Sustainability in Higher Education: Beyond …
185
2 Sustainability at Bristol
Much like the City of Bristol, the University of Bristol has a long history of sustainability action, winning numerous awards for its work. Sustainability remains one
of the central strands shaping the University’s vision of the future. The University
has been working to create a culture of sustainability for many years, pioneered by
the work of Professor of Sustainability and Law, Chris Willmore, and Martin Wiles,
Head of Sustainability (Walsh, in review). From 2011, University of Bristol joined
the HEA Green Academy initiative and a newly formed ESD team developed a fivering model, “to map and assess progress for sustainability in four key areas: estates,
the informal curriculum, research and the formal curriculum, which are encompassed
by community” (Tierney et al. 2015, p. 509), to demonstrate that we need to not only
focus on changes in the formal curriculum to include economic, environmental and
social sustainability, we need to reinforce what students are learning outside of the
classroom through the subliminal curriculum and their extra-curricular activities.
The ESD team developed several projects to support academics and students
to embed sustainability in their curriculum. They developed a curriculum mapping
project which helped to understand the changing nature of the formal curriculum, they
conducted regular reviews of the ESD content within all our units and programmes
(Tierney et al. 2015). This helped shape engagement with academic schools. The
team provided a wide range of online resources, tailored for each school, as well as
delivering training sessions to staff and students as part of the CREATE scheme, the
University’s continuing professional development scheme for academics. Another
key method for embedding ESD within the curriculum is through the Green Apple
Scheme, a funding mechanism that supports academics who wish to develop new
teaching and learning practices. Through this scheme, teaching staff receive support
to develop projects that embed ESD principles within their discipline, and students
can contribute ideas and suggestions to help shape the future of their courses.
In 2013, the University of Bristol Students’ Union (Bristol SU) received £175,000
of the NUS’ Students’ Green Fund to develop Get Green—a two-year project which
aimed to create a transformational change in student attitudes and behaviours towards
sustainability and sustainable development. Bristol SU aimed to build on the work
of the University of Bristol ESD team to facilitate students to develop the skills and
values to create positive sustainable change, leading to a cultural change towards
sustainability (Walsh 2015). To deliver on an extensive range of targets the Get Green
team developed a four-step approach—Learn Act Engage Create—to engage students
in economic, social and environmental sustainability. The approach was underpinned
by active learning theory and maximised peer-to-peer engagement. The four-step
approach involved students engaging with ESD through their formal curriculum and
then building on their experiences by participating in, and leading, projects and
campaigns outside of their course (Walsh 2015; Walsh, in review).
185
2 Sustainability at Bristol
Much like the City of Bristol, the University of Bristol has a long history of sustainability action, winning numerous awards for its work. Sustainability remains one
of the central strands shaping the University’s vision of the future. The University
has been working to create a culture of sustainability for many years, pioneered by
the work of Professor of Sustainability and Law, Chris Willmore, and Martin Wiles,
Head of Sustainability (Walsh, in review). From 2011, University of Bristol joined
the HEA Green Academy initiative and a newly formed ESD team developed a fivering model, “to map and assess progress for sustainability in four key areas: estates,
the informal curriculum, research and the formal curriculum, which are encompassed
by community” (Tierney et al. 2015, p. 509), to demonstrate that we need to not only
focus on changes in the formal curriculum to include economic, environmental and
social sustainability, we need to reinforce what students are learning outside of the
classroom through the subliminal curriculum and their extra-curricular activities.
The ESD team developed several projects to support academics and students
to embed sustainability in their curriculum. They developed a curriculum mapping
project which helped to understand the changing nature of the formal curriculum, they
conducted regular reviews of the ESD content within all our units and programmes
(Tierney et al. 2015). This helped shape engagement with academic schools. The
team provided a wide range of online resources, tailored for each school, as well as
delivering training sessions to staff and students as part of the CREATE scheme, the
University’s continuing professional development scheme for academics. Another
key method for embedding ESD within the curriculum is through the Green Apple
Scheme, a funding mechanism that supports academics who wish to develop new
teaching and learning practices. Through this scheme, teaching staff receive support
to develop projects that embed ESD principles within their discipline, and students
can contribute ideas and suggestions to help shape the future of their courses.
In 2013, the University of Bristol Students’ Union (Bristol SU) received £175,000
of the NUS’ Students’ Green Fund to develop Get Green—a two-year project which
aimed to create a transformational change in student attitudes and behaviours towards
sustainability and sustainable development. Bristol SU aimed to build on the work
of the University of Bristol ESD team to facilitate students to develop the skills and
values to create positive sustainable change, leading to a cultural change towards
sustainability (Walsh 2015). To deliver on an extensive range of targets the Get Green
team developed a four-step approach—Learn Act Engage Create—to engage students
in economic, social and environmental sustainability. The approach was underpinned
by active learning theory and maximised peer-to-peer engagement. The four-step
approach involved students engaging with ESD through their formal curriculum and
then building on their experiences by participating in, and leading, projects and
campaigns outside of their course (Walsh 2015; Walsh, in review).