Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable World
Developing a network of transdisciplinary research and practiceTeaching and Learning for a Sustainable World consists of a group of academics at the University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau who are building a network of educators with an interest in sustainability education from across the university and the wider community of educators. Our objective is to share and research teaching strategies that lead to high-quality education about sustainability, resulting in students developing a wide range of competencies, such as values thinking and imagining alternative futures.
In 2023 we received University of Auckland Transdisciplinary Ideation funding to build this network of sustainability education advocates.
Our aims
To build our network we aim to:
• Host a programme of events to connect network members, stimulate collaborations and share insights.
• Develop relationships across university disciplines and sectors and the necessary structures to nurture and extend these relationships indefinitely.
• Co-create innovative research projects on teaching and learning for sustainability.
Our progress
To date we have:
• Organised and hosted a seminar series that runs until the end of 2024, where people who are teaching sustainability in innovative and creative ways share their insights.
• Hosted events to build connections and develop relationships with the partners in our network.
• Begun to build a database of people interested in teaching and learning for a sustainable world.
• Planned a series of workshops to develop a resource to nurture people to become sustainability advocates
Project leads: Dr Sally Birdsall, Professor Niki Harré, and Associate Professor Alys Longley.
Seminar Series
The Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable World seminar series is an exciting online series, combining local presenters with international academics sharing their insights and inspiration around teaching sustainability.
Seminar series
We are running a monthly seminar series to showcase novel and innovative ways other people are teaching about sustainability. These are for anyone with an interest in sustainability education and research. Our seminars cover topics such as transformative education, student engagement in environmental issues, and how to embed eco-consciousness in our education systems.
You can find our upcoming seminars here, and below are links to view our previous seminars. Our seminars are hosted by the Faculty of Education and Social Work.
Maintaining Student Engagement When Teaching about Environmental Problems
Dr Vallée’s talk will focus on the importance of fostering and maintaining student engagement when teaching about environmental problems. While environmental problems are a growing concern and relevant to everyone’s lives, the extent of the problems can leave students feeling overwhelmed, which can lead to apathy and disengagement. In this Environmental Sociology course Dr. Vallée uses numerous strategies to foster and maintain student engagement.
Going Green, One Student at a time!
In her talk, Dr. Akinsemolu will highlight the importance of integrating sustainability into education. She will focus intently on the pivotal role that students play in shaping a more sustainable future, making a compelling argument for immediate action. This presentation serves as a forceful appeal to both educators and policymakers, providing a detailed guide for embedding eco- consciousness within educational systems.
Engaging Students in Climate and Sustainability Action: A Community Psychology and Systems Perspective
In this presentation, Dr Riemer will draw, among others, from his own teaching and research at the cross-section of community psychology, sustainability and systems science, and transformative education to explore key issues related to the engagement of students in climate and sustainability action.
Sustainable Futures and The Role of Imagination in the Green Transition
As part of the research and arts-collective Climaginaries, Ruben Ritzén has helped create soundwalks discussing climate adaptation issues, a travel guide to a sustainable future Skåne and developed a futures-oriented school material based on the tenets of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). He has also extensively researched and worked on Carbon Ruins – an exhibition of the fossil era, a museum set in the future. Drawing on these experiences, Ruben Ritzén will in his talk discuss the power of knowledge-based speculation, the future as political project, the importance of emotionally anchoring abstract climate issues and the concept of active hope.
Engaging Students in Climate and Sustainability Action: A Community Psychology and Systems Perspective
Dr Julia Bentz’s presentation explores creative forms of engagement in social-ecological change and regenerative futures. Delving into storytelling, creative imagination, playful theater, performance practices, and other arts-based methods, this talk inquires into the question of the extent to which imagining, co-creating and telling new stories about regenerative and equitable ways of living enables us to realize new realities. “We cannot create what we cannot imagine,” said the American poet Lucille Clifton. Stories play an important role in transforming social, political, economic and environmental realities because they can challenge our thinking and invite us to seeing new perspectives. Julia Bentz argues for an integrative approach to sustainability transformations and regeneration, one that reconnects body and mind, that fuses art and science and that integrates diverse forms of knowledge in an open, collaborative and creative way. This talk draws on the experiences of arts-based projects in Portugal and Germany, and explores embodied and performative practices and their potential for regenerative futures.
Empowering learners through Mana Ora: Students decarbonising schools project.
Mana Ora speaks to the mana (prestige/power) we have as ira tangata (people) to do right by our taiao/tupuna (environment/ancestor) by enhancing the mauri (life force) and ora (health) of our taiao (environment). This project aimed to enable students, with support, to plan and implement action projects linked to decarbonisation within their schools and kura. In this seminar Bridget Glasgow, Anaru Hetaraka & Rachel Bolstad discuss the successes and challenges for sustaining climate action learning in schools in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Contact us
Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland
Auckland 1010, Aotearoa New Zealand
