Developing students with embedded knowledge and sustainability values is a core commitment of our University Strategic Plan where we commit to embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into all of our degree courses.
To achieve this, we have developed our own University wide framework - The Curriculum for Social Justice, which embeds sustainability values and themes throughout.
This Sustainable Curriculum framework is based upon an ethical imperative to do our best for all our students and will be instrumental in closing the awarding gap, improving the educational experiences that we deliver, creating the best possible outcomes for all our students, and producing socially responsible and sustainable citizens of the future.
This framework is being led by Fiona Shelton, Dean of the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT). Each strand has been developed by key representatives of our academic community, staff, students, Office for Institutional Equity and professional services. The Director of Sustainability, Katie Clegg, co-leads the Education for Sustainable Development strand. Key members of this group also sit on the Framework programme board, which reviews its progress and reports to the University Executive via Academic and Student Experience Boards. Progress of the Curriculum for Social Justice is also a University KPI and reported to annually to then University Executive via CELT.
The programme provides a framework, guidance, training, resources and support to our wider academic community to enable them to embed education for sustainability development. It also supports academic staff to incorporate a number of interconnected themes, such as race equity and wellbeing, into their programmes. Over the course of 2023-24, numerous workshops and sessions have been undertaken with staff to introduce the Curriculum for Social Justice Framework, such as the annual CELT Learning and Teaching Conference and localised staff briefings, to provide space for creative dialogue, collaboration and participation in education for sustainable development.
Throughout the Spring semester of 2024, we have delivered 5 cross institutional training days and provided resources, designed to support academic programme leads to embed the Curriculum for Social Justice (and ESD) into their programmes. These occurred on 20th March 2024, 28th March 2024, 12th April 2024, 16th April 2024 and 23rd May 2024 and were attended by all programme leads across the University. This will be an ongoing annual programme of support, training and guidance to ensure that programmes continue to drive improvement and innovation. Requirements to address the Curriculum for Social Justice (and ESD) are embedded into programme QA and approval processes to ensure continual improvement.