ideas, and stating a case for change;
• defining the scope for action—exploring options for making a change, identifying available resources and constraints, seeking consensus, and developing a statement of the agreed direction for action;
• developing a proposal for action—generating and selecting ideas, developing and modifying these to make them ready for implementation, and preparing, communicating and agreeing upon the proposal;
• implementing the proposal—turning the proposal into action;
• evaluating and reflecting—assessing the degree of success of the action and the efficiency of the processes used, identifying possible future directions and the learning that has resulted from the action.’

Within the framework is consideration of key capabilities including dealing with uncertainty and complexity; systems thinking; stakeholder analysis and consideration; negotiation and conflict resolution; and futures thinking. All of which have been called for to varying degrees in sustainability education literature and represents a step in the right direction for building capabilities to address sustainability challenges, as I have argued for previously.

Secondly, the framework curriculum takes a more holistic approach to viewing sustainability, than the traditional environmental sustainability definition usually used by government: ‘…sustainability is about reducing our ecological footprint while simultaneously improving the quality of life that we value—the ‘liveability’ of our society.’ The broader framing of sustainability to include social and economic dimensions alongside the ecological makes the curriculum more applicable to a wider variety of subjects. It also appeals to a wider range of learner interests, rather than just the environmentally engaged.

It should be noted that while the broader framing symbolises a large shift in dominant sustainability education discourse, it still posits that the goal of sustainability is about achieving better ecological outcomes, which in turn benefit global equity and quality of life.

While the Sustainability Curriculum Framework represents an exciting shift in the framing of sustainability education, as always the challenge is to turn rhetoric into reality. Will this translate into real curriculum change and how will the outcomes of the framework be evaluated?

The framework states that it ‘is not intended to specify how education for sustainability will be taught across the curriculum’, which begs the question, how do we teach the proposals contained in the framework effectively? What teaching and learning practices best develop systems thinking, the ability to understand and make decisions in complex and uncertain situations, and skills to negotiate with stakeholders and resolve conflicts?

These questions are particularly relevant to the Higher Education sector where future decision makers are educated. These kinds of capabilities need to be a key part of graduate learning outcomes if we are to really commit to producing graduates that are capable of addressing sustainability challenges.

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