4 Two Years as an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Officer: Impact and Challenges

Context and Purpose

In January 2024, DCU appointed its first Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Officer. While the job description highlighted a number of areas, it was decided that the role should, above all, focus on building capacity around ESD, increasing commitment towards ESD, and developing a culture of ESD across the institution.

Aims and Objectives

• Building capacity around ESD
• Increasing commitment towards ESD
• Developing a culture of ESD

Initiative Overview

To achieve these aims, the ESD Officer has worked closely with academic and professional staff, as well as students, in four main areas: programme and module design; teaching and learning; assessment; and specific initiatives involving staff and students.

Examples of programme and module design include:

• Working with the Programme Chair for a new BSc in Physiotherapy to identify sustainability priorities and map these to modules.
• Engaging with staff in DCU’s Business School to bolster sustainability content and methodologies in a range of programmes including the award-winning BSc in Digital Business and Innovation.

Teaching and learning has been supported through several initiatives:

• Development of DCU’s ESD hub – a Moodle (Loop) course, open to all academic and professional staff.
• Development of a digital badge in Education for Sustainability – an adaptation of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning’s Introduction to Education for Sustainability badge, specifically tailored to meet the needs of staff at DCU.
• A range of workshops – open to whole staff or by faculty/school. This includes an introduction to ESD as well as deeper dives into areas such as ESD and Critical Thinking and ESD and Interdisciplinarity.
• Introducing an Ideas Exchange group.
• Supporting Communities of Practice within faculties.

Assessment was identified as a way that academics could effectively integrate ESD into their practice and remain authentic to their academic discipline. Examples include:

• A new, sustainability-focused, Challenge-Based Learning approach in the Business School’s Eco-Tech Challenge.
• Debates on ethical dilemmas in the BSc in Interdisciplinary Science, including GM foods, extractivism, and the limits of science in addressing climate change.

Supporting specific initiatives throughout the university included:

• A ‘teaching within planetary boundaries’ day in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
• An ESD symposium for staff in the Institute of Education.
• Workshops for all first-year students in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.
• A ‘Shout Out for Sustainable Development’ for clubs and societies at DCU to align their interests with themes related to sustainability and social justice.
• The development of an ESD exhibition to showcase good practice and inspire others.

Impact and Evidence of Success

Evaluation is broadly informal, with participation and engagement being the key indicators of success.

This engagement includes:

• Number of staff participating in Communities of Practice: 40
• Number of staff attending workshops: 50
• Number of staff who have completed (or are currently enrolled in) the digital badge: 47
• Number of students attending ESD-specific sessions related to their programme: approximately 1,000

In total, approximately 200 staff and 3,000 students have been impacted.

Future Directions and Sustainability

While the initiative has been successful in a qualitative sense, there is scope to increase the numbers impacted.

Initiatives will be introduced to scale the project and ensure sustained commitment, including:

• Engaging in research with a focus on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning to identify how academics feel about ESD, where it should sit within their practice, and what support they need.
• Working with programme chairs to ensure ESD is integrated into programmes and modules, including New Programme Proposals and Periodic Programme Review.
• The creation of an ESD Academy to bring together all of the institution’s offerings, making it as easy as possible for staff to identify supports and select those most beneficial to them.

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Funding and Acknowledgements

Funding: SATLE