Competence development in sustainability and climate change adaptation is essential Development of competencies associated with CLIMASP focus on generic and disciplinary ones. Generic competencies for students graduating from the CLIMASP programme, besides disciplinary competences refer to the following example of abilities to:
With competence we mean the integrated set of knowledge, skills and attitudes which are conditional for effective performance. For example, to become sustainability literate, an accountant may have to understand and be able to apply environmental or sustainability accounting and non-financial risk management techniques. A chartered engineer may be expected to know about the existence of this type of accounting practice and have an idea of how it can help in cost-benefit analysis of any project.
A matrix has been developed based on both desk-top research and the on-going multi-stakeholder survey. The CLIMASP competencies matrix may be used to help identify the sustainability competencies for any of the three CLIMASP concentration areas, whether designing a new course, or adapting an existing one. Establishing relevant climate change and sustainability policy (CLIMASP) competencies for a course is an important step on the route to writing learning objectives, outcomes and select learning experiences, content and methods. You need to identify exactly what a successful CLIMASP competent graduate will be able to do as a result of your revised course. To begin with, start reflecting what knowledge, skills, attributes and competences from the CLIMASP Competence Matrix are included in your course. Then, start to think what of them are needed to be integrated.
| KNOWLEDGE (Concepts, theories, processes) |
SKILLS (Tools, methodologies, dynamics) |
ATTRIBUTES (Innate abilities) |
CLIMASP CORE COMPETENCES |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mitigation and adaptation Disaster risk management Mainstreaming adaptation Economics of climate change Gender and climate change Value chains and market access Science, impacts & scenarios Fairness and climate change justice Strategic planning Integrated assessment Vulnerability assessment Legislation, regulations and compliance Environmental awareness Environmental management Green products/design Green growth Renewable energy technologies Mainstreaming and planning Spatial decision tools Conflict resolution Occupational health and safety issues Water management and recycling Carbon footprint/monitoring Heritage impact assessment Energy efficiency behaviour Policies and regulation Technology and innovation Consumer habits Anticipation and monitoring Climate change policy Climate change adaptation Risk assessment Climate variability Weather and climate Migration & climate change Climate change communication Gender-sensitive response to climate change Gender & climate change Sustainable consumption and production Sustainable communities Sustainable construction Biodiversity and climate change Green economy Green economics Green jobs Climate change and health Strategic planning and climate change Role of international institutions Environmental economics Environmental law Environment and governance Economics and growth Environmental awareness Environmental ethics Conflict & natural disasters and humanitarian responses Low carbon development Urban and rural environment Conflict over natural resources. Multilateral environmental agreements Vulnerability risk assessment Forecasting and scenario planning Spatial decision tools Mainstreaming adaptation Climate change and rural livelihoods Climate change and urban development Biodiversity, ecosystems and resilience to climate change Water resources and climate change Social learning processes GIS: geographic information systems Climate change: Science, impacts & scenarios Integrated coastal planning Role of land use planning Urbanization’s role in climate change Climate change implications for integrated coastal planning The wickedness of coastal planning Fairness and climate change justice Sustainable development and resilience Adaptation and governance Freshwater trends at the global level Future climate change scenarios Changing approaches to water management Integrated Water Resources Management Resilience in water management Integrated adaptive water management Biodiversity, protected areas and climate change Global biodiversity picture Issues and principles of coastal governance for adaptation Mitigation/adaptation relationships and warming Synergies, trade-offs and mainstreaming Urban systems adapting to climate change |
Systems thinking Agency Anticipatory adaptation Validation and testing Dealing with uncertainty Contextualising Prioritising Monitoring Reporting Anticipating risk Reducing vulnerability Building resilience Risk assessment Scenario analysis and planning Monitoring and evaluation Impact assessment Futures thinking Local knowledge Risk prediction Critical thinking Crisis management Emergency psychology Risk assessment Risk management Emergency management Anticipating effects Integrated assessment Costing and valuation Mainstreaming (Integrating) Maladaptation (action or process) Global dynamics Multicriteria analysis Vulnerability assessment Managing uncertainty Adaptation assessment Estimating adaptation costs Adaptive capacity Climate Risk Management (CRM) Life cycle assessment (LCA) Dealing with complexity and uncertainty Critical, systemic and futures thinking Spatial planning systems Strategic environmental assessment Climate scenarios Disaster risk management Vulnerability indicators Integrated coastal planning Scenario planning Adaptive management Project management Resolve ethical dilemmas Action-oriented Motivate and manage change Stakeholder engagement Carbon management Mapping gender impacts Problem solving Communicating Connecting Leadership Decision-making Team management Ecological footprinting SWOT analysis Discourse Debating Advocating Awareness and advocacy raising Monitor, reporting and reviewing carbon lifecycle analysis/costing Carbon literacy for procurement Adaptive management Critical media literacy Decision making and communication Strategic planning Adaptive learning and self-reflection; Networked learning |
Optimism Openness to novelty and change Global mind-set/consciousness Accountability Fairness Justice Change agent Open-minded Proactive Organised Decisive Democratic Responsible Empathy Gender-sensitive Co-responsibility Systematic Focussed Confident Transparency Representivity Solidarity Ecocentrism Corporate compliance Being vs. having Deep ecology social responsibility Justice Intergenerational equity Stewardship Social & ecological justice Environmental justice Human wellbeing Social cohesion Tolerance Virtue Basic human needs Human rights Interdependency Sense of urgency Interspecies equity Ecological integrity Ecological sustainability Needs vs. wants Social & economic justice Gender equality Health care Inclusive participation Nonviolence & peace Economic welfare Fairness Social and economic justice Respect and care for the community Respect for diversity Holistic |
1. Analyze the effects of climate change from both male and female perspectives 2. Understand historical community reactions to and coping strategies for climatic hazards. 3. Compare and prioritise the most critical local climatic hazards. 4. Identify the most likely impacts of local climatic hazards. 5. Identify and categorise local livelihood assets and resources. 6. Assess the intensity of impact of climatic hazards on livelihood resources. 7. Compare and contrast the impacts of major climatic hazards on livelihoods of the community. 8. Differentiate vulnerability to climatic hazards across different sectors and social groups. 9. Gain an overview and quantify climatic hazard risk and resilience capacity of local communities. 10. Identify and assess the effectiveness of the current coping mechanisms practiced by communities to secure and improve their livelihoods and conserve ecosystem bio-diversity in the context of climate change. 11. Analyse effectiveness of existing coping and adaptation strategies against the severity of climatic hazards. 12. Explore the institutional context in which the community operates and identify appropriate institutional partners for adaptation. 13. Develop urgent and immediate short term and long term adaptation priorities for district, regional and national level planning. 14. Demonstrate knowledge of the relevant professional, legal and ethical obligations to develop and share information about climate change effects on health. 15. Demonstrate knowledge of how to access local, national and international information about climate change effects on health, relevant to adapting health services 16. Shows how to use information about climate change effects on health to improve decisions about health services delivery 17. Demonstrate knowledge of how to access local, 18. Show how to use information about climate change effects on health to improve decisions about health services delivery. 19. Initiate and participates in collaborative learning opportunities with health and environmental professionals active in climate change management. 20. Demonstrate application of this knowledge to adapt and improve health services delivery. 21. Identifying and nurturing collaborative partnerships either within an organisation or in the wider community to create common purpose to resolve systemic problems. 22. Questioning business as usual can threaten our ideals, values, beliefs, business strategies and technical understanding and is not necessarily what everyone wants to hear. 23. Dealing with values and ‘big picture’ sustainability is outside the comfort zone of many people in the workplace. 24. Understanding sources of risk and insecurity, their impacts on livelihoods and application to building resilience (to climate and natural resource shocks, food and nutrition insecurity, political economy and in fragile contexts). 25. Knowledge and application of natural resource-based livelihoods (including agricultural services, value chains, adaptation and mitigation to climate change in agriculture and natural resource management). 26. Understanding dynamics of change in and between rural and urban areas and resource-based livelihoods and likely trajectories. 27. Knowledge and application of analytical tools, ways of working and evidence, innovation and learning. 28. Compare local problems with problems elsewhere and to gain adaptation ideas from this comparison. 29. Anticipate possible future environmental change and identify possible development consequences. 30. Analyse and evaluate complex and sometimes competing environment and development issues and integrate these into practical, balanced and sustainable solutions. 31. Evaluating the risks that climate change poses to economic development and evaluating potential adaptations that address risks to economic development 32. Be able to give local examples of the effects of climate change on agriculture and how producers might help adapt to climate change. 33. Evaluating the risks that climate change poses to public health and quality of life and evaluating potential adaptations that address risks to public health and quality of life. 34. Determine what happens with climatic variations, which components are most vulnerable and how they are affected. 35. Knowledge and understanding of tools and mechanisms for achieving sustainable development and green growth. 36. Build linkages between poverty reduction, MDGs, macroeconomic policies, environment, energy, climate change and sustainable development. 37. Able to carefully and systematically examine research to judge its trustworthiness and its value and relevance in a particular context and other potential sources of evidence. 38. Able to interpret, use and present data and evidence in defining policy and practice. 39. Able to design, commission and manage evaluations including rigorous impact evaluations. 40. Assess and monitor impacts of climate variability and climate change on agriculture, forestry and fisheries and the livelihoods that rely on these sectors, taking into account socio-economic scenarios and drivers of change in agricultural sectors per major eco-region. 41. Conduct integrated climate change vulnerability assessments for agriculture, forestry, and fisheries systems and associated livelihoods. 42. Develop and disseminate guidelines, methodologies and tools for collection, processing and analysis of climate change-related data and information, and strengthen databases for use in impact and vulnerability assessments and adaptation. 43. Communicate information and promote equitable access of rural people and institutions to information related to impacts of climate variability and change and adaptation in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors from global to local levels, and vice versa through appropriate channels. 44. Document, evaluate and disseminate successful experiences in sustainable natural resources management, agriculture and food production and gender and rights-based adaptation strategies and practices. 45. Advocate at the regional and international level for a stronger recognition of the challenges to and potential of agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors in climate change adaptation frameworks and financing mechanisms, and ensure that main stakeholders, including indigenous people and vulnerable groups, have a voice in advocacy. 46. Integrate climate change adaptation into national and sub-national agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector policies and plans, land use and water policies, food security programmes, legal frameworks and investment priorities, and ensure appropriate representation of the sectors in climate change and disaster risk management policies and strategies. 47. Strengthen dialogue and networks and develop multi-stakeholder partnerships for adaptation across public and private sectors, non-governmental organizations and communities at all levels. 48. Strengthen community- and locally-based mechanisms (e.g. forest-user groups, agricultural and fisheries cooperatives, community networks and media) for management and delivery of services for agriculture, forestry and fisheries and to facilitate locally appropriate adaptation measures, including community-based adaptation. 49. Reinforce national and regional capacities for plant, forest and animal health and food safety and improve monitoring and control of variations in pests, diseases and food safety, related to climate change. 50. Strengthen food value chains and, in particular, improve small-scale producers’ access to markets to increase resilience of food systems. 51. Explain how climate change impacts health and health inequalities within a model of the wider determinants of health 52. Define the relationship between adaptation and mitigation and the health co-benefits of each 53. Demonstrate advocacy skills for more efficient participation of the health sector in addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation 54. Understand the links between sustainability, carbon, climate change and health. 55. Explain how climate change impacts health and health inequalities within a model of the wider determinants of health. 56. Define the relationship between adaptation and mitigation and the health co-benefits of each. 57. Understand the concept of ‘footprinting’, for example, the ‘carbon footprint’ and ‘ecological footprint’ of individuals and organizations; the different methods of footprinting; and the advantages and disadvantages of each. 58. Understand models for the psychology of people’s response to the environment and models for why people and organizations do and do not take action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. 59. Analyse how decisions can be made that reduce the impact of health care on climate change. 60. Demonstrate advocacy skills for more efficient participation of the health sector in addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation 61. Use systems and ‘futures’ thinking allows us to better appreciate the natural and social systems that come together and interact in the built environment. 62. Use techniques for resolving or avoiding conflict in an ethical manner and know where to get help if ethical dilemmas arise. 63. Understanding of environmental management systems and tools, risk assessment and due diligence in the public and private sector (e.g. EMS, ESN, SEA etc) 64. Knowledge and understanding of relationship between poverty, environment, climate change, economics and social issues. 65. Ability to translate scientific climate information into policy and practical guidance 66. Articulating what good climate resilient development actually look like. 67. Develop students’ understanding of the natural carbon cycle. 68. Investigate the causes of climate change. 69. Explore solutions to problems that cause climate change. 70. Quantify the school’s carbon footprint. 71. Identify ways to reduce the school’s carbon footprint. 72. Design and conduct a carbon-reduction action project. 73. Describe and put into effect relevant processes, tools and practices employed for adaptation planning. 74. Analyse climate change scenarios in the context of planning for sustainable development. 75. Comprehend the opportunities for planners and the social, economic and ecological risks of climate change. 76. Demonstrate capacities for self-reflection and self-evaluation as integral aspects of the adaptive learning cycle. 77. Develop skills to plan and engage collaboratively with a diverse range of stakeholders. 78. Develop skills to facilitate stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution. 79. Identify vulnerable populations and ecosystems and developing plans to enhance their resilience. 80. Become familiar with the basic terminology and core concepts of climate change adaptation planning. 81. Interpret and apply such knowledge in planning adaptation to climate change impacts. 82. Describe the relationship between human activities and climate change. 83. Analyze and compare carbon-producing resources. 84. Assess the impact of human activities and carbon production on the environment. 85. Propose solutions to climate change issues. 86. Collect, interpret and present information. 87. Communicate about strategies to confront climate change to a variety of audiences, including other students, parents and the local community. 88. Work cooperatively with others. 89. Identify the links between local and global climate change and sustainability policy contexts. 90. Make judgements for climate change policy making scenarios for local, national and regional impacts 91. Analyse methods of ensuring local participation in climate change adaptation. 92. Develop a solid understanding of generic climate change adaptation/mitigation issues. 93. Appreciate the importance and practical characteristics of adaptive approaches. 94. Describe and compare anthropogenic and natural factors responsible for climate change at different timeframes. 95. Draw on active teaching and learning approaches to empower learner, young people and civic engagement. 96. Relate climate change and sustainability policy to a range of curricular areas in formal, non formal and informal education. 97. Provide a sound understanding of climate change risks and their relevance to participants’ organisations 98. Describe how to identify and overcome potential barriers to adaptive action including through knowledge transfer and exchange and capacity building. 99. Understand how human actions are contributing to global environmental change. 100. Contribute to the debate on global environmental change and societal adaptation strategies; to become an informed citizen and decision maker. 101. Describe and interpret the evolution of Earth’s climate system to communicate, analyse and explain the past and possible future effects of global climate change on Earth’s inhabitants. Interpret information, knowledge and policy about climate change from a range of sources and perspectives. 102. Think about problems holistically and through the ‘lense’ of climate change understand principles of sustainable development. 103. Comprehend the significance of the climate change problem locally and globally. 104. Interpret information about impacts and vulnerabilities specific to the locality, region or sector students are expected to work in. |
Identifying Objectives to Structure a Course
Goals and objectives are similar in that they describe the intended purposes and expected results of teaching activities and establish the foundation of course assessment. In particular, goals are statements about general aims or purposes of the course that are formulated broadly. Objectives are brief, clear statements that describe the desired learning outcomes, that is, the specific skills, values and attitudes students should exhibit that reflect the broader goals.
Learning outcomes are statements that describe significant and essential learning that learners have achieved by the end of the course. Learning outcomes identify what the learner will be able to do by the end of the course. There should be as many outcomes as needed to clearly reflect what the students will gain from the course. Also, each learning outcome can be subdivided into sub-outcomes to make it clear.
To structure learning outcomes there is need of: 1) an action word that identifies the performance to be demonstrated; 2) a learning statement that specifies what learning will be demonstrated in the performance and 3) a broad statement of the criterion or standard for accepted performance. Accordingly, the learning outcomes are the competences to be achieved in a course.