Digital technologies are playing an increasingly vital and multifaceted role in advancing environmental sustainability and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. A growing body of research highlights the importance of education and training in developing the digital competencies required for sustainability transitions. However, a significant gap remains in understanding the specific skills, knowledge, and capabilities that environmental and sustainability professionals need to integrate such technologies into their practice effectively. This exploratory study draws on an online survey of environmental and sustainability professionals in Australia, combining descriptive statistical analysis of quantitative data with thematic analysis of open ended responses to explore perspectives, priorities, and challenges regarding the adoption of digital technologies in professional contexts. The findings indicate that these professionals require more than technical proficiency alone; they need a blend of digital literacy, critical thinking, adaptability, and ethical awareness, supported by structured opportunities for ongoing skill development. To effectively address contemporary environmental challenges, it is essential to embed digital literacy and critical capability development within the education and training pathways of environmental and sustainability professions.

Over many decades the environment profession in Australia has evolved into a substantial and diverse workforce. There are many indications that environment professionals provide valued services to Australian society, and their involvement will be increasingly sought. To gain an understanding of characteristics of these professionals and their roles leading into the mid-twenty-first century, a survey was undertaken in 2022. This is built on earlier surveys of the environment profession, so that collectively the results provide some longitudinal information and an indication of trends. This article reports these results, covering participants' general and educational background, current position and overall career situation, generic and specific skills used and thoughts about the environment/sustainability sector. Broadly, the analysis indicates an increasing breadth of the profession, the skills needed and the challenges, with related opportunities, foreseen. Overall, participants continued to express positivity about their profession and potential to build on community and governmental support for issues associated with environment/sustainability.

The evolution of universities in Australia is nothing new; however, a range of social and economic pressures have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These pressures are leading to changes, for example greater use of electronic media for teaching, which will affect the delivery of teaching programs. Effects on those programs providing education for environmental professionals could well impact whether the graduates achieve the capabilities expected by the profession, and needed by society. These capabilities have much in common with those sought by a range of professions and disciplines, and the employability agenda promoted by universities. Hence, promotion of learning approaches associated with educating environmental professionals could be of value to universities generally. The review of these aspects indicates the need for the profession to formulate approaches to ensure that education of environmental professionals in Australia continues to achieve those capabilities that have been identified. Effort directed this way could assist in maintaining or enhancing, achieving capabilities of the graduates of environmental and sustainability programs. Such effort would also facilitate all graduates to develop the generic capabilities expected by employers and infuse sustainability across all disciplines with a sustainability leaning.

Higher Education plays an influential role in societal transformation towards sustainability. An understanding of the application of sustainability learning from degree programs in a graduate's professional practice can serve as an important feedback loop for developing and advancing sustainability in higher education. A knowledge gap exists between graduate learning outcomes and employability skills, with little exploration of the methods to collect evidence of such relationships. This paper presents the results of a study to measure the uptake and application of sustainability attributes by graduates, post degree-completion. The study developed and trialled a graduate attribute assessment tool informed by the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The results demonstrate that the graduates sampled understood what was required for them to act sustainably and showed preparedness to act appropriately. However, these actions were moderated by the influence of key stakeholders and work-place contexts.

The question of how to embed transformative change through the implementation of sustainability principles in our education systems has become increasingly important as complex situations, like pandemics and climate change, challenge societies. Education underpinned by a sustainability paradigm requires students to develop the ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge and about the ways in which knowledge is produced and validated. Educating for these skills will require shifts in educational practice, pedagogy and new approaches to learning and teaching. As the relationship between education and sustainability has matured, there has been increasing debate around whether capability or competence frameworks best underlie the type of education we seek to embed in sustainability professionals. Within an Australian context there is a philosophical difference between these two terms and an understanding of how this relates to different typologies of sustainability and education; Education about Sustainable Development, Education for Sustainable Development or Sustainability as Education (Sustainability Education) and this has yet to be fully explored. This is increasingly important as higher education is under pressure to be efficient producers of work-ready graduates. This paper provides an overview of the context of capability and competencies in the Australian higher education context and the associated implications for education, and sustainability education. It compares a competence approach with that of a capability approach and then situates this debate within the evolution of sustainability and education. Finally, it addresses some key consequences of the contemporary approaches to sustainability and education and emphasises the role of the capability approach.

Information associated with the assessment of graduate attributes, in the workplace, is limited. Yet if the many environmental and social problems that confront communities are to be managed, we need to ensure that graduates, who have been exposed to sustainability insights through their studies, are applying those insights. To contribute to information for the future this paper reports the development, and trial, of a tool for the assessment of graduates’ leadership regarding the inclusion of sustainability principles in their employment. Based on assessment literature, a tool was developed and applied to a sample of graduates in the construction profession. Generally, results show that graduates have not shown leadership for sustainability in their workplaces; rather, they are prepared to be directed by managers, or be content to limit themselves to being informed. Occasionally graduates have been able to take a lead on sustainability, mainly in relation to minimising impacts on the physical and social environments. The graduates are knowledgeable and supportive of sustainability actions but are constrained in the workplace. However, the participants demonstrated a strong connection to sustainability, indicating they would be capable of promoting sustainability action to others, where they had freedom to do so. Consequently, If graduates are to be expected to act as leaders for sustainability in their workplaces, it appears that their educational institutions would need to develop curriculum to help students resist the opposing influences of the workplace (e.g. market/end-user, clients, colleagues).

Weaving complementary knowledge systems and mindfulness to educate a literate citizenry for sustainable and healthy lives - M. Powietrzyńska, & K. Tobin, (Eds.) (2017). Weaving Complementary Knowledge Systems and Mindfulness to Educate a Literate Citizenry for Sustainable and Healthy Lives. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. - Volume 35 Issue 2

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Sustainability in higher education aims to educate learners, as both citizens and future professionals, to build capacity to bring about a more sustainable future. As such, sustainability education can be seen as part of enabling work-ready graduates. Many universities, globally, have begun to embed sustainability capabilities into their degree programs. However, there is a gap in existing methods for assessing graduate application of the associated learning outcomes, post degree-completion. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been suggested and applied in the development of an assessment tool to address this limitation. The TPB considers human behaviour is influenced by a number of factors, the measurement of which allows one to understand the likelihood of a person executing a particular behaviour. This paper presents an overview and explanation of how TPB could be applied to graduate sustainability capability assessment, thereby, offering insight into how graduate learning is applied in professional settings.

The development of university wide graduate attributes has become an important mechanism for setting generic learning outcomes across higher education institutions. Many universities around the world have developed sets of graduate attributes that they aim to develop through degree programs. Sustainability related attributes have been included in numerous university attribute statements, however, little research exists on methods that can be used to capture data on the application and use of these attributes by graduates. This paper evaluates an assessment tool, based on a scenario/vignette question design, which can be used to capture data on graduate attributes in context and has the potential to be used across a large graduate population which would enable comparative research of learning outcomes to be undertaken. An evaluation of the usefulness of the scenario/vignette design will be presented based on a pilot of the question design with a sample of RMIT University graduates. The results of the pilot show that scenario/vignettes address some of the limitations of existing self-assessment methods and represent a novel way to collect data on graduate sustainability attributes post-degree completion.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to highlight both the need for measurement of graduate capabilities post-degree completion and the challenges posed by such a task. Higher education institutions provide an important site of learning that can equip future professionals with capabilities to manage and respond to complex sustainability challenges in their careers. Measurement of graduate uptake and application of sustainability capabilities is an important part of advancing sustainability curriculum and pedagogy to educate the twenty-first century sustainability capable graduates. Design/methodology/approach - This paper explores the nature of capabilities and reviews existing approaches to capability assessment. Findings - The nature of capabilities and their assessment post-degree completion pose a number of challenges for the development of assessment and measurement tools, which is why sustainability capability assessment methods are deserving of specific research attention. Research limitations/implications - The assessment and application of capability in graduates' professional contexts are an important part of closing the loop between learning and teaching in higher education and professional application of this learning. It is imperative that more research be undertaken on the methodology of graduate assessment, given the need to understand graduate learning outcomes as they apply in professional settings for graduate employability, promoting sustainability and developing effective sustainability pedagogy. Practical implications - Given that there is significant overlap between employability skills, generic graduate attributes and sustainability capabilities, this paper has relevance beyond the measurement of sustainability capability to the measurement of uptake and professional application of generic capabilities more broadly. Social implications - The measurement of graduate capability offers potential to enhance learning for sustainability. Measurement of graduate capabilities is a critical part of closing the loop between workplace expectations, graduate learning outcomes, learning and teaching and curriculum development during degree programs. Originality/value - The review provided in this paper highlights a critical gap in research on methodologies to undertake measurement of workplace application of graduate capability. The paper explores considerations for measurement of graduate learning outcomes, specifically the difference between measuring competencies, skills and capability and the necessity for the measurement of the latter in the context of sustainability education for future professionals.

Over recent times concern about the physical environment has fluctuated. Even after the coverage of environment and sustainability issues in the education of many professions, a decline of community concern suggests that the potential for the inclusion of environmental issues in the work of professionals could be limited. This situation raises the question of whether recent graduates have the ability, through their workplaces, to act to minimise environmental harm. To assess this ability, based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, a survey instrument was developed and tested on a sample of graduates, of an Australian university, associated with the building and construction fields. Results indicated, firstly, that the model provided a valid approach to the assessment of influences on a graduate's behaviour. Secondly, that factors associated with their workplaces are very influential, especially support from their employers and clients. Further, behavioural enablers are especially important influences on behaviour: specifically the resources available to the graduate, workplace support and assistance, and the scope and power associated with the graduate's role. These findings provide insights for the curriculum and pedagogy that is needed if graduates are to enter the workforce and be effective in minimising environmental harm from their professional activities.

The environment profession in Australia is well established, and past conjecture about its future has been positive. As with other professions, and areas of the economy generally, future employment will be influenced by pressures from automation and globalization. Building on earlier surveys of the environment profession, this article presents results of a recent survey to provide information about the characteristics of those in the profession, their thoughts about their professional futures, and the skills that are important in their professional lives. The results indicate a maturing profession, generally with little difference from the earlier surveys, However, while most continue to be positive about their place in the profession, there are signs of shifts in the focus of some of the professional's work, and their concern about the general support for the profession in the future. Importantly the skills identified as important for the respondents to carry out their environment roles are compatible with skills considered to be critical for future contributions to the economy and society. This suggests environment professionals could take opportunities to promote the profession, and the range of contributions that the individuals can make in the future.

Equipping professionals with skills to make decisions in line with sustainability principles is essential for transitioning our societies towards sustainable development. Higher education is at the forefront of generating professionals with these skills. However, although sustainability has been included in many university graduate attribute statements, there exists little research on how graduates acknowledge and apply sustainability attributes in their workplace. This research project aimed to assess whether graduates of undergraduate programmes with sustainability attributes acknowledge and use sustainability capabilities after they have entered employment. The project developed a tool for assessing sustainability attribute uptake and application which took the form of a tested survey tool that uses a vignette/scenario-based question design to assess the level of attribute attainment. This tool was then tested on a graduate sample from the School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT University, Australia. The project outcomes show promise for future applications of the scenario/vignette survey tool to provide educators with a feedback loop between curriculum design and pedagogy and professional application of course and programme learning outcomes. The purpose of this article is to present key results from the pilot and show how these can potentially be used in curriculum development and renewal to advance sustainability in higher education.