Educating for the Sustainable Future: A Conceptual Process for Mapping the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Marketing Teaching Using Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Published in: Journal of marketing education Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 84 - 96
• Main Authors: Deo, Sheetal, Hinchcliff, Mercedez, Thai, Nguyen T., Papakosmas, Mary, Chad, Paul, Heffernan, Troy, Gibbons, Belinda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2024; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Blooms taxonomy; Curricula; Marketing; Sustainable development; Taxonomy; Teaching Methods; marketing education; higher education; Bloom’s Taxonomy; United Nations Sustainable Goals (UN SDGs); reflective process; sustainability
• ISSN: 0273-4753; 1552-6550
• DOI: 10.1177/02734753231201420

This qualitative study aims to explore how a university-level School of Marketing integrates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into curriculum, using Bloom’s Taxonomy, and to develop a reflective process that could be applied within tertiary education, more broadly. The research investigates the depth of SDG integration, with marketing subject coordinators mapping the Goals within their teachings across Bloom’s dimensions, then identifying and reflecting on how they are embedded. The reflective process has revealed that some subjects are directly mapped to SDGs, for example where students are required to work on an assessment task which relates to a specific Global Goal [1]. The results also show that other subjects are indirectly mapped, such as where subject coordinators discuss topics linked to Goals or Targets but do not explicitly state this content is SDG-related. To effectively implement SDGs within teaching and learning practice, marketing subjects require an evaluation method to identify gaps and opportunities. Therefore, this reflective process enabled subject coordinators to recognize gaps in their own SDG knowledge and teaching, a process through which future marketing subject curriculum modifications can be developed, with possible applications in other disciplines.