Orienting societies towards sustainability requires comprehensive learning of how to think, act and live within a safe and just space for humanity. Approaching sustainability as a core paradigm of quality education in the twenty-first century, Education for Sustainable Development necessitates an integrated view on learning. For educational organizations, Whole Institution Approaches (WIAs) to sustainability emphasize that all learning is embedded within its socio-physical contexts. Although the core objective—to “walk the talk” on sustainability—is theoretically well established, questions remain regarding its specific conceptualizations. Based on a systematic qualitative analysis of 104 international documents from scientific and grey literature, this article offers a conceptual synthesis of the core elements of WIAs to sustainability in education. Based on the literature analysis, WIAs are described as continuous and participative organizational learning processes aimed at institutional coherence on sustainability, consistently linking the formal and informal (hidden) curricula. While specific pathways are necessary for diverse organizations, the article synthesizes a joint framework. Key characteristics of WIAs are clustered within five core principles (coherence, continuous learning, participation, responsibility, long-term commitment), seven highly integrated areas of action (governance, curriculum, campus, community, research, communication, capacity building), the underlying organizational culture, and critical conditions for successful implementation. As becomes clear from the synthesis, following a WIA means to collaboratively switch the default mode of all rules-in-use to sustainability. The concept of WIAs may thus both be approached as an instrument for consistent organizational development in light of (un-)sustainability and as a keystone of integrated high-quality sustainability learning.
