An important outcome of a university business education is shaping individuals who are capable of working in and operating businesses that deliver economically profitable, socially responsible and ecologically viable services. In preparing future sustainable tourism workers, universities also need to design curricula that develop the learners' skills in critical thinking and foreseeing the implications of their actions, along with a sense of ethics and empathy. Research evidence indicates, however, that learners often graduate without these skills. A possible reason for this may be that the design of tourism curricula is based on a weak conceptualization of sustainability (e.g. triple bottom line) as opposed to a strong conceptualization of sustainability. Another possible reason could be that educators are not successfully cultivating the learners' capabilities to think in more complex ways about sustainability nor do they adequately engage with the ways in which learners make sense of the concept. This chapter discusses the strength of the conceptualizations of sustainability currently underpinning university undergraduate tourism courses. The aim is to outline how learners might acquire knowledge about sustainability and to examine the potential of current pedagogy within Education for Sustainability (EfS) for teaching more complex understandings of sustainability. Novel teaching and learning approaches are discussed including systems thinking, which enables a strong conceptualization of sustainability, and variation theory, which uses the learners' understandings as the starting point for learning. Future directions for EfS in tourism are also reflected upon. This chapter argues that universities are capable of ensuring that graduates are prepared for working in the sustainable tourism industry if they become more mindful of the ways in which they teach – and the ways in which learners learn – about sustainability.
With the tourism sector being urged to contribute to the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), tourism educators need to develop industry leaders with "strong sustainability" mindsets. "Sustainable development" has long been contested as a weaker form of sustainability due to its "pro-growth" emphasis. Research suggests that tourism students are graduating with narrow understandings of sustainability, partly due to course designs based on weaker conceptualisations of sustainability and a lack of holistic, critical and systemic thinking. The purpose of this paper is to analyse – using content analysis – the strength of sustainability conceptualisations underpinning international undergraduate sustainable tourism courses, which has not previously been carried out. Results indicate that sustainable tourism courses do not include "very strong" conceptualisations of sustainability, and that sustainability pedagogy and approaches such as systems and holistic thinking are not widely used. This paper argues that stronger conceptualisations and sustainability skills are essential. A framework is also suggested to assist tourism educators to use critical reflective thinking in conjunction with the SDGs to assist the development of more complex ways of thinking and acting towards achieving global sustainable tourism outcomes. The discussion concludes with suggestions for further research to ensure stronger sustainable tourism curricula.
Despite attempts to improve the ‘tourism curriculum space’ in order to empower philosophic practitioners who are capable of thinking systemically and holistically about complex phenomenon such as sustainability, tourism curricula is still designed around less complex and weak conceptualizations of sustainability. The aim of this study is to uncover the range of qualitatively different ways of experiencing sustainability in a tourism context with the intent of forming a continuum that could serve as a useful teaching and learning strategy in developing more complex and ‘stronger’ conceptualizations of sustainability.
Phenomenographic interviews with lecturers, students and industry workers revealed four qualitatively different ways of experiencing sustainability ranging from weak to very strong understandings of sustainability. The key outcome of this study is a practical continuum designed to (1) promote reflection within tourism educators on the conceptualizations underpinning their course design; as well as provide (2) a powerful teaching and learning tool designed to help higher education practitioners engage students with a broader and more varied range of understandings about the complex phenomenon that is sustainability. By introducing variation theory as an additional conceptual framework for explaining individuals’ understandings of sustainability, this study makes a theoretical contribution to the field of tourism studies.
In preparing future sustainable tourism workers, universities need to design curriculum that develop students' skills in critical thinking and foreseeing the implications of their actions with a sense of ethics and empathy. Research evidence indicates, however, that students often graduate without these skills. A possible reason for this may be the design of tourism curriculum based on weak conceptualisations of sustainability as opposed to strong sustainability. Another possible reason could be that educators are not successfully cultivating students' capabilities to think in more complex ways about sustainability nor do they adequately acknowledge the ways in which the students make sense of the concept. This paper highlights the need to examine the conceptualisations of sustainability currently being integrated into university undergraduate tourism courses. Further discussion proposes that an alternative curriculum approach, referred to as a learning study underpinned by variation theory, might improve students' understanding of sustainability.
Despite attempts to improve the 'tourism curriculum space' in order to empower philosophic practitioners who are capable of thinking systemically and holistically about complex phenomenon such as sustainability, tourism curricula is still designed around less complex and weak conceptualizations of sustainability. The aim of this study is to uncover the range of qualitatively different ways of experiencing sustainability in a tourism context with the intent of forming a continuum that could serve as a useful teaching and learning strategy in developing more complex and 'stronger' conceptualizations of sustainability.Phenomenographic interviews with lecturers, students and industry workers revealed four qualitatively different ways of experiencing sustainability ranging from weak to very strong understandings of sustainability. The key outcome of this study is a practical continuum designed to (1) promote reflection within tourism educators on the conceptualizations underpinning their course design; as well as provide (2) a powerful teaching and learning tool designed to help higher education practitioners engage students with a broader and more varied range of understandings about the complex phenomenon that is sustainability. By introducing variation theory as an additional conceptual framework for explaining individuals' understandings of sustainability, this study makes a theoretical contribution to the field of tourism studies.
With the tourism sector being urged to contribute to the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), tourism educators need to develop industry leaders with "strong sustainability" mindsets. "Sustainable development" has long been contested as a weaker form of sustainability due to its "pro-growth" emphasis. Research suggests that tourism students are graduating with narrow understandings of sustainability, partly due to course designs based on weaker conceptualisations of sustainability and a lack of holistic, critical and systemic thinking. The purpose of this paper is to analyse – using content analysis – the strength of sustainability conceptualisations underpinning international undergraduate sustainable tourism courses, which has not previously been carried out. Results indicate that sustainable tourism courses do not include "very strong" conceptualisations of sustainability, and that sustainability pedagogy and approaches such as systems and holistic thinking are not widely used. This paper argues that stronger conceptualisations and sustainability skills are essential. A framework is also suggested to assist tourism educators to use critical reflective thinking in conjunction with the SDGs to assist the development of more complex ways of thinking and acting towards achieving global sustainable tourism outcomes. The discussion concludes with suggestions for further research to ensure stronger sustainable tourism curricula.
There is currently international pressure on the tourism industry to work towards achieving the UN's 17 global sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. The term 'sustainable development', however, has long been contested as a weaker form of sustainability due to the emphasis on pro-growth and development. Tourism educators have already experienced a myriad of issues in teaching about sustainability, with evidence suggesting that universities are teaching weak conceptualisations and that students are graduating with narrow or shallow sustainability principles. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the variation in how the SDGs can be interpreted and thus implemented in order to encourage stronger sustainability mindsets. This paper proposes variation theory as a useful theoretical framework for teaching and learning about the SDGs in order to develop stronger sustainability understandings and outcomes. This is significant given the international focus on achieving global sustainable development underpinned by 'less-than-strong' conceptualisations of sustainability.
The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the education sector has received considerable attention from scholars; however, its potency and application among tourism learners are yet to be discerned. Accordingly, this research note articulates the potential impact and limitations of the AI chatbot, ChatGPT, in tourism education practices. In particular, the paper aims to raise awareness among tourism educators regarding the disruptive potential of ChatGPT and its impact on academic integrity and ethics. This paper contributes to tourism education practices on AI and robotics by critically discussing ChatGPT from a cognitive science perspective and providing recommendations on how to minimise AI plagiarism in tourism education. This research argues for adapting novel pedagogies as technology evolves and raises the need for AI ethical use guidelines in tourism education.
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