LIST OF PANELS

There has been a growing focus on integrating sustainability and policy education (2, 4). The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in education for sustainable development can expand policy studies into a transdisciplinary realm of knowledge co-production and social learning1, (5,6). However, familiar pedagogical methods—like fieldwork, simulation-based learning, and service learning—face several challenges. These can include defining learning outcomes amid the complexity of understanding sustainability while allowing for new ideas, promoting collaboration within competitive evaluation structures, and encouraging mutual learning among stakeholders to achieve social impact (1,3,7,8,10).

With a greater focus on real-world impact, policy researchers are now tailoring their findings to better address practical issues for practitioners (9). Simultaneously, policy education has transformed into a more diverse landscape, incorporating policy challenges into various interdisciplinary curricula, including general education, business, sciences, engineering, and community leadership (7).

This panel is organized around the following central question: What guiding principles are essential for integrating the core tenets of education for sustainable development—such as mutual learning, collaborative spaces, and enabling transformation—into policy education? The panel aims to bring together educators and scholars from diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds to discuss the different theoretical approaches, course design principles, and emerging pedagogies for sustainability-focused policy-oriented courses across various levels of higher education, including undergraduate programs, graduate studies, and capacity-building initiatives for policy professionals.

References

1. Buckley, J.B. and Michel, J.O. 2020. An examination of higher education institutional level learning outcomes. Innovative Higher Education. Vol 45, pp 201–217.

2. Fischer, F., and Miller, G. J. 2006. Handbook of Public Policy Analysis: Theory, Politics, and Methods. CRC Press.

3. Harsell, D.M., Barsky, C., and Golas, S. 2022. Simulation efficacy and applicability: Reported learning from a virtual computer-based pandemic simulation on skill-based competencies among public affairs students. Journal of Public Affairs Education. Vol 28(2), pp 182-210.

4. Jickling, B., & Wals, A. E. J. 2008. Globalization and Environmental Education: Looking Beyond Sustainable Development. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 40(1), 1-21.

5. Kelly, O., White, Peta., Butera, F., Illingworth, S., Martens, P., Huynen, M., Bailey, S., Schuitema, G., and Cowman, S. 2023. A transdisciplinary model for teaching and learning for sustainability science in a rapidly warming world. Sustainability Science. Vol 18, pp 2707-2722.

6. Loltz-Sistika, H., Wals, A.E.J., Kronlid, D., and McGarry, D. 2015. Transformative, transgressive social learning: rethinking higher education pedagogy in times of systemic global dysfunction. Current opinion in Environmental Sustainability. Vol 16, pp 73-80.

7. Nair, S. and Varma, N. 2022. Emerging Pedagogies for Policy Education-Insights from Asia. Springer, Singapore.

8. Salovaara, J.J., Soini, K., and Pietikäinen, J. 2020. Sustainability science in education: analysis of master’s programmes’ curricula. Sustainability Science. Vol 15, pp 901-915

9.  St. Denny, E. and Cairney, P. 2024. ‘Learning how to learn’: Teaching policy analysis from the perspective of the new policy sciences’. In (eds) St. Denny, E and Zittoun, P. 2024. Handbook of teaching public policy. Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham, United Kingdom.

10. Woo, J.J. 2019. Educating for empathy. Service learning in Public Policy education. World Scientific.

Policy education is increasingly emerging as a dynamic landscape asserting an identity beyond disciplinary bindings. Problem solving in the real world now permeates interdisciplinary policy curricula across general education, business, sciences and engineering, and leadership programs. Among the key competencies in teaching policy oriented courses in the 21st century two key ones are around the capacities required for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the ability to communicate science in policy contexts. A shift in teaching and learning—from a focus on foundational knowledge of singular theories to exploring interdisciplinary relationships, from traditional lectures to experiential learning, and from a narrow set of learning outcomes to a broader range that includes methodological application, toolkit creation, and the development of a holistic understanding of policy issues is called for (Nair and Varma, 2022).

This panel will focus on the discourse surrounding education for sustainable development that underscores the need for competencies such as imaginative thinking for transformative change, systems thinking to comprehend the interdependencies between human health and the environment, and emotional intelligence for managing crises. This perspective has the potential to push the boundaries of policy education even further, transforming it from expert-driven interdisciplinary content to transdisciplinary engagement and social learning. It calls for co-produced knowledge by connecting students with real-world problems and involving the wisdom of various stakeholders.

The panel is organized around the following central question: What guiding principles are essential for integrating the core tenets of education for sustainable development—such as mutual learning, collaborative spaces, and enabling transformation—into policy education? We welcome contributions from scholarship of teaching and learning from both educators and researchers from the fields of public policy, public management, sustainability science, development studies, environmental policy and governance, natural resources management, and design and systems thinking, among others.

Broad questions around which paper submissions can be anchored include:

1.What should be the skills and learning outcomes of sustainability focused policy courses?

2.How can course design effectively mainstream sustainability education principles into policy courses?

3.What are the emerging pedagogies for embedding policy courses in sustainability education principles?

4.What are the different types of impact of sustainability focused policy courses and for whom?

5. How can educators evaluate the impact of their teaching and learning of sustainability focussed policy courses?

6.How can Universities create opportunities to enable the mainstreaming sustainability education principles into policy courses?

Reference

Nair, S. and Varma, N. 2022. Emerging Pedagogies for Policy Education-Insights from Asia. Springer, Singapore