Mapping pedagogies of education for sustainable development in Scottish higher education institutions

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 4.7 promotes education for sustainable development (ESD), urging higher education institutions (HEIs) to prepare students to address global sustainability challenges. Currently, the target indicators do not assess how ESD is enacted in HEIs, making ESD provision a black box in achieving SDG 4.7. This article proposes an analytical tool based on actor-network theory (ANT) to 'unpack' the black box of ESD pedagogies in HEIs. ANT allows a closer look at the web of human and non-human actors and their interrelations, visually mapping how ESD pedagogical practices are enacted. Drawing on public sustainability reports and ESD-related web pages of eight Scottish HEIs, we employed a hybrid data analysis approach to produce such a map. The aggregated actor-network map reveals clusters such as university sustainability bodies, ESD-related programs, curriculum elements, co-curricular training, and sustainability awards. Also, Scottish HEI reports and web pages tend to emphasise and quantify what is taught regarding sustainability issues and not elaborate on how ESD is taught. This way, ESD pedagogical practices, connecting students, educators, and curriculum to produce transformative learning, are missing in university reporting. Making those practices visible would provide further solid evidence of Scottish HEIs' contribution to SDG 4.7.