The United Nations declared 2005 to 2014 to be the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. This agenda is being implemented enthusiastically in university facilities management and operations, and while research in sustainability is increasingly common, tertiary curriculum has not experienced a similar push. This thesis undertakes to explore the expressions of sustainability in the academic activities of universities, and to determine what sort of change (if any) is appropriate. It also seeks to mediate what has become a polarised debate between idealists and pragmatists around the implementation of EFS. Two key features of the work are: 1) the investigation of sustainability in the aggregate student experience, rather than individual subjects; and 2) returning to first principles to avoid a normative stance a priori.¶ A range of methods is employed adaptively through the process of this alternately broad and deep exploratory study, including: participant observation, interviews, content analysis, questionnaires, social network analysis, bibliometrics, and data clustering. A systemic approach to Canadian and Australian case work captures the diversity of institutional roles and academic motivations at play in adaptation to the EFS agenda.¶ A stasis exists between the literature around higher education curriculum for sustainability and its implementation. The problem is exacerbated by the lack of pedagogical training in most university academics. A long-standing utilitarian sectoral culture and an increasingly job-focused student market further challenge such public-good concepts as sustainability in the academy. Four simple ideas sit at the heart of 35 years of environmental and sustainability education literature, despite changes in jargon: liberal education and broad foundations; interdisciplinarity in problem-solving; cosmopolitan philosophies; and civic action. Relevant disciplinary content includes biology, environmental science, policy, philosophy, human society, economics, and culture. Most of these elements are rare in the Australian sector, which instead offers science and technology-focused environmental programs with flexible requirements. A transition to the human realm is evident in programs targeting sustainability.¶ Curriculum cannot be viewed in isolation, however, as it concerns only one of a university’s many constituencies, and one facet of academic staff scholarship. For example, even in higher education sectors more sympathetic to a diversity of university niches and curricular models, like Canada’s, sustainability offerings operate at a tension from low-cost and low-effort teaching models. So-called ‘umbrella’ networking structures on cross-cutting topics must walk a careful line to be comprehensive yet non-competitive. They present great opportunities for sustainability teaching but are almost uniformly research-focused. A distinct sense emerges that the erosion of the collective identity and activities of academe has weakened the ability of universities to respond to new information and challenges in anything but corporate, isomorphic ways.¶ Two detailed Australian cases of research, research training and curriculum development activities around sustainability paint a rich picture of the agenda. The intractability of fragmentation between disciplines is evident, even in so-called interdisciplinary units. Problem-based topics often do not have an established social network or committee structure, and priorities can differ by budget unit. Disciplines provide identity, peers and cohesive research directions that can be compelling for individual academics. The most fascinating pattern that arises during the mapping of research co-authorship and co-supervisory relationships around sustainability is the bi-directional orientation: academics collaborate outside their departmental home on papers, but within that home to mentor research students. This combination unifies two contrasting theories of social capital transmission – those preferring dense and sparse networks, respectively – and may be ideal. Students then receive consistent messages while gaining access to the largest (non-redundant) set of human and technical resources via their supervisors’ personal networks. This hypothesis should be explored further: if supported, it would have major impacts on the rhetoric around collaboration in interdisciplinary units in particular.¶ Curriculum design processes in utilitarian universities are subject to the same fallibilities in adapting to sustainability as other institutions and the wider society. Change is motivated and moderated by financial imperatives and the scale of thought is often coincident with budgets. Engagement processes are often incomplete or undemocratic, hampered by inadequate leadership and shifting membership. Group learning via research, experimentation or vigorous debate is surprisingly rare. Finally, ad-hoc or project-based academic teams are rarely mandated to tackle the causes of problems, some of which can be intractable, and are limited to treating the symptoms. Incremental pragmatism may be a necessary element to university adaptation for EFS.¶ A number of recommendations are offered to improve interdisciplinarity and university values more generally. Individual academics should: offer additive alternatives to metrics and incentive schemes that maintain existing functions; act on common ground to rebuild a community of scholars; wield to the fullest the freedom in the classroom, and the opportunity to reflect, that university teaching allows; and, continue to debate ideas with passion and rigour, avoiding ‘academic correctness’. University management can contribute by: establishing a clear academic identity for the university beyond ‘excellence’, and supporting firm foundations for students based on that particular vision; taking a proactive view of course review and development and facilitating experimentation in those settings; intentionally fostering interdisciplinary units differently to disciplinary ones; and, establishing and recognising equivalence across a range of successful academic career archetypes.¶ This methodologically innovative work also suggests opportunities for extending the research, including: refining and testing the sustainability canon developed here; better understanding collaborative behaviour and the impact of various models of supervisory teams on student career paths; and, finding better ways of defining, modelling and evaluating interdisciplinary scholarship. Sustainability is likeliest to emerge from a healthy and independent tertiary sector, than one operating as an overt policy instrument.

A large body of evidence suggests physical activity is inversely associated with several cardio-metabolic risk factors among children and adolescents. Despite these health benefits, a majority of youth are not meeting the physical activity guidelines set forth by the USDHHS. Schools have been identified as an ideal vehicle for interventions; however, research evidence indicates school-based interventions are not effective at increasing outside of school physical activity. Goal setting may be a potential effective strategy for increasing physical activity among youth; however no previous studies have examined the effects of goal setting on cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity in middle school students. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a S.M.A.R.T. goal setting and self-monitoring intervention on fitness and physical activity in middle school students. Two middle schools in Tallahassee, FL participated in this study. One school served as the intervention and the other served as a delayed intervention measurement only control. The students in the intervention school completed a one-time S.M.A.R.T. goal setting lesson. During the lesson, students were taught the definition of a goal, the importance of goal setting, and how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals. As part of the lesson, students completed a S.M.A.R.T. goal setting worksheet. The objectives of the worksheet activity were to teach students the concepts of S.M.A.R.T. goal setting and to apply this knowledge by creating personal fitness goals. Student fitness goals were entered into an interactive website that acted as a self-monitoring tool. Before and after the intervention, participating students completed a survey assessing student demographics, physical activity, and physical activity self-efficacy. Cardiorespiratory fitness levels, assessed by the PACER test, were also measured pre and post. Betweengroup differences in post-test scores, adjusted for baseline levels, were assessed for statistical significance using ANCOVA. Additional covariates included gender, race/ethnicity, grade level and weight status. After adjustment for baseline levels, students in the intervention school exhibited significantly higher PACER laps in comparison to the control school ((F[subscript (1,257)] = 58.0) p<0.0001)). The PACER scores in intervention school increased from 40.6 laps to 45.9 laps while the PACER scores in the comparison school decreased. There were no significant between-group differences for physical activity or self-efficacy Although these results require replication in larger studies using a group randomized study design and objective measures of physical activity, the results suggest that teaching students about S.M.A.R.T. goal setting may be a potentially effective strategy for increasing fitness in middle school students and worthy of further investigation / Graduation date: 2013

The United Nations General Assembly recognized the years from 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). Students perspectives on education for sustainable development and student perceptions on action projects for sustainable development are almost absent from the literature. This thesis presents an analysis of students voices and experiences as a result of Youth Forum 2008 (a forum proposed to support high school students as action leaders in sustainability projects) in three different case locations. The study attempts to understand students challenges with their action projects, examining them in the context of dominant discourses and explores supports that can be put into place to facilitate students navigation toward their goals of completing successful action projects for sustainable development.<p> This qualitative study was composed of a series of focus group recorded conversations with ten high school student participants involved in three different school sites who all attempted to complete action projects for sustainable development. Many themes were identified: time, whether projects were extracurricular or curricular, school community, teacher, teacher education, marks/evaluation, community engagement, youth forum and technology. In the examination and interpretation many attractions and distractions for the student participants were identified. By interpreting the students experiences through the language of the students, a deeper understanding of the dominant discourses of schools and society and how they might limit the students highlights broader ideas about students struggles and triumphs in education and with teaching. In the conclusion, I suggest recommendations and I also suggest further avenues for research.

This thesis addresses the significance of the concept of study success in higher education from the perspective of students at five university programs; Business Administration and Economics, Engineering Physics, Medical Education, Social Work and Teacher Education for Upper Secondary Level. The thesis is based on data from three studies conducted between, spring 1993 and autumn 1996. A questionnaire was distributed to all the students enrolled in autumn 1992 to the five programs, regarding students' paths to the university, how they perceived their university studies, and their plans for the future. Fifty-nine of the students were then selected from the five university programs and interviewed on two different occasions. The first interview, conducted mainly during the autumn term of 1993, focused on the respondent's path to the university studies and on different aspects of their lives as students. For a majority of the students, the second interview was conducted about one year later. This interview focused on how the students perceived study success: what was considered to be a good study result, and the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful students. The students were also asked to describe an occasion when they felt successful and unsuccessful, respectively. The results indicate that there is little congruence between the students' perception of study success and that expressed in many public reforms and policies in Sweden. Furthermore, there are both similarities and differences in students' views across the programs. The students at the five programs seemed to relate study success mainly to aspects of Achievement, Process/Strategy, and Comprehension, while aspects related to Personal Growth or Future/Occupation were rarely mentioned. When comparing students' views in the five university programs, the results indicate that an Achievement oriented view dominated among the students in Business Administration and Economics, and Engineering Physics. The students in Engineering Physics and Social Work were more oriented towards Process or Strategy aspects of study success than the students in the other programs. Personal Growth was emphasised as an important aspect only by the Social Work students. Furthermore, students in Social Work and Medical Education were more oriented towards Comprehension than the others. The students in Medical Education and Teacher Education related study success to Future/Occupation to a higher degree that the others. The views on study success seem mainly to be related to aspects in the learning environment, in particular the way the university studies are organised, the examination and grading system, and the contact with the profession. Different recruitment patterns, and the impact of upper secondary education may also be of importance. Influences from the students' prior experiences and their life outside their studies cannot be excluded. Furthermore, the results indicate gender differences. The women seem to view study success in terms of Comprehension, while the men are more oriented towards Achievement. An additional analysis within the categories indicated that the male students seemed to be more self-confident and self-reliant while the female students expressed a more pessimistic view. Furthermore, while the male students view an unsuccessful student only in relation to the individual in question, the female students' view involved the negative consequences of the student's behaviour for other people. / digitalisering@umu

The United Nations General Assembly recognized the years from 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). Students perspectives on education for sustainable development and student perceptions on action projects for sustainable development are almost absent from the literature. This thesis presents an analysis of students voices and experiences as a result of Youth Forum 2008 (a forum proposed to support high school students as action leaders in sustainability projects) in three different case locations. The study attempts to understand students challenges with their action projects, examining them in the context of dominant discourses and explores supports that can be put into place to facilitate students navigation toward their goals of completing successful action projects for sustainable development.<p> This qualitative study was composed of a series of focus group recorded conversations with ten high school student participants involved in three different school sites who all attempted to complete action projects for sustainable development. Many themes were identified: time, whether projects were extracurricular or curricular, school community, teacher, teacher education, marks/evaluation, community engagement, youth forum and technology. In the examination and interpretation many attractions and distractions for the student participants were identified. By interpreting the students experiences through the language of the students, a deeper understanding of the dominant discourses of schools and society and how they might limit the students highlights broader ideas about students struggles and triumphs in education and with teaching. In the conclusion, I suggest recommendations and I also suggest further avenues for research.

Abstract - A business to change the world - An analysis of norms Textbooks for International Economics, in Upper-secondary Schools, Sweden 1994-2008   In this paper textbooks, for International Economics in Upper Secondary Schools in Sweden1994-2008, are analyzed with regard to norms related to taking moral responsibility for environment and society. A method for making discourse analysis, previously illustrated by Östman (2008), is used to deconstruct the knowledge content regarding norms about taking responsibility in relation to different social roles.   The first question is: what different norms about taking responsibility can be found, in relation to different social roles? Different social roles that can be found in the studied material are: business-people, consumers, politicians/civil servants and citizens. Norms of taking responsibility in relation to the environment and society are studied in this paper in relation to these different roles.   The second question is whether a discursive change in the material can be found. One case of discursive change can be found which is related to the role of a business. This discursive change implies that the scope of taking responsibility is slightly moved towards a norm that opens for a possibility of taking moral responsibility.   Thirdly, the different norms are discussed in relation to different functions of education (Biesta 2008 &amp; Säfström 2005) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). An argument is that a subjectifying function of education is vital for en education that wants to make change, which is assumed as a central component of ESD.   One argument, as a result of this study, is that a “window of opportunity” can be found when using this method of discourse analysis to discover the scope of different norms for different roles to take responsibility for environment and society.

The aim of this study is four fold: (1) to determine Middle East Technical University (METU) students&rsquo / familiarity and current understandings of sustainable development, and their views on sustainable living at the campus / (2) to explore their attitudes toward sustainable development, behaviors toward sustainable life styles, and environmental values / (3) to examine their perceptions of their own and society&rsquo / s future / (4) to investigate the significant predictors of their environmental values, and attitudes and behaviors toward sustainable life styles. In addition, Faculty of Education students as future implementers of sustainability education were under investigation with regard to sustainability concerns. The data were collected by online administration of measuring tool to 958 METU students in February-June of 2008. This measuring tool was also administered to 688 Faculty of Education students in classroom environment by the researcher. The results showed that there exist some knowledge gaps in university students&rsquo / perceptions toward different aspects of sustainable development. Furthermore, the respondents had favorable attitudes toward sustainable development and intrinsic values toward the environment. However, looking at the personal behavioral changes, their preferred individual ways of living were not necessarily coherent with sustainability. The results revealed that female students having higher tendency to follow media held more favorable attitudes and behaviors toward sustainable life styles, and more intrinsic environmental values. Moreover, attitudes and values were found to be significant determinants of university students&rsquo / behaviors toward sustainable life styles. Interestingly, Faculty of Education students&rsquo / attitudes were not significantly related to their behaviors toward sustainable life styles.

The aim of this study was to examine how newly qualified social workers from Linnaeus University in Kalmar feel that the school has prepared them with the professional skills to meet the demands that exist within social work. Social work education is a generalist training that will result in a professional qualification. With a qualitative approach eight newly qualified social workers were interviewed.We used the sociology of knowledge as an overall theoretical approach. We also used experience- based knowledge as a theoretical approach. One of the study's conclusion was that the graduates had difficulty linking theory to practice. The graduates also felt that knowledge about the law and dialogue methodology were two useful courses for use in practical work. The results and conclusions can be seen as a reinforcement and extension of previous research in the subject.

The purpose of this study is to examine pupils´ experiences from getting grades in upper secondary education for pupils with learning disabilities and which impact this has on these pupils how they form and get formed as schoolchildren. Four pupils in upper secondary education for pupils with learning disabilities in a Swedish community have participated in qualitative semi-structured interviews. All analysis that has been made has focused on these pupils´ stories about getting grades. I have asked openly formulated questions so that the pupils themselves have had the possibility to highlight those experiences that they want to share. Three categories that I have used, with starting point from the questions in this study, to analyze the answers in the interview material is how the pupils talk about the bases for grading, the pupils´ self-awareness when they talk about their own grades and the pupils´ view when they talk about the importance of grades. The theoretical base of the study is policy enactment. One conclusion of this study is that both teachers and pupils in upper secondary education for pupils with learning disabilities often is based on other factors than what different policy documents says about what should be the ground for teachers grading. One other result with the study is that the pupils in this type of school have a relatively positive view on grades. The result of the study also shows that the pupils that have been interviewed experience grades as something that is important for them even though they don´t seem to be especially aware of their own grades. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka erfarenheter elever inom gymnasiesärskolan har av att få betyg samt vilka konsekvenser detta får för hur elever formas och formar sig som skolelever. Fyra elever som går på en gymnasiesärskola i en svensk kommun har deltagit i kvalitativa halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Samtliga analyser som gjorts har fokuserat på dessa elevers berättelser om att få betyg. Jag har ställt öppet formulerade frågor så att eleverna själva har getts möjlighet att lyfta fram de erfarenheter de själva vill. Tre kategorier som jag har använt mig av, med utgångspunkt från denna studies frågeställningar, för att analysera svaren i intervjumaterialet är hur eleverna berättar om grunderna för betygsättning, elevernas självinsikt i sina berättelser kring sina egna betyg samt elevernas syn i sina berättelser på betygens betydelse. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är policy enactment. En slutsats i denna studie är att såväl lärare som elever i gymnasiesärskolan ofta utgår från andra faktorer än vad som anges i olika policydokument för vad som ska ligga till grund för lärares betygsättning. Ett annat resultat med studien är att eleverna i gymnasiesärskolan har en relativt positiv syn på betyg. Studiens resultat visar även att eleverna som har intervjuats upplever att betygen är viktiga för dem trots att de inte verkar vara särskilt medvetna om sina egna betyg.

Atliekų problema šiuo metu yra pripažinta svarbiausia ir sudėtingiausia aplinkos apsaugos sritimi. Atliekų surinkimas ir pirminis rūšiavimas daugiausia priklauso nuo visuomenės narių geranoriškumo ir sąmoningumo, todėl čia ypač svarbus visuomenės švietimas ir mokymas. Atsižvelgiant į tai, kad sėkmingo atliekų rūšiavimo prielaida yra aplinkosauginis švietimas, galima teigti, jog viena iš priemonių jam įgyvendinti yra mokyklų vykdomos iniciatyvos. Tačiau išryškėja problema, jog dėmesys jų įgyvendinimui nėra pakankamas, nes mokyklų atliekų rūšiavimo iniciatyvos nėra vertinamos ir analizuojamos, siekiant nustatyti jų veiksmingumą. Darbe remiantis mokslinės literatūros analize ir empirinio tyrimo duomenimis ši problema išspręsta. Nustatytas darbo tiklas – išanalizuoti ir įvertinti Lietuvos mokyklų atliekų rūšiavimo iniciatyvas. Darbo pirmame skyriuje aptartas aplinkosauginio švietimo vaidmuo, siekiant ugdyti asmenį sąmoningai suvokiantį atliekų rūšiavimo svarbą. Išanalizuoti Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių mokslo darbai. Panaudoti lyginimo ir apibendrinimo metodai bendroms tendencijoms ir įžvalgoms pateikti. Antrame skyriuje, reminatis Tarptautinių, Europos Sąjungos ir Lietuvos teisės aktų analize, išanalizuotas aplinkosauginio švietimo teisinis reglamentavimas ir nustatytas teisinis pagrindas atliekų rūšiavimo iniciatyvų vykdymui Lietuvos mokyklose. Trečiame skyriuje naudojant duomenų analizės metodą nustatytos ir išanalizuotos Lietuvos mokyklose vykdomos atliekų rūšiavimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The waste problem is now recognized as the most important and difficult area of environmental protection. Waste collection and initial sorting depends largely on the goodwill and awareness of society, so education and training of society are very important. In respect that the environmental education is an assumption for a success of waste sorting, it can be argued that one of the tools to implement it is schools’ initiatives. However, there is a problem that the focus on the implementation of these initiatives is not sufficient because the schools’ waste sorting initiatives are not evaluated and analyzed in order to determine their effectiveness. In this paper this problem is solved on the basis of scientific literature and data of empirical study. In the first section of paper it is discussed the role of environmental education on a purpose to educate a person consciously understanding the importance of waste sorting. Scientific works of Lithuanian and foreign authors’ were analyzed. The comparison and summary methods were used in order to submit the common trends and providences. In the second section on the basis of International, European Union and Lithuanian legislation analysis, legal regulation of environmental education was analyzed, and a legal basis to implement waste sorting initiatives at schools of Lithuania was identified. In the third section using the method of data analysis the waste sorting initiatives implemented by Lithuanian schools were identified... [to full text]