Creative Education
2012. Vol.3, Special Issue, 840-846
Published Online October 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.326125
840
The Education for Sustainability Jig-Saw Puzzle:
Implementation in Universities
Ian Thomas1, Kathryn Hegarty1, Sarah Holdsworth2
1School of Global, Urban and Soci al Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2School of Property Construct ion a nd Project Management, RM IT University, Melbourne, Australia
Received July 3rd, 2012; revised August 4th, 2 0 1 2 ; a c c epted Au g u s t 1 6th, 2012
Why is it taking so long to implement curriculum change for Education for Sustainability (EfS)? Despite
a wealth of literature and government reporting about the need for EfS, we have seen few moves to in-
clude EfS across the curriculum in universities. Importantly, the sort of curriculum change we are seeking
represents a complex process in complex organizations. No single factor affects this type of change.
Rather there are several interconnecting aspects of organizations, disciplines, individuals, and beliefs.
Hence, in discussing curriculum change we identify the roles of: organizational change; institutional
strategies; academic development; curriculum development; learning and teaching practice; pedagogy; the
campus; graduate attributes; and professional associations. Overall we do not offer a quick solution, rather
we identify the need for a systemic approach to recognizing the range of elements that make up the EfS
picture, and how they relate to one another. In parallel we recognize the role that the values of disciplines,
and the academics themselves, play in influencing all the elements we have discussed. Our proposition is
that if we all recognize the issues discussed, and tailor our responses to the situations of the university
(and disciplines) we have targeted, then we can facilitate implementation of EfS.
Keywords: Sustainable Development; Sustainability Education; Universities; Implementation
Introduction
Why is it taking so long to implement education for sustain-
ability (EFS) in university Curricular? Although there has been
debate about the direction and substance of EfS, the need for
EfS to be the underlying element of university education has
been widely recognized (e.g. Holdsworth et al., 2006a, 2006b &
2009; Sterling & Thomas, 2006). Government policy docu-
ments confirm this need, e.g. Department of the Environment,
Water, Heritage and the Arts (2009) and Higher Education
Funding Council for England (2009) and the recent promotion
of “green jobs”, such as the Victorian Action Plan for Green
Jobs (Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Devel-
opment, 2010) further accentuates the need for education and
training in sustainability fields.
There have been responses from academics involved in the
development of EfS based subjects (e.g. Sherren, 2007) and
resources developed to assist curriculum development (e.g.
University Leaders for a Sustainable Future, 2006; Association
for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education,
2010). Given all this interest we could expect a much greater
adoption of EfS and should have seen its incorporation into
university curricula. Yet overviews of activity (e.g. Tilbury et
al., 2005; Lang et al., 2006), indicate that there has been little
attempt to introduce sustainability into the curriculum, other
than through isolated subjects that are often electives.
So what is inhibiting this adoption? Among others, Dawe et
al. (2005), Filho (2000), Hegarty (2008) and Thomas (2004)
identify several key inhibitors; a lack of understanding and
training for academics; contested nature of sustainability; al-
ready crowded curriculum; time and resources required for staff
to developed knowledge and skills; lack of institutional drivers;
disciplinary cultures and assumptions. The implication is that
there is no one inhibitor to EfS, and no clear action that will
remove the inhibitors and bring about the implementation at a
university. Rather we see that there is a number of elements that
need to fit together, as a jig-saw puzzle does, to help us com-
plete the EfS picture at a given university. Consequently, in this
paper we have created the equivalent of a jig-saw to help
change agents work on implementation of EfS. We discuss the
key elements of the jig-saw puzzle that need to be considered
when we are looking to implement EfS, which include; organ-
izational change, academic development; the sustainability
educational praxis (encompassing the internal drivers of gradu-
ate attributes, and the related role of industry and professional
associations).
The plan to implement EfS1 at a particular university will
need to consider these elements, but their mix will be unique to
each institution. We offer no one solution for implementing EfS;
it would be naive to think that may be possible given the com-
plex mix of university structures and academics. The challenge
for all of us involved in EfS in universities is to understand how
each element relates to our own institution, and then how we
can use this understanding to drive the implementation of EfS.
Meeting this challenge will require creativity; to interpret the
issues and experiences we discuss, and to adapt them to specific
situations.
1Throughout this paper we will focus on the development of Education for
Sustainability, however we acknowledge the debate around the terminology
and associated meanings of sustainability education and Education for
Sustainable Development (Sterling & Thomas, 2006). While we recognise
the important philosophical differences which affect choices of terminology
issues raised here are relevant to curriculum change for sustainability,
whatever terminology used.

I. THOMAS ET AL.
Creativity is defined by Robinson (2001: p. 118) as “imagina-
tive processes with outcomes that are original and of value”. In
this context, utilizing the elements discussed here to implement
EfS achieves an outcome that will be unique to a particular
institution, and of value to the goals of sustainability and to the
academics involved, though the learn ing they too will achieve.
Organizational Change and Development of
Institutional Strategies
Universities are complex work-based organizations. They
have a history going back over several centuries (Ford, 2002),
however, the Twentieth Century saw a growth in the number of
universities and their size (e.g. RMIT in Australia had over
74,000 students in 2012—RMIT, 2012). To manage such or-
ganizations we have management or organizational structures,
and documents to guide the management (i.e. policies and pro-
cedures). Yet it is the people, especially academics, who play a
pivotal role.
De la Harpe and Thomas (2009) have touched on the many
aspects of institutional change that affect EfS. They note that
the literature on curriculum change in higher education indi-
cates that there is a number of factors that are critical for suc-
cess. For example, for successful change to occur Eckel et al.
(1999) considered essential elements to be: understanding the
change process; understanding why change is needed; and im-
plementing change.
Coupled with these broad issues, Lang et al. (2006) noted
that there is a range of issues that have been identified as nec-
essary supports for the development of EFS, including creation
of sustainability plans for the university and curriculum, and
support of the executive board. However, the results of a survey
of Australian universities in the mid-2000s indicated (Lang et
al., 2006: p. 55) that there did “… not appear that specific, co-
ordinated and systemic strategies for EfS have been developed
by any Australian university. This may be a contributing reason
as to why there is little EfS activity within the universities.”
There is a clear link between curriculum change and organ-
izational change: they both require adequate investment in time
and commitment across all levels of the organization. The lit-
erature associated with organizational change in universities
(e.g. Eckel, 2002; McGinty & McTaggart, 2000) indicates the
complexities. Achieving change in teaching practice and the
curriculum will require an understanding of the change process,
both internal influences for change (including beliefs and con-
cepts of teaching) and external influences for change (work-
place dimensions and culture). Without this understanding,
curriculum change programs are unlikely to create lasting chan-
ge for sustainability.
Academic Development
Educators play a key role in presenting the understanding
associated with sustainability and developing it in their students.
Specifically, academic development is necessary to provide
educators with the capacity for understanding sustainability as
an overarching conceptual framework (Huckle, 2005). Further,
Tilbury et al. (2005) point out that academic development is
also an important step in providing educators with the capacity
to undertake sustainability educational praxis.
For successful academic development the distinctive domi-
nant culture of a university must be understood and built into its
pedagogy, learning and teaching approaches and curriculum.
University culture is shaped internally by the notion of aca-
demic freedom and autonomy; externally the university struc-
ture, and its values and beliefs lead to the development of a
distinctive academic culture (Hegarty, 2008) The ability of a
university and the individual to adapt to these is determined by
its culture and the influence of the faculty, the administration,
the discipline and the whole organization. Hegarty (2008) ar-
gues that academic and disciplinary modes of identity, the con-
stituent elements of scholarly culture, inform and shape practice.
It is essential to understand university culture to minimize con-
flict and to foster the development of shared goals that may
result from any academic development program. However, a
review of actions to operationalize sustainability education
specifically through professional development programs within
higher educational institutions by Holdsworth et al. (2008)
found that there are limited opportunities for academics to en-
gage with the concept of sustainability and little support for
curriculum development.
Academic development for sustainability education should
enable educators to develop sustainability education praxis.
This includes the development of pedagogical knowledge (Kolb,
1967; Rowland, 2003), instructional knowledge (Kreber, 1999)
and curricular knowledge (Gibbs, 1995; Trigwell, 1995). These
elements should be interlinked to form a central framework for
exploring sustainability across the area of the scholarship of
learning and teaching, as it relates to the unique culture and
structure of universities (Kreber, 1999). This approach must be
grounded in a learner-centred pedagogy, as the learner must
develop skills in critical practice, reflective practice and sys-
temic thinking (Kemmis & Smith, 2008).
In addition, academic development programs must link the
improvement of the scholarship of teaching and learning with
the scholarship of research; only then will the role of academic
development be fully valued (Boyer, 1990). Further, academic
development programs need to be initially focused within the
discipline (Hegarty, 2008), disciplinary assumptions must be
understood and explained (Barnett, 1997; Rowland, 2003).
Academic development is best received from developers within
the discipline itself, as tension may exist between academic
developers who sit outside of the area of change and are not
perceived as experts in the discipline (Rowland, 2003). As
elaborated by Sterling and Thomas (2006) “… it will be diffi-
cult for academics who have not been studying EfS to do all the
work to develop a set of capabilities themselves, not least as it
engages them in a role as learners as teachers (p. 363).”
This discussion shows that development programs must en-
tail much more than providing academics with materials about
topics or how to teach; rather programs that engage the aca-
demics in active learn ing ar e indicated.
Sustainability Education: Curriculum; Learning
and Teaching Practice; and Pedagogy
The term “curriculum” means “the aggregate of courses of
study given in a school, college or university” (Macquarie Uni-
versity, 1981). This “aggregate” is comprised of the formal
learning experiences provided to students, and which in turn is
the sum of the knowledge (or subject content) that is conveyed,
plus the understanding that is generated through the pedagogy
(or process) that is used. Both content and pedagogy are impor-
tant, but as we will discuss, for EfS pedagogy is particularly

I. THOMAS ET AL.
important.
When we look at the activities of many academics we see an
interest in being involved with sustainability (e.g. Thomas &
Nicitia, 2002), however, the concepts of sustainability are con-
tested (Cotton et al., 2007; Filho, 2000). In relation to Plymouth
University in the UK, Jones et al. (2009) explored the percep-
tions of academics and students towards embedding education
for sustainable development (ESD) into undergraduate degree
programs. The study identified that there was uncertainty about
the meaning and application of the term ESD. Further, there
was a widely held view that the term ESD was related to con-
tent rather than pedagogy.
The Plymouth study emphasizes the point of “embedding”
sustainability in the curricula of university programs. Such is
the purpose of EfS. As Sterling and Thomas (2006) have dis-
cussed the options for incorporating sustainability at universi-
ties and argued that every subject/course/module that a student
will take should add to the student’s sustainability education.
As an illustration, Holdsworth et al. (2006a) described an ap-
proach to deal with the concern of ‘curriculum overload’ by
working with academics to review their curricula to accentuate
elements of sustainability in their teaching rather than adding
additional material.
At this point it is important to recognize the discussions as-
sociated with pedagogical approaches for EfS. In particular
Cotton et al. (2007) and Corneya and Reid (2007) argue that
education about sustainable development simply transmits
“factual” information about sustainability concepts and proc-
esses (leaving existing assumptions unchallenged) using didac-
tic educational approaches, while education in sustainable de-
velopment uses experiential and interactive learning processes
(a more learner-centred approach) to nurture an emotional con-
nection and assist in the development of greater understanding.
However, education for sustainable development is oriented
towards a more transformative approach to education encour-
aging the adoption of sustainability principles, ethics and values.
Hegarty (2008) reinforces the point, arguing the role that poli-
tics, personal, professional and disciplinary practice shape our
understanding of education and sustainability. Transformative
change will only occur if we recognize and explore these con-
cepts.
Given that the complexities of the sustainability paradigm a
new approach to understanding and doing (Marinova &
McGrath, 2004) is required. Fien (2001: p. 24) argues that sus-
tainability education pedagogy must encourage educators to
include the exploration of “questions, issues and problems of
sustainability, especially in contexts relevant to them and their
communities” Specifically, to achieve significant transforma-
tive learning, Sterling (2001) argues we need to move beyond a
reductionist pedagogy, and adopt pedagogies that are interac-
tive enquiry-based and student-centred (Corneya & Reid, 2007;
Fien, 2001; Tilbury et al., 2005), i.e. those which epitomize con -
structivist learning. For transformation EfS requires dialogical,
critical and active learning (deep learning), which in turn is
based on pedagogy in which teachers and students learn, reflec t
and act together, and by doing so transform themselves and the
world around them (Huckle, 2005; Sterling, 2001).
Critically, any lack of understanding of pedagogy and loss
of traditional educational praxis (as discussed by Fien, 2001;
Kemmis & Smith, 2008) directly affects the type of curricu-
lum developed. As noted by Fien (2001) educators, uncon-
scious of their own values and norms, may support understand-
ing and reinforcement of “the existing social and cultural mo-
res” (p. 23). This legitimates and reinforces the behaviors and
lifestyle choices operating in our communities. As a conse-
quence there is no one “correct” conception of sustainable de-
velopment; neither is there one unique pedagogic approach for
EfS. However, the discussion above highlights key principles
for EfS, specifically the pedagogy we need to pursue; a peda-
gogy which must appreciate the role of disciplinary and indi-
vidual values in academics’ praxis.
The Campus Being a “Learning Laboratory”
and Congruent with EfS
Many universities have engaged positively with environ-
mental management, as typified by Sustainable Campus Group
(2009) and increasingly for more than singular economic rea-
sons (e.g. as a recruiting tool; Morris, 2005). This provides op-
portunities for linking the academic activities of students with
the research and practical experiences associated with the envi-
ronmental management of a university campus (M’Gonigle &
Starke, 2006). Consistently student projects have been encour-
aged both within the universities (Khaleeli, 2006; Noonan &
Thomas, 2004), and in conjunction with neighboring communi-
ties (Lederer & Seasons, 2005; Savan, 2004).
Recently authors such as Creighton (1998), Beringer (2006)
and Wells et al. (2009) have argued that the campus is a learn-
ing laboratory for students to engage in activities that comple-
ment their formal academic studies. However, projects and
research associated with sustainability cannot simply be added
to a subject offered to students. The inclusion of a sustainability
example, or focus, needs the academics to change their teaching
approach as well as the content of the subject (e.g. to include
team work), and probably the assessment tasks (Brunetti, Roy-
ann & Sawada, 2003).
Graduate Attributes for Education for
Sustainability and Employment
The learning that students have achieved at the end of their
studies should be both evident and related to the purpose of
their education. Specifically, what are the objectives of our
teaching—what are the leaning outcomes we want from our
students? In other words, we (educators) need to articulate the
attributes (the term we will mainly use), abilities, capabilities or
competences that they should achieve as a result of their EfS.
Approaches to learning and teaching identified within the lit-
erature, and refl ecti ng the cha racter of susta inabi lity peda gogie s,
propose that students become capable in a range attributes (see
Figure 1). Importantly, Parkin et al. (2004) argue that students
should develop attributes in relation to their likely sphere of
influence in the future; in effect work-based or professional
skills. Broadly then, the attributes need to cover:
 professional specific knowledge, understanding and skills
 professional transferable knowledge, understanding and
skills
 personal transferable knowledge, understanding and skills.
The categories “generic” and “transferable” attributes are
also used by Pitman and Broomhall (2009) to cover these areas.
Providing this range of attributes is going to be difficult in the
limited time-period of a typical education program: as the
Higher Education Academy (2006: p. 6) report notes “many of
these skills and attributes are not easy to teach in a traditional
842

I. THOMAS ET AL.
sense”. However, a structure for delivering EfS attributes can
be to identify a hierarchy of learning where progressively more
understanding is expected of students. An example of such a
hierarchy for EfS is illustrated in Figure 2.
Encouragingly many of the attributes that have been identi-
fied as critical for EfS are being adopted by universities. For
example the survey by Pitman and Broomhall (2009) of rele-
vant policy documents of Australian universities indicated a
wide range of attributes that were being expected of graduates,
over half of which relate directly to the characteristics of sus-
tainability pedagogies (noted above). With these attributes there
is room for different interpretations of the terms used, and
which characteristic matches with which university attribute.
Even so, there is a strong indication that Australian universities
are looking for generic attributes that cover many aspects of the
 Development of knowledge from the learning process;
 Questioning of their assumptions;
 Recognition that constructing knowledge involves critical analysis;
dialogue and reflection;
 Development in complex reasoning;
 Practice in demons t ration of knowledge and skills;
 Practice in transferable problem solving skills;
 Practice in the recognition of values and how this relates to their
own action;
 Strategies for change;
 Uncertainty in data, analysis and decision-making;
 Critical analysis the theories, data and values being presented to
them;
 Identify the connections between the principles of sustainable
developm ent and the disciplina r y theory ;
 Ability to challenge injustice a nd inequalities;
 Cooperation and conflict resolution;
 Critical thinking;
 Respect for people and things;
 Ability to understand their own sense of identity and self-esteem;
 Value and respect f or diversity.
Figure 1.
Graduate attributes associated with Education for Sustainability (Sources
Holdsworth et al., 2006a; Parker, Wade & Van Wensum, 2004; Parkin
et al., 2004).
 Awaren ess - students need to be aware of sustainable development
as a consideration in twenty-first century culture, and of how
“environment, soci e ty, and economics” feature in their studies.
 Process—building on “awareness”, students shoul d be able to
recognize that the prin ciples of sustaina bl e development are t he
starting point to an intervention or action rather than an end
product (we cannot de fin itively describe or draw what we mean by
“sustainable development”, so the principles provide a direction to
move in, rather than a final state).
 Integrat i on—using students’ previous experienc es and
understanding, rather than being seen as an extra, the principles
of sustainable deve lo p ment should be integral to best practice in
each subject and discipline.
 Transformative—th e principles of sustainable development should
be intimately link ed to student learning within th eir subjects on
three levels: educa t ional; professional and pers onal; discipline
culture and gra duate ca pabilities. This is the deepest manifestation
of EfS where, without direction, students operat e as critically
reflective practitioners of sustainable development.
 Each university, each program and subject teacher would have to
develop these stages in the hierarchy to suit their particular needs.
Figure 2.
Hierarchy of learning for Education for Sustainability (Source Sterling
& Thomas, 2006).
professional and personal transferable aspects associated with
EfS.
That universities are pursuing these attributes is a good sign,
since employers are looking for similar abilities in the gradu-
ates they hire. Since the mid-1990s employers have been rea-
sonably clear about the generic skills that they want to see in
their employees (Bowden & Masters, 1993); e.g. literacy,
teamwork, problem solving and communication skills. As a
consequence Pitman and Broomhall (2009: p. 440) note that
university attributes came as the ’’response to a call from the
business community for the post-compulsory education sector
to produce graduates with contemporary, assessable and func-
tional skills needed for the immediate and long-term economic
benefit of the country.”
The emph asis on generi c attributes, and those attributes rele-
vant to workplace situations (e.g. broad analytical approaches
and problem-solving) are especially evident in the discussion
above. Also, we see a strong similarity between the sets of at-
tributes being sought by employers and those now being identi-
fied by our universities—and being relevant to EfS.
The Role of Professional Association and/or
Other Accrediting Bodies
Professional associations (PA) have a close relationship with
universities and training institutions. It is these institutions that
educate the graduates who become the members of the PAs.
Currently in Australia, and other countries, there is a growing
interest in sustainable development (sometimes ‘sustainability’),
especially in the context of concerns related to climate change.
Occasionally an individual PA has chosen to require its mem-
bers to practice their profession in accordance with sustainable
development principles (e.g. Australian Institute of Manage-
ment 2008). Likewise, some seek to ensure that entering mem-
bers have capabilities in sustainable development by virtue of a
relevant university degree (e.g. Engineers Australia, 2006). So,
while there is considerable potential for PAs to exert influence
over the curriculum offered at universities, and act as a driver to
introduce EfS, the extent to which this is happening is unclear.
The evolution of PAs has a long history, as indicated by
Carr-Saunders and Wilson (1968). According to Babylon Ltd.
(2009) “a professional association is an organization, usually
non-profit, that exists to further a particular profession, to pro-
tect both the public interest and the interests of profession-
als …” Specifically, involvement of PAs in the development of
competency based approaches to assessing the performance of
students (potential members of the PAs) has been noted by
Gonczi (1994), who comments on the widespread involvement
of Australian PAs in working with governments and universi-
ties on this project. An aspect of this involvement was the op-
portunity for PAs to act as innovators, and in the context of
sustainable development Dzinkowski (2007) and Oblinger
(2009) report examples of how innovation has been facilitated
through PAs.
Hence, PAs may play an important role in shaping the cur-
riculum of university programs—if they choose to do so. How-
ever, are PAs using their influence to promote the adoption of
EfS curriculum? Results from a desk-top (web-based) survey of
PAs in Australia indicated that very few of the PAs have en-
gaged in sustainability and related issues (Thomas et al., 2012).
Roughly 6% of the sample indicated a strong connection to
sustainability (i.e. where the three aspects environment, society

I. THOMAS ET AL.
844
and broad economic understanding were all identifiable). Fur-
ther, only around one-third had accreditation procedures to
influence university programs.
to the development of EfS curriculum. It is like a jig-saw puz-
zle, representing the complexity of relationships associated with
curriculum change. To achieve EfS we may not need to have all
the pieces of the jig-saw fitting perfectly, but we will need most
of the pieces in place before EfS will be embedded.
Overall it appears that for most university programs in Aus-
tralia PAs cannot, currently, be expected to influence the adop-
tion of EfS. However, the results did indicate the potential in-
fluence that PAs could exert, to become another factor in the
range of drivers for EfS.
Does this mean Ockham’s Razor is irrelevant? Is it impossi-
ble to assemble our “EfS jig-saw”? We suggest that it is a diffi-
cult but not impossible task. The complexity of our task is clear.
Yet we suggest that our task is manageable if we use a systemic
approach to recognize the range of elements that make up the
EfS picture, and how they relate to one another. Figure 3 pre-
sents such a relationship, drawing on the elements we have
discussed, including an expansion of some. It preferences the
Is There a Role for Ockham’s Razor2?
From the foregoing what can we conclude? On the surface
we see that there is no simple approach to implementation of
EfS in universities. As we have outlined there are many aspects
Be haviour of graduate sin their pro fessional and
private lives supp o rt ing susta inability
Graduate at tributes
Gr adua te opportunities (pro fessiona l &
social experiences)
Students?Learning
Society:
a dverti sing; pee r
pressur e;
employm ent;
options, ..
E x p er ien ces:
v olunta r y;
N GO work;
projects
Camp us :
sust a i n abilit y of
op erations,
academic
pr ojects; stude nt
groups; class
ro oms; pe e r
behaviour
Reflection:
personal;
academic
L earning
experiences
Se lf-guided Acad emi cs
Beha vi o ur -
m odel for others K nowledge co n vey ed Pedago gy
Experiences Influences:
peers; colleag ues Ca m pus:
sustainability
strategies;
facilit ies;
procedures
Attitudes:
values; cultural
background
Disciplinary
bac kground Values E ducational
ba ckgrou nd
&
experie n ces
Networks:
Communities
of Practice;
conferences;
meetings
Informa tio n
s o u r ces:
texts; journals;
www
Experi en ces Values Disc iplinary
back ground Form al staff developm ent Informal staff developm en t
Own re search,
read in g
Com munities
of Practice:
con ferences,
works hops,
meetings
Re flection – evaluations
(students, pe e rs) , self
generated
Outsid e
university
Figure 3.
Overview of the elements of the Education for Sustainability Jig-Saw.
2The concept of Ockham’s Razor is used in the sciences. It has many interpretations such as: when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same
predictions, the simpler one is the better; and sometimes that the simplest solution is usually the correct one. Broadly the approach is to cut through to the sim-
ple solution or approach.

I. THOMAS ET AL.
role of academics—since including the complexity of univer-
sity strategies is beyond a simple diagram. It highlights the
purpose of EfS—being to educate graduates enabling them to
take action to achieve sustainability.
As with any interpretation of social phenomena this repre-
sentation of the EfS jig-saw is dependent on our understanding
of the situation and its supporting data. Others will have
slightly different interpretations. By illustrating our interpreta-
tion we hope that we will facilitate discussion amongst EfS
researchers, not so much about the precise details of the jig-saw
(Figure 3) but of its broad components and how we can work
creatively with them to bring about change in universities. For-
tunately university staff involved with EfS are in a good posi-
tion to show this creativity, because, as Gardner (2006: pp.
80-81) notes, creativity emerges from the interaction of: an
individual (who has mastered some discipline or domain of
practice); their cultural domain (in which the individual is
working); and their social field that provides “access to relevant
educational experiences as well as opportunities to perform”.
In this article we have briefly outlined the key elements and
connections that we, and other researchers, have been working
on to guide curriculum change. However, the critical aspect of
EfS, and where ockham’s razor helps us, is to recognize the
role that the values of disciplines, and the academics them-
selves, play in influencing change. Value based choices will be
involved in working with all the elements we have discussed:
organizational change; academic development; curriculum de-
velopment and pedagogy; campus as a learning laboratory;
graduate attributes; and the role of professional/accrediting
bodies.
Implementation of EfS will require the creative adoption of
the knowledge and experiences we have discussed above, and
the creative adaption of this understanding to specific situations.
Within this context we can all contribute to the implementation
of EfS if we recognize the issues discussed in this paper, and
tailor our responses to the situations of the university (and dis-
ciplines) we have targeted.
Acknowledgements
Our sincere appreciation goes to all those at RMIT who have
helped with research supported by an Australian Research
Council grant and its associated Community of Practice, plus
colleagues at other universities whose research and discussions
have helped contribute to the literature and thinking around EfS,
especially leading EfS researchers like Prof John Fien.
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