Author: Alex Watmore, Responsible Futures Lead Intern
The Responsible Futures Survey highlighted that student demand for sustainability education is high across all subjects : over 90% of University of Exeter students deems it important. This is higher than national percentages for higher education (SOS UK, 2024). Students are aware that this is becoming a more pressing issue to their future careers as well as their futures in general. It makes sense then, that lecturers across subjects address sustainability and social responsibility in their teaching, even if implicitly.
As part of the 2024/25 Responsible Futures Student Survey, we asked students to share some good practice examples of sustainability teaching that they have experienced at Exeter. Keen to hear about those subjects that are not explicitly ‘about sustainability‘, I reached out to several staff members in Law, Classics and Psychology, to find out more about how they embedded sustainability and social justice in their teaching.
In this interview-style blog, Dr Amy Man, Lindsey Connett, Professor Matthew Wright and Dr Luke McGuire share about their teaching practices, how they were met by students, and their advice for colleagues embedding environmental, social and economic sustainability in subjects that are not explicitly ‘about sustainability‘.
- Dr Amy Man teaches LAW2004B, ‘Contract Law’.
- Lindsey Connett teaches law for LAW2015B, ‘The Law of Torts’ and uses her industry experience to complement her teaching.
- Professor Matthew Wright teaches CLA1005 ‘Greek and Roman Narrative’
- Dr Luke McGuire teaches PSY1023 ‘An Introduction to Social Psychology’
Q: Why is addressing sustainability in Law, Classics and Psychology important?
Within Law:
When asked why it was important to consider sustainability in contract and tort law, Amy Man and Lindsey both highlighted the social inequality the law either overlooks and cannot fix, or that in some cases directly goes against the interests of the public:
Lindsey said: “I think it is important that students understand that this area of law [tort law] does not fix all of the issues that arise and that there are still significant areas where reform is needed to ensure everyone has equal access to justice” .
Dr Amy Man focuses more on the importance of economic sustainability within contract law:
“Contract law is a topic and subject that affects everyone on a daily basis; it has a far-reaching impact on society. Whilst learning/teaching Contract law, we often find that due to a narrow conception or understanding of the relevant rules often means that these rules allow certain (commercial) actors privileges over others. As a result, the subject often feels that it has been ‘designed’ to ‘grease the wheels of commerce’, which feels ‘unfair’ from the perspective of economic sustainability.”
Within Classics:
Whilst the relation between studying ancient literature and current events may seem tenuous, Professesor Matthew Wright has a different perspective:
“Ancient literature is worth studying for its own sake, of course, but it can also function as a lens through which to examine the problems and challenges of our own contemporary world. How do humans experience the natural world around them? How do they make sense of it through language, literature, myth and culture? These are questions of the utmost relevance to all of us.”
Within Psychology:
Dr Luke McGuire feels strongly that psychology “...is an important discipline for understanding why people might make less sustainable decisions and the barriers to more pro-environmental behaviours. While real change requires systemic approaches, psychology is one important piece of a broader puzzle that can’t be ignored,” and to “…fail to recognise this [the climate crisis] in our teaching is, in my opinion, doing our students a disservice”.
Whilst understanding the importance of sustainability is an excellent first step, staff might find it challenging to bring this into their teaching. So how is this accomplished?
Q: How are you embedding sustainability issues in the curriculum, and how is it received?
Within Law:
Lindsey utilises her experience within law to bring real-life case studies into her tort law teaching. By moving from theory to the real-world cases, she can explore how the law impacts people and “…where areas need reform”. This, she tells me, “adds another level of understanding and appreciation about application and the practice of this area of law”, which focuses on how law can be socially sustainable.
On the other hand, Dr Amy Man approaches her module from an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) perspective. “This means approaching case law with honesty. When teaching, sometimes there are topics that are challenging to discuss (because of the subject-matter, for example, the role in which contract law has played in relation to slavery), but I still discuss the matter openly, because it is important to understand the wider sustainability context.” By taking this approach to her teaching, she can explore sustainability through discussion rather than a formalised curriculum, a subtle but effective change.
Urging the importance of economic and social sustainability within the field of law and exploring this with their students has been received very well. Miss Connett noted that students enjoy critiquing the systems of law, and Dr Man commented that learning contract law while discussing the wider implications it has on society has “…allowed them [students] to think more critically about the role of commerce within society; it has also helped them consider the contracts they, personally, have entered into.”
Within Classics:
Professor Matthew Wright takes the approach of updating his course on Greek and Roman Narrative each time he runs it. In 2024/25 he decided to incorporate environmental sustainability due to it being a timely topic that he had, at the time, been reading a lot on and he wanted to bring this into his teaching.
“…I had lately been reading some thought-provoking scholarship on ecocritical approaches to literature (by Timothy Clarke, Christopher Schliephake, Lucian Boia and others)…”
In practice, this was implemented through two hours of lectures within his module, dedicated to the theme of ‘Homer and the Environment’ in which he discussed how to map the natural environment, weather, and how humans interact with it through Homer. How the literature can be read in such a way that engages with modern-day issues and encouraging students to reflect on the issues through their wider reading and lives. Not only this is innovative, but students considered it fresh and inspiring, as well as an invitation to further reflection. This iterative approach to developing his teaching was effective at bringing new ideas to his students.
Within Psychology:
In ‘An Introduction to Social Psychology’, students are asked to write a report on a study that they participate in. For the last few years, these studies have focused on attitudes towards alternative diets such as flexitarianism and veganism.
“Beyond this, I also teach a third-year seminar on the Psychology of Human Animal Intergroup Relations which explores questions like ‘how can we love some animals and eat others?’”
The hope is that by discussing these issues, and making students critique them through assessment, “we can normalise using evidence to understand this problem rather than debating who is right or wrong when it comes to food.”
Dr McGuire remarks that he hopes these approaches are seen positively and that, “These questions provoke a lot of strong feelings – we feel that our diet falls well within our personal autonomy. So, I hope by having open conversations about the psychological factors that might contribute to decision making about sustainable diets, we can normalise using evidence to understand this problem rather than debating who is right or wrong when it comes to food.”
So, how can staff bring sustainability into teaching?
Starting small and thinking broadly – tips for colleagues
Embedding sustainability doesn’t have to involve overhauling your entire module, it can be a simple as including a sustainability case study or a quick discussion in a seminar. Below is some advice from Dr Amy Man, Dr Luke McGuire and Professor Matthew Wright.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for colleagues who want to embed sustainability in their course but don’t know how to start/go about it?
“Sustainability can be considered from a wider perspective. Whilst, of course, we must teach the underlying aspects of a given course i.e. the law, but we can also avail ourselves to thinking about who benefits from these rules, and who has the most influence on how these rules are created. This requires flexible thinking about whether the law is always ‘fair’.” – Amy Man, Law
“Taking a broad view of ‘sustainability’ and being creative in one’s approach to one’s own subject area (even if it might seem to be a long way away from environmental science) can sometimes suggest new ideas. Lots of the material that I was already teaching turns out to be ‘green’ in one way or another.” – Matthew Wright, Classics
“Give it a go! This is a topic that in my experience students do feel strongly about – they (and we) will be directly impacted by the decisions made in this area. My first year module is one example where I made one small change to bring in a focus on sustainability; you don’t need to shift the entire focus of the module to raise awareness.” – Luke McGuire, Psychology
Joining a Community of Practice
The Sustainable Education Thematic Forum is the University of Exeter’s community of practice for sustainability education. It includes a variety of colleagues from across the institution, working on projects at different levels and supporting each other’s efforts to embed sustainability in their activities.
If you are interested in joining the Sustainable Education Thematic Forum or presenting your work at one of the upcoming meetings, please contact Ewan Woodley (E.J.Woodley@exeter.ac.uk) or Sara Agbenro (s.a.m.agbenro@exeter.ac.uk).