【平成25年度 環境人材育成コンソーシアム(EcoLeaD）事業】 日付：平成25年12月14日 イベント：第3回アジア環境人材育成研究交流大会-国際シンポジウム2部 タイトル：高等教育におけるサステイナビリティの実現に向けて：オーストラリアにおける模範例の紹介 / Leading for sustainability in higher education: Exemplars from Australian contexts 発表者：スー・エリオット 氏（ニューイングランド大学教育学部教授、オーストラリア環境教育学会副会長） / Dr. Sue Elliott(Senior Lecturer, School of Education, University of New England, Vice President, Australian Association for Environmental Education Inc.) 詳細：http://www.eco-lead.jp/active/seminar/2013-2/

1. Leading for sustainability in higher
education: Exemplars from
Australian contexts
Dr Sue Elliott
Senior Lecturer, School of Education,
University of New England and Vice
President Australian Association for
Environmental Education

2. Overview
1. The Australian higher education context and
sustainability
2. A focus on three exemplars:
A. Interdisciplinary projects
B. Action research approaches
C. Vocational links and possibilities
3. Strategies for leading change

3. 1. The Australian higher education
context and sustainability
• Talloires Declaration (1990) An international
10 point action plan for sustainability in higher
education
• UN Decade Education for Sustainable
Development (2005-2014) Reorientation
underway in terms of system thinking, new
pedagogies and real-world challenges and
vocational green skilling (UNESCO, 2012)

4. • Australasian Campuses Towards
Sustainability (ACTS) (2006) ‘We aim to
inspire, promote and support change towards
best practice sustainability within the
operations, curriculum and research of the
tertiary education sector’

5. • Living Sustainably: National Action Plan
(DEWHA, 2009)
Principles for working towards sustainability:
– transformation and change
– education for all and lifelong learning
– systems thinking
– envisioning a better future
– critical thinking and reflection
– participation
– partnerships for change

6. 2. A focus on three exemplars:

7. A. Interdisciplinary projects at
Queensland University of Technology
Project 1: Teacher education students undertook an
integrated arts and education for sustainability unit
over one semester with a focus on exploring
identity through the arts and in relation to one’s
place in the world.
The intent was to promote
‘alternative ways of viewing issues and, therefore,
learning about sustainability while at the same time
underscoring the power of the Arts as a language
for communication’ (O’Gorman, in press)

8. Student Comment
This subject certainly
seems to have moved us
all! I have learned the
importance of nurturing a
strong sense of connection
between ourselves and
other life forms/nature. I
think we often see
ourselves as 'above' or
'apart from' mother
nature, but if we can
change our perceptions,
really accept that humans
are in fact just one more
link in the chain, perhaps
we will take caring for that
chain more seriously! I
think the Arts is one way
to help us build this
understanding (O’Gorman,
in press).

9. Project 2: From the ground up: Embedding
sustainability in a real-world context through a
multi-disciplinary approach to engaging with
business

10. • Participants included staff and
students across design and early
childhood education
• Students subjects and assessments
linked to a real-world scenario
• Studies and publication by research
students and staff within the project
• Potential other partners such as
health
• Model for multi-disciplinary and
business/community partnerships
• Learning outcomes for everyone
involved….in a collaborative
atmosphere with cute koalas!

11. B. Action research approaches
• Action research is about action for change, a critically
reflective and transformative process for all participants
• Kemmis (2009) describes participants as thinking, acting
and relating differently with potential to also transform
others through action research in education for
sustainability
• Somekh (2006) identifies the location of action research ‘in
an understanding of broader historical, political and
ideological contexts’, facilitating reflection beyond
immediate settings and prompting engagement with global
understandings of sustainability

12. Action research in facilitating
partnerships for change
‘I just think when we first started this ……..
……………we are getting excited about education
for sustainability’ (Elliott, 2012)

13. Action research for promoting
‘thinking, acting and relating
differently’ with tertiary students
• Identify an action priority for change in their
own lives
• Investigate, plan, implement the action
priority
• Maintain a journal and evaluate the action
priority

14. Student journal excerpts
• The way I think about sustainability has
transformed from something I just do, to
something I now know the importance of…
• I feel my conscience is awakened and my mind is
set toward sustainability…
• Working with the children and making the centre
more sustainable, I really began to feel the effects
of what a small number of people can have on
the environment…
• Not only were the children engaged in recycling,
it was a stepping stone to much bigger things…

15. C. Vocational links and possibilities
• National VET Sector Sustainability Policy and
Action Plan 2009-2012 a national framework to
support the development of a productive
workforce as industry, government, individuals
and the wider community move to a sustainable
economy.
• Green Skills Agreement (2010-2013) A
Governmental Agreement to build the capacity of
the VET sector to deliver the skills for
sustainability required in the workplace and to
enable individuals, businesses and communities
to adjust to and prosper in a sustainable, low-
carbon economy.

16. Broad objectives of the
Green Skills Agreement
• Develop national standards in skills for
sustainability
• Upskill VET Practitioners to ensure effective
knowledge and training
• Review all Training Packages to embed
sustainability knowledge, skills and principles
• Implement a transition strategy to re-skill
vulnerable workers in transition to a low-
carbon economy

17. Specific outcomes to date
• All Training Packages now include skills for
sustainability
• Dual Diploma option, study a vocational and
sustainability diploma concurrently
• VET Practitioners government funded training
program ‘Sustainable Practice Skill Set units’

18. 3. Strategies for leading change
drawing on these exemplars
• Systemic approach to change
• Professional networks and collaborative
partnerships
• Transformative teaching and learning pedagogies
• Resourcing and researching change

19. In the confrontation between the rock
and stream, the stream always wins
not through strength but through
persistence….Buddha

20. References
Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (2006). Retrieved from http://www.acts.asn.au/
Commonwealth of Australia Department of Environment Water Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA)
(2009). Living Sustainably: National Action Plan. Canberra: Department of Environment Water
Heritage and the Arts. Retrieved from http://aries.mq.edu.au/pdf/national_action_plan.pdf
Elliott, S. (2012). Sustainable outdoor playspaces in early childhood centres: Investigating
perceptions, facilitating change and generating theory. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of
New England, Armidale, NSW.
Green Skills Agreement (2010-2013). Retrieved from
http://www.innovation.gov.au/Skills/SkillsTrainingAndWorkforceDevelopment/Documents/Green
SkillsAgreement.pdf
Kemmis, S. (2009), ‘Action research as a practice-based practice’, Educational Action Research, 17
(3), 463-474.
National VET Sector Sustainability Policy and Action Plan 2009-2012. Retrieved from
http://www.innovation.gov.au/skills/SkillsTrainingAndWorkforceDevelopment/ClimateChangeAnd
SkillsForSustainability/Pages/NationalVetSectorSustainabilityActionPlan.aspx
O’ Gorman, L. (in press). The Arts and education for sustainability: Shaping student teachers’
identities towards sustainability in J. Davis & S. Elliott, Research in Early Childhood Education for
Sustainability: International perspectives and provocations, London: Routledge.
Somekh, B. (2006). Action research: A methodology for change and development. Maidenhead,
Berkshire: Open University Press.
Talloires Declaration (1990). Retrieved from http://talloiresnetwork.tufts.edu/what-is-the-
talloires-network/talloires-declaration/
UNESCO (2012). Shaping the education of tomorrow 2012 Report on the UN Decade Education for
Sustainable Development. Paris: UNESCO. Refer p. 41-48.

21. Acknowledgement
Thanks to the tertiary students and academics,
children and families who have participated in the
studies described here and/or shared their
expertise.
For further information about
Project 2: From the ground up: Embedding
sustainability in a real-world context through a
multi-disciplinary approach to engaging with
business, please contact Assoc. Prof. Julie Davis at
j.davis@qut.edu.au