Norway-UK Comparative Analysis of Sustainability in Design Education

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 analyzes the curricula in light of sustainable education and transformative theory. The findings show the similarities between the two countries; both favor 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 prioritizes.