Transformative Sustainability Education in Higher Education: Activating Environmental Understanding and Active Citizenship Among Professional Studies Learners

Abstract

Transformative sustainability education (TSE) is an uncommon pedagogical practice in higher education, even though it has a positive impact on student learning and behavioral change. This qualitative case study explored 20 Israeli graduate students' understanding of the social-ecological systems through the analysis of reflections, interviews, and observations. The findings reported that these graduate students displayed a deep understanding of the social-ecological systems when TSE was applied in a higher education course. As such, TSE contributed to these graduate students' knowledge construction along with encouraging their pro-environmental action. We concluded that teacher professional training, especially in higher education, should emphasize knowledge construction as a key for action, as part of TSE, in creating relational change at ontological and epistemological levels