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In this talk/paper I will try to link the three themes of this conference by discussing and, indeed, critiquing, education in the context of sustainable development (ESD) from a perspective of critical thinking and transformative learning. I will argue that our quest for a more sustainable world requires a sense of place and identity as well as decolonizing pedagogies and socially responsible knowledge co-creation. The search for sustainability cannot be limited to classrooms, the corporate boardroom, a local environmental education center, a regional government authority, etc. Instead, learning in the context of sustainability requires 'hybridity' and synergy between multiple actors in society and the blurring of formal, non-formal and informal education. A good example of such hybridity can be found in the so-called 'whole school approaches to sustainability' where schools establish linkages between questions around food, energy and health and the curriculum (both espoused and hidden and the community of which it is part). Opportunities for this type of learning expand with an increased permeability between units, disciplines, generations, cultures, institutions, sectors and so on. At the same time we must beware of the use of sustainability and sustainability education in a-critical ways that, albeit intentionally or unintentionally, lead to a consolidation of current hegemonic (economic) systems and educational practices thereby amplifying unsustainability. I will base my argument on a review I did for UNESCO of the kinds of learning that are emerging in the context of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.Keywords: transformative learning, transformative learning, emerging educations.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify components and educational design principles for strengthening sustainability competence in and through higher education.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper that uses an exemplary autobiographical empirical case study in order to illustrate and support a line of reasoning.FindingsA number of "Gestalts" of mind‐sets of sustainability competence and key elements of the learning processes needed for developing such competence have been identified.Originality/valueThis is one of the first papers to consider sustainability competence from a transformative social learning perspective. The value of the paper lies in its potential to help teachers of university courses in re‐designing their educational processes with sustainability competence in mind.

It is higher education's responsibility to continuously challenge and critique value and knowledge claims that have prescriptive tendencies. Part of this responsibility lies in engaging students in socio‐scientific disputes. The ill‐defined nature of sustainability manifests itself in such disputes when conflicting values, norms, interests, and reality constructions meet. This makes sustainability – its need for contextualization and the debate surrounding it – pivotal for higher education. It offers an opportunity for reflection on the mission of our universities and colleges, but also a chance to enhance the quality of the learning process. This paper explores both the overarching goals and process of higher education from an emancipatory view and with regard to sustainability.

Problematics -- The Problematics of Sustainability in Higher Education: An Introduction -- The Evolution of Sustainability Declarations in Higher Education -- Sustainability as Emergence: The Need for Engaged Discourse -- Critical Realism: A Philosophical Framework for Higher Education for Sustainability -- Higher Education, Sustainability, and the Role of Systemic Learning -- Assessing Sustainability: Criteria, Tools, and Implications -- The Problematics of Sustainability in Higher Education: A Synthesis -- Promise -- The Promise of Sustainability in Higher Education: An Introduction -- Environmental Education for Sustainability: A Force for Change in Higher Education -- The Contribution of Environmental Justice to Sustainability in Higher Education -- Learning Our Way to a Sustainable and Desirable World: Ideas Inspired by Arne Naess and Deep Ecology -- The Contribution of Ecofeminist Perspectives to Stainability in Higher Education -- Sustainability and Transformative Educational Vision -- Teaching Interactive Approaches to Natural Resource Management: A Key Ingredient in the Development of Sustainability in Higher Education -- Living Sustainably Through Higher Education: A Whole Systems Design Approach to Organizational Change -- Disciplinary Explorations of Sustainable Development in Higher Education -- The Promise of Sustainability in Higher Education: A Synthesis -- Practice -- The Practice of Sustainability in Higher Education: An Introduction -- Education and Sustainabile Development in United Kingdom Universities: A Critical Exploration -- Lighting Many Fires: South Carolina's Sustainable Universities Initiative -- Integrating Education for the Environment and Sustainability Into Higher Education at Middlebury College -- Sustainability in Higher Education Through Distance Learning: The Master of Arts in Environmental Education at Nottingham Trent University -- The Pedagogy of Place: The Environmental Technology Center at Sonoma State University -- Developing Sustainability in Higher Education Using Aishe -- Curriculum Deliberation Amongst Adult Learners in South African Community Contexts at Rhodes University -- Incorporating Sustainability in the Education of Natural Resource Managers: Curriculum Innovation at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University of Denmark -- The Practice of Sustainability in Higher Education: A Synthesis.

Purpose
This study aims to demonstrate which course elements were responsible for community building, fostering subjectification and learning for being in an online course on environmental and sustainability education (ESE) during the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing.


Design/methodology/approach
The study investigates a graduate-level course on Environmental Education for Sustainable Living that due to COVID-19 had to be taught mainly online. A retrospective analysis was conducted when the facilitators reflected on why the course, against expectations, appeared to have affected so many students in such a meaningful and profound way as shown by their personal reflections and the course evaluation. Methodologically, this study can be described as explorative and interpretative, although it was complemented by a standardised empirical analytical end-of course evaluation.


Findings
Within the context of this study, sense of community is linked to and facilitated by the online learning environment and the educators' and students' roles throughout the course. This study found that interaction and inclusion can be augmented by a hybrid educational design and supported by the mutual efforts of educators and students. Reflective tasks and discussions most prominently evoked subjectification. The encouragement of students to see themselves as central subjects and the inclusion of creative tasks supported both personal exploration and sense of community.


Originality/value
This study provides educational institutions teaching online with valuable information regarding course elements that foster subjectification and create a sense of community. This is particularly of interest for the design of online ESE emphasising learning for being and more relational approaches towards teaching and learning.

This edited collection invites educational practitioners and theorists to speculate on - and craft visions for - the future of environmental and sustainability education. It explores what educational methods and practices might exist on the horizon, waiting for discovery and implementation. A global array of authors imagines alternative futures for the field and attempts to rethink environmental and sustainability education institutionally, intellectually, and pedagogically. These thought leaders chart how emerging modes of critical speculation might function as a means to remap and redesign the future of environmental and sustainability education today.Previous volumes within this United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development series have responded to the complexity of environmental education in our contemporary moment with concepts such as social learning, intergenerational learning, and transformative leadership for sustainable futures. 'Envisioning Futures for Environmental and Sustainability Education' builds on this earlier work - as well as the work of others. It seeks to foster modes of intellectual engagement with ecological futures in the Anthropocene; to develop resilient, adaptable pedagogies as a hedge against future ecological uncertainties; and to spark discussion concerning how futures thinking can generate theoretical and applied innovations within the field.

PurposeBy envisioning the learning environment as an eco-social system, this study aims to map interrelated enablers of students' sustainability-oriented learning (SoL) in the context of a university course at the interface of science and society.Design/methodology/approachA case-study approach was used to delineate what enables student learning in a university-wide transdisciplinary Master of Science course. A sample of 102 students, university and societal stakeholders participated to this study, by sharing their experiences and views through focus groups and questionnaires.FindingsA main finding is the development of a configuration of six intertwined enablers that through their interplay help to cultivate students' SoL, in the course under exploration.Originality/valueThis study paves the way for a re-orientation of how to explore learning in complex environments. It shows that adopting a relational, situated and systems approach is not only feasible but is also desirable to understand and guide learning practices in complex environments.

"The environment and contested notions of sustainability are increasingly topics of public interest, political debate, and legislation across the world. Environmental education journals now publish research from a wide variety of methodological traditions that show linkages between the environment, health, development, and education. This growth in scholarship makes this an opportune time to review and consolidate the knowledge base of the environmental education (EE) field. The purpose of this 51-chapter handbook is not only to illuminate the most important concepts, findings and theories that have been developed by EE research, but also to critically examine the historical progression of the field, its current debates and controversies, what is still missing from the EE research agenda, and where that agenda might be headed. Published for the American Educational Research Association (AERA)"--

Purpose
This study aims to bring together the available scattered knowledge about teaching and learning in Living Labs within higher education, and to explore their potential for supporting students' sustainability-oriented transformative learning.


Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was conducted, applying a realist approach. A sample of 35 articles was analyzed qualitatively, mapping the data according to the realist constructs "context," "intervention," "mechanism" and "outcome" and using the constant comparison method for data analysis.


Findings
This study identified multiple characteristics of teaching and learning in sustainability-oriented Living Labs, namely, two socio-physical teaching and learning contexts, two pedagogical approaches as interventions therein, four learning processes as (potential) mechanisms and six sustainability-related learning outcomes. Two main challenges were also identified.


Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that brings together the scattered results from previous studies into a comprehensive description of characteristics and challenges of teaching and learning in Living Labs as sustainability-oriented learning spaces in higher education. The findings can support educators in making scientifically grounded informed choices for teaching and learning in Living Labs and inform future empirical studies to examine when, how and why certain characteristics of teaching and learning in Living Labs, as identified in this study, can support sustainability-oriented transformative learning in higher education.