First was the realisation that the approach to sustainability studies at FSES was different to other disciplines we had experienced as students.
Second was the ability of the FSES social and integrative science courses to generate a sense of purpose beyond solely obtaining a university degree.
The innovative and practical facilitation styles experienced at FSES motivated us to commit to designing tutorial spaces that we feel maximise the students' ability to critically engage with sustainability issues.
However, it is also important to acknowledge that the student-facilitator, so far as we have described them above, may not be appropriate for all courses at FSES, particularly those where more advance technical knowledge is required.
Our experiences as both students and student-facilitators have shown us that a community exists within the FSES that is actively engaged in developing effective approaches for sustainability education.
Communicating with convenors from other social science and integrative courses at the FSES creates an opportunity for ongoing learning between sustainability educators.
The positive relationships that exist among sustainability educations within FSES also contribute towards addressing some of the challenges previously outlined.
In reflecting on our position in the FSES community, we feel we have strong relationships both with our own student-facilitators from our student years and our past students.
We do not want to give the impression that the FSES community is a united group with a shared vision for sustainability education.
Such an enquiry, arranged by an independent person, could take the form of key stakeholder interviews within the FSES and the ANU, including students and other teaching staff.
While the challenges have been noted, they do not significantly undermine the contribution that student-facilitators can make for effective sustainability education within the social science oriented sustainability courses at the FSES.
Through an autoethnographic approach, some key practices of the student-facilitator approach at the FSES have been identified.
