Education for Sustainable Development

Curriculum Transformation Programme

Embedding the SDGs in Teaching and Learning at Swansea University.

Swansea University is transforming its curriculum ensuring all students develop the knowledge and skills needed to address global challenges. Our Curriculum Transformation Programme embeds sustainability, climate awareness, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across teaching, assessment, and programme design.

This work is strengthening the Graduate Attribute “Address Global Challenges”, ensuring every student, regardless of discipline, understands how their subject connects to real-world environmental, social, and economic issues. This includes integrating relevant SDGs into modules, promoting applied and interdisciplinary learning and supporting staff to embed sustainability more explicitly in their teaching through resources and training.

“As an example, within Psychology, the new final-year module 'The Psychology of Building a Better World' teaches students to do systems-level analysis of social problems and build theories of change; the module's assessment explicitly tests students' abilities to make evidence-based proposals to policymakers"

             Professor Ian Walker – Head of School of Psychology at Swansea University.

Our goal is to prepare graduates who are globally aware, ethically minded, and equipped with sustainability-focused competencies that employers value and society needs. More information about Swansea University’s Curriculum Transformation Programme.

Student-Led Sustainability Curriculum Mapping

Between November and December 2024, 11 Swansea University students trained as auditors by SOS successfully mapped 363 modules across nine academic schools, assessing how sustainability is embedded in teaching and learning.

Key Findings:

SDG Coverage

• Most commonly mapped: SDG 3 (20%), SDG 16 (18%), SDG 4 (15%).
• Least mapped: SDG 2 (~1%), SDG 14 (~1.9%), SDG 6 (~2%).
• Strongest performance: School of Health and Social Care (33%) and School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics (29%).

Sustainability Skills

• Sustainability skill areas performed strongly overall.
• Critical thinking appeared in 70% of modules and seeing the bigger picture (38%), ethics/values and collaborative problem solving (~30%).
• Understanding sustainable development and challenging business as usual, lowest scoring (6–7%).

ESD Teaching Methods

• Commonly used methods: problem-based learning, experiential project work, and case studies (featured in 25% of modules).
• Highest uptake: Social Sciences and Health & Social Care; lowest: Mathematics & Computer Science (6%), Psychology (5%).

Summary of Recommendations

The University is taking forward the report’s recommendations, which include strengthening explicit SDG and sustainability content in modules, expanding applied and interdisciplinary learning opportunities, sharing good practice across Schools and enhancing students’ development of sustainability skills. This work directly supports and informs the University’s Curriculum Transformation programme, particularly the Graduate Attribute “Address Global Challenges,” ensuring that students gain knowledge and capabilities needed to understand and respond to global sustainability issues.

The student-led mapping provides a quantitative baseline for future mapping and curriculum reviews while also complementing wider programme reviews being conducted across the institution.

Contact Sustainability@Swansea.ac.uk for more information on the Curriculum Mapping report.

The SDG Teach In is a campaign delivered by Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS UK) since 2018 which calls upon educators worldwide to embed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and beyond into their teaching, learning or assessment. Swansea University participates in the Teach In annually and actively promotes participation among our academic teaching staff and programmes. The initiative serves as a useful platform for those getting started or seeking to go further with embedding sustainability into education while catalysing curriculum transformation.

The Teach In takes place in March and all educators in all disciplines can sign-up to take part for free from now until the end of March. Leaderboards will be published in March with institutions that have the most educators pledged and learners reached (in proportion to the size of the institution) — adding some light-hearted competition. Links for more information and to register.

The University makes available support and training to help all academic staff integrate Education for Sustainable Development into the curriculum.

Swansea University supports academic staff in embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the Swansea Academy of Learning and Teaching (SALT), offering a variety of CPD opportunities including workshops, live events, and online resources. These sessions foster collaboration, discussion, and sharing of effective teaching practices across themes like ESD, assessment, inclusive teaching, and AI in higher education. In June 2025, dedicated ESD workshops engaged staff and students in reflecting on sustainability curriculum mapping, influencing updates to the mapping report. Staff are also directed to external ESD resources, highlighting the University’s commitment to integrating sustainability meaningfully into teaching and the curriculum.

Support Sessions to guide your programme and assessment redesign

These sessions coordinated by Swansea Academy of Learning and Teaching (SALT) will cover key curriculum themes such as programme and assessment planning, inclusivity, sustainability, and alignment with graduate attributes, all underpinning the themes within the Framework toolkits & Staff Training: https://canvas.swansea.ac.uk/enroll/EDRGBB.

Only available to Swansea University staff. All colleagues involved in learning and teaching are encouraged to attend these sessions. Example of Workshop:

The Sustainability Skills Survey, run annually by SOS‑UK, gathers insights from students across the UK on their attitudes towards sustainability and their experiences of learning for sustainable development. The research provides valuable sector-wide evidence about how students view sustainability in their education and future careers, with findings consistently showing strong demand for greater sustainability learning opportunities. We participate in the survey each year to better understand our students’ perspectives, helping to inform and strengthen our approach to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and to improve the sustainability of our campuses and learning environments. You can explore the latest national results on the Sustainability Skills Survey research page.

UN PRME’s mission is to transform management education and develop responsible decision-makers of tomorrow to advance sustainable development. As members of PRME, we must evidence commitment to the following seven principles via annual progress report:

Principle 1: Purpose - advance responsible management education to foster inclusive prosperity in a world of thriving ecosystems.

Principle 2: Values - place organizational responsibility and accountability to society and the planet at the core of what we do.

Principle 3: Teach - transform our learning environments by integrating responsible management concepts and practices into our curriculum and pedagogy.

Principle 4: Research - study people, organizations, institutions, and the state of the world to inspire responsible management and education practice.

Principle 5: Partner - engage people from business, government, civil society, and academia to advance responsible and accountable management education and practice.

Principle 6: Practice - adopt responsible and accountable management principles in our own governance and operations.

Principle 7: Share - share our successes and failures with each other to enable our collective learning and best live our common values and purpose.

See the latest report here: The School of Management - Swansea University | UNPRME

As part of Swansea University’s commitment to sustainability, we are pleased to offer our free, online, Climate and Carbon E-Learning Course to all staff & students. 

This concise, practical course is designed to provide a deeper understanding of climate change while equipping you with tools to reduce your carbon footprint and take meaningful action in both your personal and professional life.

Why Take Part?

• Support sustainability goals: Help shape a greener future for the University and beyond.
• Boost your profile:Demonstrate climate and carbon-conscious expertise alongside your qualifications.
• Learn at your own pace:Flexible, online modules allow you to complete the course when it suits your schedule.

Practical and Impactful

The course features real-world examples, interactive quizzes, and resources to expand your learning. By investing a short amount of time, you’ll gain valuable insights and actionable knowledge to make a tangible difference.

Certification and Recognition: Upon completion, request a certificate and e-badge demonstrating you are climate and carbon conscious.