Yared Nigussie Demssie (University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and PhD candidate at Wageningen University) conducted research on the role of worldviews and indigenous knowledge in curricula on sustainability in higher education. His article ‘Combining Indigenous Knowledge and Modern Education to Foster Sustainability Competencies: Towards a Set of Learning Design Principles’, is now published open access in the journal Sustainability (2019 Impact Factor 2.576). It is part of the Special Issue on Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development II.
The essence of this article is the idea that theories and methods for enhancing sustainability competence development of students in Higher Education are typically dominated by western worldviews. To further foster sustainability competence worldwide it may be wise to put more emphasis on the inclusion of indigenous views on, knowledge of and pedagogies for sustainability development and learning. The study proposes five learning design principles to stimulate inclusive sustainability competence development: 1. define worldviews; 2. utilize indigenous knowledge; 3. use sustainability-oriented pedagogies; 4. engage learners; 5. and build on students’ experiences.
The Abstract of the article can be found on: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/6823.
The PDF Version of the article can be downloaded from: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/6823/pdf.
The link to the Special Issue is:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/Competencies_ESD_II.
The full reference of the publication is: Demssie, Y.N., Biemans, H.J.A., Wesselink, R., & Mulder, M. (2020). Combining Indigenous Knowledge and Modern Education to Foster Sustainability Competencies: Towards a Set of Learning Design Principles. Sustainability, 12, 6823, 1-20; doi:10.3390/su12176823.
