Emma WestPhD student
About me
My research interests revolve around the internationalization of higher education and migration studies. I studied sociology and anthropology with a focus on social work during my undergraduate studies at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA and the Master's program in International and Comparative Education here at the Department of Education at Stockholm University. I wrote my master's thesis on Native American students' attitudes towards studying abroad.
For my dissertation, I will focus on the informal learning processes of newly employed international university teachers and researchers in Sweden and identifying opportunities to support their introduction into Swedish academia and Swedish society.
Publications
A selection from Stockholm University publication database
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Education for sustainable society
2015. Mikiko Cars, Emma E. West. Environment, Development and Sustainability 17 (1), 1-21
ArticleRead more about Education for sustainable societyEducation is an indispensable social component and a powerful tool to develop a peaceful and sustainable society. Global policy frameworks are coupled with national policy frameworks to facilitate strategic use of education to promote sustainability. Sweden is one of the countries that has actively aligned with the global framework and has been successful in introducing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into formal education through its inclusion in the curricula and through new approaches toward learning and teaching. This article is based on document analysis attempting to review ESD policy implementation and to highlight Sweden's contribution to the global framework of ESD. It provides a comprehensive review of ESD discourse and its international policy framework, followed by an analysis of evolution of environmental education then ESD in Sweden. Three initiatives at the primary school level that promote ESD are presented as distinctive examples from Sweden demonstrating instrumental use of education toward sustainable development of the society while assessing the challenges and future prospects. As the United Nations Decade for Sustainable Development and Millennium Development Goals comes to an end in November 2014 and 2015, respectively, it is imperative that the concept of is revisited and good practices in the realm of ESD are identified and shared. Research of this nature locates effective practices of ESD and broadens our understanding of how ESD is implemented and adopted hybridizing with local socio-cultural tradition.