Three "Powerfuls" for the sustainability curriculum in higher education: Investigating empowering knowledge for sustainability students

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this research is to define theoretical/conceptual and practical knowledge from different disciplines and sustainability as an academic field, that has the potential to empower students to influence the world towards sustainability and that could constitute components for the sustainability curriculum in higher education. This thesis will use three curriculum concepts of knowledge to serve that aim.

Theory: To serve that aim, the thesis makes use of three curriculum concepts of knowledge, Powerful knowledge (Young, 2009, 2013; Young & Muller, 2013; Muller & Young, 2019), Powerful regional knowledge (Shay & Steyn, 2015) and Powerful knowings (Carlgren, 2020, 2023).

Method: The study has a qualitative research design and utilises two focus groups with academics from various disciplines, who research sustainability and are teachers and curriculum planners of master’s programmes in sustainability in Sweden, to investigate theoretical/conceptual and practical knowledge from disciplines and sustainability as an academic field that could constitute components for the sustainability curriculum in higher education.

Results: By laying out and analysing the data from the two focus groups, the thesis defines several Powerful ‘knowledges’ from disciplines, namely ‘systems thinking’, knowledge about ‘gender, power and discourses’, knowledge about how ‘social sciences and social theory can support critical questioning towards natural sciences and technical solutions to sustainability problems’, ‘scientific knowledge of principles, numbers and scales related to sustainability issues’, knowledge from ‘political science’, ‘geographical knowledge’, knowledge about ‘earth system processes in relation to sustainability’, knowledge of the ‘separation of law and morality’ and ‘juridical knowledge about the law’. In addition, ‘socio-ecological frameworks’, ‘complexity’ and ‘environmental communication’ are defined as Powerful regional ‘knowledges’. Moreover, the disciplinary Powerful knowings defined are the capability of ‘problem identification, quantification and being able to measure sustainability problems’ and the capability to use disciplinary lenses’ to approach sustainability problems. The defined Powerful knowings from the academic field of sustainability are the capabilities of being ‘open-minded’, ‘engaging in interdisciplinary work and collaboration to tackle sustainability issues’, ‘unlearning

Western academic knowledge and its production processes’ and ‘thinking about justice and sustainability’. Importantly, the results expand the research on components of importance for the sustainability curriculum, which can have practical implications for curriculum design of master’s programmes in sustainability in higher education.