South West Regional Skills Enterprise and Employment Analysis 2007/2008

Final Report

4.7 Skills for Sustainability

4.7.4 Sustainable Development

Skills for Sustainable Development are also of critical importance. Sustainable development is the simple idea of ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, both now and for generations to come. A widely used international definition is:

Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs(33).

It broadly means social progress that recognises the needs of everyone:

• Effective protection of the environment
• Prudent use of natural resources
• The maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment.

Learning to Last, The Government’s Sustainable Development Education Strategy for England(34) sets out the Government’s long-term aim for education for sustainable development, which is to ensure that all aspects of lifelong learning are fully engaged in the provision of effective education for sustainable development.

From Here to Sustainability: The Learning and Skills Council’s Strategy for Sustainable Development(35) attempts to put sustainable development at the heart of all learning. It stresses the importance of education for sustainable development (ESD) and the need for all learners to acquire sustainable development skills, skills that will equip them to lead their lives and work in a sustainable way and to influence others to do the same.

As well as influencing how colleges and training providers use their substantial resources, one of the critical elements of the strategy is the need to influence and persuade the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI), Ofsted, SSCs, awarding bodies and others to modify their programmes, frameworks and qualification systems in ways that encourage sustainable development policies and practices.

In terms of the curriculum, this means:

• Promoting and encouraging acceptance and delivery within learning programmes of the Sustainable Development Education Panel’s key concepts for ESD.
• Adopting and using currently available SD learning materials and develop appropriate SD programmes and modules.
• Implementing a whole-institution approach to SD, taking account of both institution-based provision and virtual learning environments, and both informal and formal learning approaches.
• Developing links between providers and industry and between pre- and post-16 education and training providers (including HE). Also consider European and international partnerships.
• Encouraging as many colleges as possible to develop and implement a healthy college programme.

Sustainability South West, a charity campaigning for sustainable development in the region, highlights the importance of establishing sustainable learning and skills programmes in all sectors(36).

(33) World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) (The Brundtland Report) p. 43
(34) Learning to Last, The Government’s Sustainable Development Education Strategy for England, DfES, 2003
(35) From Here to Sustainability: The Learning and Skills Council’s Strategy for Sustainable Development, LSC, 2005
(36) Sightings, Sustainability South West, Winter 2006