Work-based learning as a catalyst for sustainability: a review and prospects. Issue 2 (8th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wall, Tony; Hindley, Ann; Hunt, Tamara; Peach, Jeremy; Preston, Martin; Hartley, Courtney; Fairbank, Amy
• Is Part Of: Higher education, skills and work-based learning. Volume 7:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: 211
• Page End: 224
• Publication Date: 2017-05-08
• Subjects: Work-based learning -- Education for sustainable development -- Climate literacy; Vocational education -- Periodicals; Education, Higher -- Periodicals; 370.11305
• DOI: 10.1108/HESWBL-02-2017-0014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2042-3896

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the continuing dearth of scholarship about the role of work-based learning in education for sustainable development, and particularly the urgent demands of climate literacy. It is proposed that forms of work-based learning can act as catalysts for wider cultural change, towards embedding climate literacy in higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws data from action research to present a case study of a Climate Change Project conducted through a work-based learning module at a mid-sized university in the UK. Findings: Contrary to the predominantly fragmented and disciplinary bounded approaches to sustainability and climate literacy, the case study demonstrates how a form of work-based learning can create a unifying vision for action, and do so across multiple disciplinary, professional service, and identity boundaries. In addition, the project-generated indicators of cultural change including extensive faculty-level climate change resources, creative ideas for an innovative mobile application, and new infrastructural arrangements to further develop practice and research in climate change. Practical implications: This paper provides an illustrative example of how a pan-faculty work-based learning module can act as a catalyst for change at a higher education institution. Originality/value: This paper is a contemporary call for action to stimulate and expedite climate literacy in higher education, and is the first to propose that certain forms of work-based learning curricula can be a route to combating highly bounded and fragmented approaches, towards a unified and boundary-crossing approach.