NORWAY-UK COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABILITY IN DESIGN EDUCATION

DS 93: Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2018), Dyson School of Engineering, Imperial College, London. 6th - 7th September 2018

Year: 2018
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Peter Childs, Stephen Green, Ashley Hall, Aran Dasan
Author: Pavel, Nenad; Zitkus, Emilene
Series: E&PDE
Institution: 1: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science, Norway; 2: Cardiff Metropolitan University
Section: Sustainability in Design and Engineering Education
Page(s): 610-615
ISBN: 978-1-912254-02-6

Abstract

Education for sustainability seeks to educate students in a manner that promotes sustainable development, acknowledging upcoming societal, economic, and technological changes and equipping learners to adapt to these developments. This preliminary exploratory study investigates British and Norwegian government strategies and visions that address these changes and compares them to curricula for design education. This study uses a hermeneutical approach to textual interpretation based on emerging topics from the strategies, and analyses the curricula in light of sustainable education and transformative theory. The findings show the similarities between the two countries; both favour technical skills, whereas issues of an aging society and practicing critical reflection are rarely addressed. Therefore, this paper calls for discussion on the formulation of design education curricula and the skills it prioritises.

Keywords: Sustainable design education, design education curriculum, transformative learning

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