Teaching sustainability is not solely a question of providing relevant information; it is foremost about training students to meet the challenges of tomorrow. In design this can mean to shift the focus from material, form and function towards systems, correlation and time – a process supported both by how we teach as well as what we teach. But pedagogy still seems to be treated like a poor cousin to the more important design knowledge. This  made us curious about the correlation between pedagogy and teaching design for sustainable change.

By applying a study of Eilam and Trop (2011) onto the curriculum of an undergraduate design programme and through interviews with students we investigated the underlying pedagogy. Eilam and Trop had identified four pedagogical components that supported a holistic learning experience in their study.

It proves more fruitful to incorporate sustainability wholeheartedly in a programme, instead of teaching it as a separate course. Pedagogies like emotional learning in realistic design projects and multidimensional learning in theoretical courses support an education for sustainable change and prepare students to meet the challenges of tomorrow without missing their professional  development.