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Barriers
A high proportion of respondents to a recent survey said they were embedding concepts or approaches to sustainable development into existing courses and programmes. A rather more mixed picture emerged from the organisations visited. However, in a few instances, the process of integration was clearly underway. For example, in some specialist land-based colleges, the emphasis on environmental sustainability through countryside management courses, agriculture and horticulture programmes and some construction programmes was clearly evident in course handbooks, learning materials and library resources more generally. However, even here the wider concept on which the sustainability agenda is based was less evident. There were generally fewer examples of taking a wider and interdisciplinary approach to sustainable development in the organisations visited. Some colleges are addressing the agenda through Citizenship Programmes, group tutorial work, and Personal and Social Development programmes. One college had used the NCFE awarding body programme as a cross-college approach and had found the approaches useful, but as a level 1&2 award generally less applicable for high-level provision.
Whilst there are a wealth of sustainable development related strategies in regions (such as regional energy strategies) and investment opportunities (such as the FE Capital Investment Programme), building sustainable development skills (whether embedded or discrete) into training, education and in turn, all professions remains a significant challenge (and opportunity) for the FE system.
The absence of higher-level generic sustainable development provision is a barrier to wider adoption in most FE providers. This is compounded by the fact that curriculum reform has been comparatively slow in this area for a number of reasons, not least in sustainable development not featuring prominently within more National Occupational Standards. Making sustainable development an underpinning principle of all aspects of its work must be shared goal for the FE system as a whole. But there is still much that providers and individual teachers can do to make a difference.
Whilst there are a wealth of sustainable development related strategies in regions (such as regional energy strategies) and investment opportunities (such as the FE Capital Investment Programme), building sustainable development skills (whether embedded or discrete) into training, education and in turn, all professions remains a significant challenge (and opportunity) for the FE system.
The absence of higher-level generic sustainable development provision is a barrier to wider adoption in most FE providers. This is compounded by the fact that curriculum reform has been comparatively slow in this area for a number of reasons, not least in sustainable development not featuring prominently within more National Occupational Standards. Making sustainable development an underpinning principle of all aspects of its work must be shared goal for the FE system as a whole. But there is still much that providers and individual teachers can do to make a difference.
