Slater, H. orcid.org/0000-0002-4952-6738, Fisher, J., Holmes, G. orcid.org/0000-0002-5393-5753 et al. (2 more authors) (2024) Assessing the breadth and multidisciplinarity of the conservation curriculum in the United Kingdom and Australia. BioScience. biae059. ISSN 0006-3568
Abstract
There have been repeated calls to train conservationists capable of transcending disciplinary boundaries. However, little empirical work has been done to document conservation teaching. We investigate the content taught in conservation higher education across the United Kingdom and Australia. Using data from an online survey and content analysis of module descriptions, we assess the prevalence of subject areas in 146 conservation modules and topics in 368 conservation modules and 62 conservation degrees. Biological sciences subject areas were represented in 92% of the modules, whereas social sciences subject areas only featured in 60% and humanities in 24%. Of the modules teaching biological sciences subject areas, 84% included biological sciences faculty but only 31% of the modules covering social sciences subject areas included faculty from the social sciences. Who teaches matters. The disciplinary expertise in conservation education needs to diversify to train conservationists capable of addressing conservation challenges. This requires institutional changes and support from prominent societies to promote interdisciplinary education.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | education; conservation; interdisciplinary science; multidisciplinary; teaching |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2024 11:16 |
Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2024 11:16 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/biosci/biae059 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:215672 |