DOI
10.1080/13504622.2012.753413

Summary
This study is concerned with the thee role of systems theory and its part in Education for Sustainability (EfS). The Land & Meyers notion of ‘threshold concept’ is discussed and critiqued for its contribution to understanding and learning the processes of sustainability.

EfS literature describes multiple key competencies required for student learning. These include interdisciplinary skills, critical thinking, working with multiple stakeholders, foresighted thinking, dealing with complexity and uncertainty, social justice and equity, care for the environment and the physical world, and a big picture perspective (each competency referenced to the relevant author). Sandri defines systems thinking and threshold concepts and goes on the discuss critiques of the theory and discusses them and their relevance to learning for sustainability. The author then goes on to describe those ideas/concepts and their relationship with sustainability in the educational context which leads to final conclusions of recommendation for the teaching process – detailed below.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
This study is highly relevant to the teaching and learning activities of sustainable development. It offers a host of useful and relevant knowledge on complex systems.




Systems thinking is described in section ‘Defining systems thinking’ as ‘to make sense of the complexity of the world, we need to look at it in terms of wholes and relationships rather than splitting it down into parts and looking at each in isolation’ (Ramage & Shipp 2009)




Education for Sustainability (EfS) is described here as a tool that ‘asks learners to engage with complex and seemingly unsolvable problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss and social inequality’ and as ‘a transformative approach that sees learners develop skills and competencies for partnership, participation and action’. The key competencies of EfS are detailed in the introductory section and are relevant to the requirements or expectation of student learning thus relevant as a contribution to sustainable development curriculum.

The author states that ‘Educators can help make sustainability learning and teaching more effective by experimenting with different ways of engaging with systems in EfS’.

The author also states that ‘any effective learning for sustainability must include awareness and appreciation of system approaches to adequately understand and respond to complex issues’.

Land & Meyers define ‘threshold concepts’ as ‘those that are keys to understanding a particular disciplinary framework or theory’.

Morris & Martin (2009) describe systems theory as ‘….learners cannot deal with the wicked problems of sustainability without learning to think and act systemically’ and Dale & Newman add that ‘complex adaptive systems theory and thinking plays a key role in developing sustainable development literacy’

 

Point of Strength
EfS key competencies are detailed in the introduction. Here, the competencies are listed with an author reference(s) accompanying each competency. The competencies themselves are a valuable aspect of the study but the referenced authors may be a useful and quick solution to a literature review of EfS or key competencies of sustainable development practice in general.

There is a full section comprised of a page and half called ‘Defining systems thinking’. Similarly, there is a full section, one page, called ‘Defining threshold concepts’ - these sections contain valuable information.

The assessment of the EfS learning programme under the threshold concept brings forth a valuable opportunity for using this specific topic teaching. The background literature presented in this study could be directly extracted for use as a learning activity.

The paper describes and defines EfS, ‘threshold concepts’ and systems theory as mentioned above – these may be useful in the learning environment or as a reference for other studies.




Sustainability tools/teaching resources recommended for their ability to enhance students awareness and appreciation (as stated above) are listed as follows ; Triple Bottom Line, lifecycle analysis, stakeholder identification and long term scenario planning.

Other mentioned teaching tools include:

Syndrome approach.
Scenario analysis.
Problem-based interdisciplinary learning modules.
Systems maps.
Multiple-cause (alternatively, causal loop) diagrams.
Field trip (briefly described on page 820)