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What transforms? – Transformative learning in a sustainability leadership master’s program
Blekinge Institute of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Strategic Sustainable Development.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7993-7116
Blekinge Institute of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Strategic Sustainable Development.
Blekinge Institute of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Strategic Sustainable Development.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5822-5152
2023 (English)In: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, ISSN 1467-6370, E-ISSN 1758-6739, Vol. 24, no 9, p. 231-251Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose

Transformative learning and leadership are key leverage points for supporting society’s transition towards sustainability. The purpose of this study was to identify the outcomes of transformational learning within an international sustainability leadership master’s program in Sweden. The study also prototypes a typology for transformative learning (TTL) in the context of sustainability leadership education.

Design/methodology/approach

Alumni spanning 15 cohorts provided answers to a survey, and the responses were used to identify the outcomes of the program. Graduates were asked to describe what transformed for them through the program. Empirical data was coded prototyping the use of the TTL in sustainability education context.

Findings

Graduates of the Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability program, described transformation with regards to their Self-in-relation to Others and the World, their Self-knowledge, sense of Empowerment/Responsibility; their Worldview became More Comprehensive or Complex, and they gained New Awareness/New Understandings which transformed their Worldview. Many described transformations in their general Ways of Being in the world. Findings suggest the TTL learning as a good basis for analysis in the education for sustainable development (ESD) context. Suggestions for the TTL include further development of the process that articulates the relational, interdependent and perhaps a priori relationships between elements that transform.

Research limitations/implications

This study presents the outcomes of transformational learning within an international sustainability leadership master’s program. It prototypes the use of a TTL within the ESD context using empirical data. This combination provides practical insights to a dynamic, often theoretical and hard to articulate process.

Originality/value

This study presents the outcomes of transformational learning within an international sustainability leadership master’s program. It prototypes the use of a TTL in the ESD context and assesses the outcomes of a sustainability leadership program using empirical data. This combination provides practical insights to a dynamic, often theoretical and hard to articulate process.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2023. Vol. 24, no 9, p. 231-251
Keywords [en]
Sustainability leadership, ESD, Transformative learning theory, Transformation, Typology
National Category
Learning Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Research subject
Strategic Sustainable Development
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:bth-24757DOI: 10.1108/IJSHE-03-2022-0086ISI: 001001290600001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85163044698OAI: oai:DiVA.org:bth-24757DiVA, id: diva2:1763643
Available from: 2023-06-07 Created: 2023-06-07 Last updated: 2024-05-08Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Education for Sustainability Leadership: Supporting and empowering agents for sustainability transformations
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Education for Sustainability Leadership: Supporting and empowering agents for sustainability transformations
2023 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The global challenges of our time are unprecedented and urgent action for transformation is needed of our systems, policies, institutions and ways of thinking. Education of sustainability leaders is one of the key leverage points to achieve this and many claim that learning on an individual, organisational and societal scale is required for society’s successful transitioning towards sustainability. 

In this relatively new field, practitioners and scholars grapple with what best promotes development of sustainability leadership, and with what competencies, capacities and transformative outcomes educators should be aiming to develop. The aim of this work was therefore to establish an improved understanding of this and to find recommendations for educators with ambitions to create systems change for sustainability by building the capacity of people to be sustainability leaders. 

As an educator and facilitator of sustainability work for over a decade, working at the crossroads of education for sustainability leadership; organisational  and community change, lecturing on leadership for sustainability in Australia and currently being Co-Director of the Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (MSLS) program in Sweden, I have rested this thesis firmly within an action-oriented transformation research paradigm in which the only way to understand a system is through a comprehensive attempt to change it. Seven cases of sustainability leadership education are presented. Methods include surveys with open questions; workshops; interviews; document analysis; and, ethnographic field work. 

The thesis provides support for design of sustainability leadership education through the following outcomes: 

  • Recommendations and improvements on a Typology for Transformative Learning to guide educators in designing and assessing transformative sustainability leadership education; 
  • Eight Intrapersonal Capacities that may provide a map of the Intrapersonal Competence. These are: Hold complexity, Foster a learners mindset, Deeply value others, Let be, Show up as one’s full self, Regulate and manage the self, Persist with lightness and Ensure one’s wellbeing;
  • Suggestions that the integration of the components of community, place, content, pedagogy and disorientation with hope and agency can provide synergistic reinforcement of the sustainability transformation required;
  • Examples of reflection and dialogue as well as creativity and the arts as pedagogies and skills for sustainability leaders;
  • Added evidence that learning can be a key leverage point for sustainability transformations by presenting outcomes and impacts of sustainability education programs where students attempted to make change in their work or world through creativity projects;
  • Outcomes and impacts of an organisation change program within a local government which used education to empower sustainability leaders who then themselves created sustainability outcomes and impacts;
  • Identified challenges of education for sustainability leadership from the perspective of students, learning designers and facilitators of the studied education programs.
  • Challenges within sustainability education more broadly are also presented.

With those outcomes, the thesis contributes to the body of knowledge concerned with building capacity of human beings to facilitate strategic sustainable development work. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Karlskrona: Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, 2023. p. 283
Series
Blekinge Institute of Technology Doctoral Dissertation Series, ISSN 1653-2090 ; 2023:09
Keywords
Education for Sustainable Development, Sustainability Leadership, Sustainability Transformations, Transformative Learning, Systems Change, Strategic Sustainable Development
National Category
Pedagogy Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Learning
Research subject
Strategic Sustainable Development
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:bth-24753 (URN)978-91-7295-460-1 (ISBN)
Public defence
2023-08-31, J1630, 09:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2023-06-07 Created: 2023-06-07 Last updated: 2023-08-17Bibliographically approved
2. Education to Enhance Leaders' Capabilities to Lead Effectively in Complexity towards Sustainability
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Education to Enhance Leaders' Capabilities to Lead Effectively in Complexity towards Sustainability
2024 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Humanity is facing and driving numerous, multifaceted and interconnected crises that are fundamentally endangering the socio-ecological systems’ qualities that are essential for the meeting of human needs in the long term. This thesis considered the role of Education for Sustainable Development as a leverage point to address causes of these crises and support a global transition towards sustainability. The research centered on examining how development of sustainability-focused leadership education within higher education institutes can contribute to the cultivation of durable and effective sustainability leaders. A qualitative action research approach was used to study two educational programs; the Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability program at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden and the Humanitarian Design Summit program operated by Engineers Without Borders Australia. The action research on these cases was supported and complemented by questionnaires, surveys, interviews, content analysis and thematic analysis, as well as literature reviews and mirroring with other similar studies internationally. The research investigated the experiences of participants within these programs, the pedagogies that influenced those experiences and the outcomes of the programs. 

Findings suggest that education can play a significant role in the development of sustainability leadership and the thesis offers guidance and strategies to support that as an outcome from conscious design and operation of sustainability leadership programs. The research highlights the difficult context facing sustainability leadership and the importance of development of ‘inner qualities’ (termed intrapersonal capacities) in response. These capacities may serve as a basis for leaders to endure enacting sustainability leadership by helping them cope with the challenging nature of the work and by providing a clearer language for leadership development. The research also suggests several pedagogical considerations and scaffolds that can be used by educators in their design and cultivation of learning environments for sustainability leadership development. This includes reflections on learning design for transformational learning, the outcomes of transformational learning in students, the use of reflective pedagogies and the development of sustainability-contextualized learning environments. 

The thesis contributes to the fields of sustainability leadership, education for sustainable development and complexity by providing an overview of the state-of the-art of the intersection of these fields and concrete advice and tools to enhance educators’ possibilities to design and implement higher education learning environments that can promote development of leaders capable to cope with and lead effectively in the burdensome and complex reality that sustainability transitions entail.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Karlskrona: Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, 2024. p. 296
Series
Blekinge Institute of Technology Doctoral Dissertation Series, ISSN 1653-2090 ; 2024:07
Keywords
Sustainability, Leadership, Education, Strategic Sustainable Development
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
Strategic Sustainable Development
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:bth-26180 (URN)978-91-7295-480-9 (ISBN)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2024-05-08 Created: 2024-05-08 Last updated: 2024-05-08Bibliographically approved

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Bryant, JayneAyers, JamesMissimer, Merlina

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