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Article
A process for transition to sustainability: Implementation
Australian Journal of Environmental Education (2011)
  • Sandra Wooltorton, The University of Notre Dame Australia
  • Marilyn Palmer, Edith Cowan University
  • Fran Steele
Abstract
This paper reports the outcomes of the second action cycle of an ongoing project at Edith Cowan University (ECU) called Transition to Sustainability: ECU South West which is located in a small, single faculty regional university campus. The overall project has comprised three action research cycles, the first of which was the planning cycle which established the importance of building a community of practice with a learning stance for sustainability transition. It also highlighted the issue of a common definition of the term sustainability; of including cross-disciplinary perspectives; and of working with the local community. The second action cycle which was the first implementation phase, is the subject of this report. In this phase, we found that by not foreclosing on the meaning of sustainability, important aspects of sustainability were included. Although research participants initially expressed some concern about using an open understanding of sustainability, the problem of the meaning functioned to foster involvement in dialogue. In fact, these ongoing discussions around sustainability and the notion of a sustainable future formed the heart of this action cycle. However there were constraints associated with the subject of dialogue. These included problems of site communication, the maintenance of effective networks and issues around power and authorisation. We observed that each of these elements could work together in ways that enrich and/or obstruct a transition to sustainability. Finally, we found that lack of time hinders participation in sustainability transition projects because of its effect on authentic dialogue, thereby impacting upon the development of collaborative ways of working within the university. Our project is distinctively Australian in that it reflects an emerging movement in Australia to create social frameworks for embedding sustainability education activities. In our project, the transition process by which learning and change has been facilitated comprises the action research itself.
Keywords
  • sustainability implementation process,
  • action research,
  • sustainability learning and change
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter June 14, 2011
DOI
10.1017/S081406260000015X
Publisher Statement
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/australian-journal-of-environmental-education/article/process-for-transition-to-sustainability-implementation/FD972CD99262A5AFFC88625E3404BA6A
Citation Information
Wooltorton, S., Palmer, M., Steele, F. (2011). A process for transition to sustainability: Implementation. In The Australian Journal of Environmental Education 27(1): 160-174.
Creative Commons license
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY International License.