Higher education curriculum design for sustainable development: towards a transformative approach

Purpose Education is widely recognized as a key domain for the promotion of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), prompting an increased focus on sustainable development in foreign language education. Despite increased attention, guidelines about SDGs are often primarily policy-based without concrete guidance, and the integration of education for sustainable development (ESD) within higher education curricula has been slow. This paper aims to mitigate this gap by providing an outline for the curriculum development for three elective English courses integrating SDG themes. Design/methodology/approach The paper begins by introducing the SDGs, ESD and its application to language education. From there, this paper outlines three content and language integrated learning courses that integrate global issues into their curriculum. Finally, there is a discussion and consideration of various factors to consider when implementing global issues into an English language classroom. Findings Following practical examples of how to integrate global issues into an English language classroom, considerations such as socio-cultural context, teaching context and the expertise of the instructor are discussed. Originality/value This paper covers a variety of social topics related to sustainable development in addition to the often addressed environmental topics. Many guidelines about integrating SDGs into education are policy-based without concrete guidance, so this paper aims to provide practical examples and considerations.