The Integration of Competencies for Sustainable …
593
3 Competencies and Sustainable Development
The educational literature highlights the critical role of defining the key competencies
in order to teach the academic programmes successfully (Baartman et al. 2007; Wiek
et al. 2011). Competency-based approaches focus on the “output” of educational
process and primarily ask what should be learnt instead of asking what should be
taught (Hesselbarth and Schaltegger 2014; De Hann 2006).
The concept of competency is defined in many different ways; however, a common
notion of most descriptions of competency is that it consists of knowledge, skills and
attitudes (Baartman et al. 2007). Rieckmann (2012) emphasises that competencies
may be characterised as individual dispositions to self-organisation, which include
cognitive, affective, volitional (with deliberate intention) and motivational elements.
In this paper, the definition of Rychen and Salganik (2003) is employed defining
competencies as “the ability to successfully meet complex demands in a particular context through the mobilisation of psychological prerequisites (including both
cognitive and non-cognitive aspects)” (p. 43). Moreover, in the literature, the differentiation between competencies and key competencies can be found (Lambrechts et al.
2010; Barth et al. 2007). Key competencies refer to those competencies useful and
relevant for everybody and in different contexts (Lambrechts et al. 2013). They can
be understood as transversal, multifunctional and context-independent (UNESCO
2017).
Introducing competencies for SD can be seen as a relevant step towards the SD
integration in HEIs. Stough et al. (2018) see the value of competencies for SD in the
fact that these competencies clarify “the broad and blurry” concept of ESD and enable
the agents of HEIs to integrate ESD in different study programmes. However, to date
there is no general agreement on a fixed and unified list of SD competencies (De Haan
2006; Roorda 2010; Sleurs 2008) and this could lead to the opinion that “literature
is still dominated by the “laundry lists” of competencies rather than conceptually
embedded sets of interlinked competencies” (Wiek et al. 2011, p. 204).
Table 1 gives a brief overview of the competencies for SD demonstrating some
similarities and differences of various sets.
As can be seen from Table 1, De Haan (2006) introduces the set of “Gestaltungskompetenz” (“shaping competency”) developed in Germany. The “shaping
competency” encompasses a set of key competencies, which are expected to enable
active, co-operative and reflective participation towards SD (Rieckmann 2012). As
stated by De Haan (2006), “those who possess this competency can help, through
their active participation in society, to modify and shape the future of society, and
to guide its social, economic, technological and ecological changes along the lines
of sustainable development” (p. 22). Roorda (2010) underlines that responsibility,
emotional intelligence, system thinking, future orientation, personal involvement
and action skills are the most important for education for SD. Wiek et al. (2015)
defined competencies in sustainability “as complexes of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable successful task performance and problem solving with respect to
real-world sustainability problems, challenges, and opportunities” (p. 242). Based
593
3 Competencies and Sustainable Development
The educational literature highlights the critical role of defining the key competencies
in order to teach the academic programmes successfully (Baartman et al. 2007; Wiek
et al. 2011). Competency-based approaches focus on the “output” of educational
process and primarily ask what should be learnt instead of asking what should be
taught (Hesselbarth and Schaltegger 2014; De Hann 2006).
The concept of competency is defined in many different ways; however, a common
notion of most descriptions of competency is that it consists of knowledge, skills and
attitudes (Baartman et al. 2007). Rieckmann (2012) emphasises that competencies
may be characterised as individual dispositions to self-organisation, which include
cognitive, affective, volitional (with deliberate intention) and motivational elements.
In this paper, the definition of Rychen and Salganik (2003) is employed defining
competencies as “the ability to successfully meet complex demands in a particular context through the mobilisation of psychological prerequisites (including both
cognitive and non-cognitive aspects)” (p. 43). Moreover, in the literature, the differentiation between competencies and key competencies can be found (Lambrechts et al.
2010; Barth et al. 2007). Key competencies refer to those competencies useful and
relevant for everybody and in different contexts (Lambrechts et al. 2013). They can
be understood as transversal, multifunctional and context-independent (UNESCO
2017).
Introducing competencies for SD can be seen as a relevant step towards the SD
integration in HEIs. Stough et al. (2018) see the value of competencies for SD in the
fact that these competencies clarify “the broad and blurry” concept of ESD and enable
the agents of HEIs to integrate ESD in different study programmes. However, to date
there is no general agreement on a fixed and unified list of SD competencies (De Haan
2006; Roorda 2010; Sleurs 2008) and this could lead to the opinion that “literature
is still dominated by the “laundry lists” of competencies rather than conceptually
embedded sets of interlinked competencies” (Wiek et al. 2011, p. 204).
Table 1 gives a brief overview of the competencies for SD demonstrating some
similarities and differences of various sets.
As can be seen from Table 1, De Haan (2006) introduces the set of “Gestaltungskompetenz” (“shaping competency”) developed in Germany. The “shaping
competency” encompasses a set of key competencies, which are expected to enable
active, co-operative and reflective participation towards SD (Rieckmann 2012). As
stated by De Haan (2006), “those who possess this competency can help, through
their active participation in society, to modify and shape the future of society, and
to guide its social, economic, technological and ecological changes along the lines
of sustainable development” (p. 22). Roorda (2010) underlines that responsibility,
emotional intelligence, system thinking, future orientation, personal involvement
and action skills are the most important for education for SD. Wiek et al. (2015)
defined competencies in sustainability “as complexes of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable successful task performance and problem solving with respect to
real-world sustainability problems, challenges, and opportunities” (p. 242). Based