Achieving Both Breadth and Depth: How Sustainability Education Is Being Integrated Across All Undergraduate Courses at La Trobe University, Australia

Abstract

In 2012 La Trobe University decided that every undergraduate student, across every discipline, would have significant and assessed experience of Sustainability Education (SE). The plan for achieving full coverage of SE at La Trobe was reported at a previous World Symposium for Sustainable Development in Higher Education conference (Hocking and Riddle in Aiming for full coverage—integrating sustainability education into all undergraduate courses at La Trobe University, Australia: achievements, lessons learnt and barriers addressed. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 479–493, 2015). Since then, implementing the plan has involved: adopting a university-wide definition of SE; aligned with international definitions, and adaptable within each discipline; establishing a process for tracking subjects and courses that have successfully incorporated SE; and providing education development support for staff, using strategies developed for each discipline context (Hocking in Soc Educ 2015 33(2):26–38, 2015). Across the Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce (ASSC) College (a type of super-faculty), SE has been incorporated in 38 subjects, covering 90% of courses, across all disciplines. Promoting breadth has not compromised depth of development. Two example are: (1) a new common core subject for all Business Degree students called Sustainability; (2) SE is now in five core and elective subjects in the School of Education, increasing the likelihood that students will to encounter SE more than once in education-related degree programs. These outcomes have depended on framing SE as an educational issue, integrated with other university education development initiatives, and taking whole-of-institution approaches that have involved and provided coordination of stakeholders at all levels.