Integrating sustainability into the curriculum

Certain concepts draw on and operate beyond disciplines, they are living concepts, their meanings contested and morphing over time. Sustainability is one such concept. It draws on many disciplines and it is temporal such that the meaning of and means through which we might obtain balanced outcomes of a thriving economy, social justice and ecological restoration changes over time.

How we engage with and embed such concepts within our teaching programs requires special consideration. When sustainability was embedded into the Business School programs we undertook a participatory and inter-disciplinary process. We viewed sustainability curriculum as a living process. Sustainability curriculum is embedded within program structures and learning objectives, yet its meaning and interpretation within disciplines morphs and emerges through an essential process of ongoing dialogue and debate between disciplinary experts in a community of practice.

In this session we outline this and other essential elements of the participatory process including the boundary and epistemic objects that attract participation, the role and function of the community of practice and other strategic leaders within the faculty. We engage participants in a fast-paced, interactive and facilitated session to identify boundary objects that may be productive within their own disciplines and explore how participatory curriculum development processes for sustainability might be adopted across and connected within the University.