Abstract
Sustainability issues are increasingly being adopted in higher education, in areas such campus initiatives, student-led schemes, in teaching, and through growing research activity. Much of the sustainability research focuses on discussions and debates about its inclusion in teaching and curricula in different disciplinary contexts. However, relatively little attention has been given to sustainability in relation to sociology, which is surprising since both have an interest in society and social change, and sociological research addresses areas including the environment and consumption. Sociologists’ understandings and experiences of sustainability might have particular value and provide new lessons and ideas relevant to those interested in promoting sustainability in the higher education sector. Consequently, and using the phenomenographic approach, this study sought to cast light on sociologists’ conceptions of sustainability and its relevance to sociology as a discipline. The project addressed the following research question: What variations exist in sociology academic staff and students in their accounts about and experiences of sustainability in higher education? The intention of the work was to collect broad-based perspectives from a diverse range of sociology staff and students about sustainability. The study comprised 24 semi-structured interviews with academic staff and students based in sociology departments at three UK-based universities. This chapter reports on the study and presents the findings in the form of two outcome spaces entitled Sustainability and me and Sustainability, sociology, and sociology curricula. In addition, the chapter reflects upon the phenomenographic research approach, and suggests that it offers considerable value for the research of sustainability in higher education.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Åkerlind, G. (2007). Constraints on academics’ potential for developing as a teacher. Studies in Higher Education, 32(1), 21–37.
Ashwin, P., Abbas, A., & McLean, M. (2013). How do students’ accounts of sociology change over the course of their undergraduate degrees? Higher Education, 67, 219–234.
Barlett, P., & Chase, G. (2013). Sustainability in higher education; stories and strategies for transformation (urban and industrial environments). Massachusetts, MS: MIT Press.
Baughan, P. (2015). Sustainability policy and sustainability in higher education curricula: the educational developer perspective. International Journal for Academic Development, 20, 3. doi:10.1080/1360144X.2015.1070351
Blake, J., Sterling, S., & Kagawa, F. (2013). Getting it together: Interdisciplinarity and sustainability in the higher education institution. Plymouth: Pedagogic Research Institute and Observatory. PedRIO Occasional Paper 4 (https://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/research/pedrio/Documents/PedRIO%20Paper%204.pdf)
Brinkhurst, M., Rose, P., Maurice, G., & Ackerman, J. D. (2011). Achieving campus sustainability: Top-down, bottom-up, or neither? International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 12, 338–354.
Carew, A. L., & Mitchell, C. A. (2006). Metaphors used by some engineering academics in Australia for understanding and explaining sustainability. Environmental Education Research, 12(2), 217–231.
Chase, G. (2010). Large scale university curriculum change: campus stories and strategies for change (and back again). Paper presented at Tomorrow’s Sustainable Universities Conference, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK, 15–16 July.
Corney, G., & Reid, A. (2007). Student teachers’ learning about subject matter and pedagogy in education for sustainable development. Environmental Education Research, 13(1), 33–54.
Cotton, D., Sterling, S., Neal, V., & Winter, J. (Eds.). (2012). Putting the ‘S’ into ED—Education for sustainable development in educational development. SEDA Special 31. London: Staff and Educational Development Association.
Cousin, G. (2009). Researching learning in higher education: An introduction of contemporary methods and approaches. London: Routledge.
De La Harpe, B., & Thomas, I. (2009). Curriculum change in universities: Conditions that facilitate education for sustainable development. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 3(1), 75–85.
Drayson, R., Bone, E., Agombar, J., & Kemp, S. (2013). Student attitudes towards and skills for sustainable development. New York: Higher Education Academy/National Union of Students.
Entwistle, N. (1997). Introduction: Phenomenography in higher education. Higher Education Research and Development, 16, 127–134.
Fraser, S. (2006). Shaping the university curriculum through partnerships and critical conversations. International Journal for Academic Development, 11, 5–17.
Hallett, F. (2010). The postgraduate student experience of study support: A phenomenographic analysis. Studies in Higher Education, 35(2), 225–238.
Johnston, L. (2013). Higher education for sustainability: Cases. Oxon, Routledge: Challenges and Opportunities from Across the Curriculum.
Jones, P., Selby, D., & Sterling, S. (2010). Sustainability education: Perspectives and practice across higher education. London: Earthscan.
Kagawa, F. (2007). Dissonance in students’ perceptions of sustainable development and sustainability: Implications for curriculum change. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8(3), 317–338.
Marton, F. (1981). Phenomenography—describing conceptions of the world around us. Instructional Science, 10, 177–200.
Marton, F., & Booth, S. (1997). Learning and awareness. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Orr, D. (2002). The nature of design: Ecology. Culture and Human Intention: New York, Oxford University Press.
Passerini, E. (1998). Sustainability and sociology. The American Sociologist, 29(3), 59–70.
Reid, A., & Petocz, P. (2006). University lecturers’ understanding of sustainability. Higher Education, 51, 105–123.
Shreeve, A., Sims, E., & Trowler, P. (2010). A kind of exchange: Learning from art and design teaching. Higher Education Research and Development, 29(2), 125–138.
Soron, D. (2010). Sustainability, self-identity and the sociology of consumption. Sustainable Development, 18, 172–181.
Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable education: Re-visioning learning and change. Schumacher Briefings: Bristol.
United Nations. (1987). Report of the world commission on environment and development: Our common future. Retrieved from http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm
Warde, A. (2005). Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5(2), 131–153.
Weller, S. (2016). Academic practice: Developing as a professional in higher education. London: Sage.
Williams, C., & Millington, A. (2004). The diverse and contested meanings of sustainable development. The Geographical Journal, 170, 99–104.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Baughan, P. (2017). Variation in Sociologists’ Perspectives About Sustainability in Higher Education: Outcomes from a Phenomenographic Study. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Sustainable Development Research at Universities in the United Kingdom. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47883-8_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47883-8_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47882-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47883-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)