Towards Transformative Sustainable Fashion Education: The Fashion Business School’s Approach

This chapter explores how transformative sustainable pedagogies are being implemented in the Fashion Business School (FBS) at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London. Specifically, providing an understanding of how sustainability is embedded in the teaching and learning experience of fashion business students. Adopting Burns et al. Model of Sustainable Pedagogy (2019), this study takes a qualitative, multiple case study approach to showcase the transformative nature of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) initiatives in order to inform future thinking in teaching and learning practices for fashion sustainability education. Across the five case studies and the four dimensions of Burns et al. model, our findings reveal 14 common aspects that emphasise a shift and advancement towards ESD within the FBS, resulting in seven key positive student outcomes. Limitations include ESD definitions, data and metrics. The case studies were not designed in accordance with Burns et al. model, thus their alignment to and evaluation against it is restricted. As fashion business educators, the deployment of ESD transformation frameworks are urgent, imperative and beneficial for framing curriculum development and improving accountability and measurement responsibilities. The study makes a valuable contribution to the emergent field of ESD and transformative T&L. It is one of few studies focusing on fashion business and SD and the only known study to explore diverse ESD initiatives and approaches collectively within a HE fashion business context. It both challenges HEIs and offers areas for improvement towards transformative sustainable education in fashion.