This powerpoint provides a background to TEFI, its values and a short history. It was presented by Pauline Sheldon at the TEFI Conference in Milan, 2013.

1. Activating Change in Tourism Education
Pauline J. Sheldon
University of Hawai’i, USA
and
Daniel Fesenmaier
Temple University, USA

2. Assessment of Tourism Education Programs
Almost half a century of tourism/hospitality programs
Program proliferation particularly in developing countries
Consolidation in US, UK and other countries
Dispersed in different parts of campuses/heterogeneous faculty
Increasing focus on skills development/ industry-driven curricula

Increasing dissection of the subject

Business of tourism overshadowing the non-business/social science
aspects
Development of metrics – are they the right ones?

3. Questions
● Is tourism education addressing the needs of the future?
● Shouldn’t educational institutions be leading the societal
and tourism industry shifts?
● What does it take to lead and to create responsible
leaders for the future?
● Intellectual leadership
● Leadership for stewardship
● Leadership for excellence

4. Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI)
www.tourismeducationfutures.org
Goal: To re-vision tourism education
10-20 year horizon
to create responsible leaders/stewards for the future
TEFI seeks to be the leading, forward-looking network that
inspires, informs and supports tourism educators and students to
passionately and courageously transform the world for the better.
Some of the TEFI Family TEFI video

5. TEFI Process
www.tourismeducationfutures.org
● Five Annual Summits 2007-2011 (Vienna, Hawaii, Switzerland, Spain,
Philadelphia)
● Lectures by leading scholars and industry
● Breakout group discussions
● Agreements and vision setting
● Work Groups
● Develop ideas/projects between conferences
● Set foundation for following summit
● Enable connections/networking with groups and programs
● Over 130 international academics and some industry involved

6. The First TEFI
● April 2007, Modul University, Vienna, Austria
● 45 academics and industry – think tank mode
Summit:
Megatrends
Pre-meeting Futurist Values – based
Readings survey 5 Scenarios framework

7. TEFI 2 - Hawaii 2008
Towards a Values-Based Framework for Tourism Education
● John Tribe, UK - scoping the vision
● Scott Meis, Canada - human resource
issues in future decades for the industry
● Gianna Moscardo, Australia – changing
student profiles and learning styles. How to
attract the brightest and best to tourism
studies
OUTCOME: Creation of Value Sets to drive tourism curricula

8. ● TEFI’s Four Areas of Contribution
● Facilitation of innovative, values-based learning
experiences for students at all levels.
● Advocacy for tourism as a field of study and
employment
● Re-shaping Tourism Scholarship: relevancy, meaning
and metrics
● A forum for creative, innovative debate about the impact
of future socio-economic trends on tourism education

9. Values
● Current Crisis of Values
● “Deeply held beliefs that drive activities”
● Personal, social, public, cultural
● Silent, implicit, unexamined
● Bridge between past - present – future
● Some universal; some culture-specific
● Difficult to shift – maybe as educators we can

10. TEFI Values
Stewardship
sustainability, responsibility,
• service to the community
Mutuality Knowledge
diversity, inclusion, critical thinking, innovation,
equity, humility, collaboration creativity, networking
Professionalism
Ethics
leadership, practicality,
honesty, transparency,
authenticity services, relevance, timeliness,
reflexivity, teamwork,
pro-activity

11. ETHICS
● “Right” vs. “Wrong”
● Judging and guiding actions
● Universal Ethical Values
● Benevolence, freedom, transparency, honesty,
justice, authenticity etc.

12. KNOWLEDGE
● Complex cognitive processes of perception, reasoning, learning,
communication, association, application
● Tacit and Explicit
● Knowledge Creation addresses
● Creativity & innovation
● Critical Thinking
● Networking

13. STEWARDSHIP
● “Choosing service over self-interest”
● Responsibility
● Sustainability
● Service to Others
● All Stakeholders have responsibility for environment
● Need understanding of stakeholder motives and exercising of
power/influence
● Need to engage with the non-tourism world

14. MUTUALITY
● “…grounded in human relationships mutuality requires attitudinal
developments involving acceptance, self-awareness, open-mindedness
and empowerment..”
● Mutuality as an evolving process starting with self-awareness (Inglehart
1997)
● Influences behaviors and attitudes
● Respect of self and other
● Diversity, inclusion, humility, equity, collaboration

15. PROFESSIONALISM
● “The ability to align personal and organizational conduct with ethical
and professional standards that include a responsibility to customer
and community and a commitment to lifelong learning”.
● Leadership and pro-activity
● Practicality and timeliness
● Partnership development & teamwork
● Relevance and reflexivity

16. TEFI 3 - LUGANO SUMMIT 2009
Towards a Values-Based Framework for Tourism Curricula
● Challenges of universities in a time of change Thomas Bieger,
● Outcomes-based education in the Context of TEFI Simon
Wong, Hong Kong
Linking values into curriculum design Betsy Barber, USA
White Paper (with curriculum guidelines):
“Tourism Education Futures - 2010-2030 Building the
Capacity to Lead”

17. TEFI 4 – San Sebastian Summit 2010
TEFI 4: “Tools for Change and New Uncertainties”
Spain,
Launching of Global Online Courses
5 instructors in 5 countries
TEFI Certificate
Values Inventory Assessment Tool
Survey – Gianna Moscardo
Student Oath/Faculty Code
Modul University – Karl Woeber
2011 Special Issue JTTT reporting on the various TEFI
initiatives

18. TEFI 5 – Philadelphia 2011 Congress
TEFI 5: TEFI World Congress: “Activating Change in Tourism
Education” Philadelphia, USA March 2011
● Values and Ethics in Education: David Fennell
● The Failure of Higher Education: Joe O’Leary
●
● Community engagement models
● Industry engagement models
● Faculty environments
● Another Special Issue of Journal of Teaching in Travel and
Tourism, 2012

19. TEFI 6 in June Milan, Italy:
Transformational Leadership in Tourism Education”
Regional Workshops:
India and South America in 2012 and more in the future
Explore cross-cultural differences in values and educational
systems
Create TEFI Chapters
Build Status and Stature of Tourism Studies
Promote a New Culture for Faculty
Continue as a forum and network for educators wanting to influence
the the future of responsible tourism education

20. TEFI 7: April 13-16, 2013
●
Oxford Brookes University
● “Tourism Education for Global Citizenship:
Educating for Lives of Consequence”
● Keynote Speakers:
● Alain Dupreyas: Head Tourism Committee OECD
● Anna Pollock: Visionary, CEO, Conscious Travel, UK
● Dr. Nigel Morgan: Cardiff University
● 25 paper presentations and thought bubbles by authors
from around the world.

21. Looking forward to your questions and joining you in
creating new leadership
(www.tourismeducationfutures.org)
psheldon@hawaii.edu
“Be the change you want to see in the world”
Ghandi