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J. Joachims and K. Lingenau
and human ecology. The main element all of these former independent fields of
research have in common is the long-term perspective on observed incidents (Vilsmaier and Maier 2017). Consequently, ESD-related topics are never going to be
covered conclusively as Scott (2016) points out. They furthermore are characterised
by social processes of learning, which generally follow the objective of improving
the living conditions through an infinite joint negotiation between people. This social
dimension is also stressed by Schneidewind and Singer-Brodowski (2015) who state
that ESD’s main concern is supposed to encourage learners to deal with societal questions and improve the personal ability to recognise and perceive important topics in
this respect. Teaching ESD therefore is strongly concerned with the constant creation
of spaces for simultaneously questioning and shaping aspects of the social, ecological and economical dimensions of everyday life. With respect to the cross-sectional
nature of ESD, the mode of teaching in German higher education is strongly dependent on staff. This means that the scientific background of teaching staff strongly
influences the thematic direction of lectures, research or student projects. This can
be evaluated ambivalently, as the findings of a nationally funded project concerning
sustainability and its integration into the German higher education system suggest:
1. a positive consequence is the creation of multiple thematic connection points
with other scientific fields, bearing the potential for synergies and dissemination
of sustainable principles, while
2. a negative consequence of a certain arbitrariness of the topic also has to be
mentioned (Hoch N 2018).
One major challenge of including transdisciplinary perspectives in one single
approach to ESD is according to Müller-Christ et al. (2015) the oftentimes dilemmatic relationship between decision principles. The challenge of dealing with contradictory success principles has to be overcome in order to be capable of acting in a
sustainable manner—with this also being valid for researching or teaching ESDrelated topics. A practical example from the context of businesses is the relationship between sustainability and efficiency, with the former limiting the latter and
the latter being the, at least in past and present times, main driver for economic
activity. Acting between conflicting poles induces researchers and practitioners to
reinterpret the original meaning of terms, leading in above example to a concept like
eco-efficiency, which streamlines sustainability to become an economic rationale of
“ever-increasing profits while reducing resource consumption as best as possible”
(ibid.).
Teaching in higher education has to face this challenge and find ways to incorporate the characteristics of ESD in approaches to knowledge transmission. Successful
ESD enables learners—regardless of specific topics—to
1. identify dilemmatic relationships between concepts, terms or premises of action,
2. to cope with their contradictory nature, and
3. to find ways to integrate both poles on the same level of meaning (Müller-Christ
2014).
J. Joachims and K. Lingenau
and human ecology. The main element all of these former independent fields of
research have in common is the long-term perspective on observed incidents (Vilsmaier and Maier 2017). Consequently, ESD-related topics are never going to be
covered conclusively as Scott (2016) points out. They furthermore are characterised
by social processes of learning, which generally follow the objective of improving
the living conditions through an infinite joint negotiation between people. This social
dimension is also stressed by Schneidewind and Singer-Brodowski (2015) who state
that ESD’s main concern is supposed to encourage learners to deal with societal questions and improve the personal ability to recognise and perceive important topics in
this respect. Teaching ESD therefore is strongly concerned with the constant creation
of spaces for simultaneously questioning and shaping aspects of the social, ecological and economical dimensions of everyday life. With respect to the cross-sectional
nature of ESD, the mode of teaching in German higher education is strongly dependent on staff. This means that the scientific background of teaching staff strongly
influences the thematic direction of lectures, research or student projects. This can
be evaluated ambivalently, as the findings of a nationally funded project concerning
sustainability and its integration into the German higher education system suggest:
1. a positive consequence is the creation of multiple thematic connection points
with other scientific fields, bearing the potential for synergies and dissemination
of sustainable principles, while
2. a negative consequence of a certain arbitrariness of the topic also has to be
mentioned (Hoch N 2018).
One major challenge of including transdisciplinary perspectives in one single
approach to ESD is according to Müller-Christ et al. (2015) the oftentimes dilemmatic relationship between decision principles. The challenge of dealing with contradictory success principles has to be overcome in order to be capable of acting in a
sustainable manner—with this also being valid for researching or teaching ESDrelated topics. A practical example from the context of businesses is the relationship between sustainability and efficiency, with the former limiting the latter and
the latter being the, at least in past and present times, main driver for economic
activity. Acting between conflicting poles induces researchers and practitioners to
reinterpret the original meaning of terms, leading in above example to a concept like
eco-efficiency, which streamlines sustainability to become an economic rationale of
“ever-increasing profits while reducing resource consumption as best as possible”
(ibid.).
Teaching in higher education has to face this challenge and find ways to incorporate the characteristics of ESD in approaches to knowledge transmission. Successful
ESD enables learners—regardless of specific topics—to
1. identify dilemmatic relationships between concepts, terms or premises of action,
2. to cope with their contradictory nature, and
3. to find ways to integrate both poles on the same level of meaning (Müller-Christ
2014).