Introduction
The SDE survey concluded that colleges have made significant progress in addressing sustainability:
‘The survey responses strongly suggest that progress has been made since Forster’s baseline findings in 2006. Sustainable Development Education is now firmly on the agenda of Scotland’s colleges and activity in this area has increased: the responses further suggest that activity will continue to increase as the value of SDE is better understood and more widely embedded across every aspect of college life … most colleges were delivering elements of SDE at some level within the curriculum. A number of colleges can also be identified as ‘champions’ of the sustainable development agenda and have assigned responsibility for SDE at senior management team level and have started to build the capacity to deliver across the whole institution/curriculum. At present there is no single appropriate curriculum response but many colleges have found the presence of Sustainable Development Champions, whether appointed or voluntary, helpful in moving the agenda forward.’
The SDE survey reported that most colleges addressed sustainable development to some extent with only a very few colleges reporting no or limited coverage of sustainable development. However, only a minority of colleges had evaluated the extent to which sustainable development was addressed within their curriculum. Inspectors investigated the extent to which sustainable development was addressed within the curriculum in the colleges visited and the findings are presented below.
Sustainable development education links with core skills and skills for citizenship
Forster (2008)18 explored the ways in which core skills could be related to the development of sustainable literacy. The report considered whether sustainability was an additional core skill or whether the skills of sustainable literacy were equivalent to core skills. It also explored whether the teaching of core skills could be used to develop knowledge and understanding of sustainability. Forster concluded that sustainable literacy skills were more complex and not equivalent to core skills. Forster did find that some of Scotland’s colleges were making links to sustainability in the teaching of the core skills of numeracy and problem solving. Forster found little support for sustainability being regarded as a sixth core skill because the core skills agenda was already well understood and accepted within the college sector, and partly because of the ‘belief that sustainability should be contextualised to its subject matter rather than being generic’.
More than a few colleges had identified sustainability skills within their strategies for developing essential skills. However, these strategies did not unpack the knowledge, skills and attitudes for sustainability to any significant extent as outlined here. It was left for staff to develop these aspects in the context of the college’s overall sustainability strategy. However, one exception to this was John Wheatley College where a guidance note to staff on citizenship education encompassed issues relating to sustainability in a comprehensive way.
John Wheatley College promotes citizenship as all encompassing, cross curricular and a tool to develop learners’ knowledge and understanding, interpersonal and communication skills, and values and attitudes. Sustainability is fully embedded within the college’s citizenship curriculum. It includes knowledge and understanding in relation to diversity, sustainable development, social justice, globalisation and interdependence. Interpersonal and communication skills focus on critical thinking, cooperation and conflict resolution, debate, respect for other people and ability to challenge injustice and inequalities. Values and attitudes address self-esteem and personal identity, diversity and equality, environment and sustainability, empathy and equality and social justice.
Planning for sustainable development education in the college curriculum
Most of the colleges visited had clear policies and strategies on sustainability, but only a minority highlighted sustainable development within their programme delivery guidelines and their strategies for developing a broad range of skills. Only a minority of colleges had carried out a systematic audit of the extent to which sustainable development education was addressed in programmes delivered. These findings correspond with those of the SDE survey.
Aberdeen College provided a good example of how colleges can address sustainable development education within the curriculum.
Aberdeen College’s Soft Skills strategy emphasises the importance of developing a broad range of skills in learners through combinations of learning experiences set in the daily life of the college, discrete areas of the curriculum, cross-curricular experiences and activities involving links with local, national and international partners. One of the four skills sets identified is environmental and economic sustainability skills. The college describes these as ‘the cluster of skills, understanding and attitudes that enables an individual to make informed decisions relating to the impact of their actions on the environment and to act in ways that promote a sustainable world environment’. The other skills sets identified in the strategy are citizenship skills, employability skills and study skills. The college’s programme delivery guidelines include specific mention of the need for staff to seek opportunities to create awareness of sustainability issues. The college has developed a soft skills audit tool which curriculum teams use to provide information on how they address the various elements of soft skills within their curriculum and what plans they have for these aspects. The college monitors the delivery of the soft skills in a variety of ways including the process of annual self-evaluation, the extent to which teaching teams make use of the audit tool, soft skills development sessions delivered as part of the weekly guidance programme and through the college’s arrangements for lesson observation.
A few colleges have adapted their curriculum delivery guidelines and authorisation processes to include the consideration of sustainability issues. For example, the Core skills and equality audit checklist used by John Wheatley College prompts staff to consider sustainability and biodiversity issues in whole programme and single unit submissions and reviews.
Forster (2006) categorised the many examples of teaching that embed sustainability as follows:
Findings from the visits to the colleges broadly confirm Foster’s findings. Sustainable development is embedded within programmes in specific curriculum areas. Sustainability is strongly evident in conservation and greenkeeping programmes in land-based industries. Other curriculum areas where sustainability is embedded, though not to the same extent as land-based industries, include construction, applied sciences, engineering and nautical studies. Curriculum areas where there are specific units that target sustainability within programmes include tourism (for example, Planning and sustainable development), engineering (for example, Offshore wind power), biological sciences (for example, Bioremediation of soils), countryside management (for example, Wildlife conservation) and art and design (Art and design: sustainability).
SQA has developed a few generic units on sustainability that colleges can incorporate within programmes. It has a helpful guide for unit writing teams about ways of introducing sustainable development 19, but it is too early to observe the impact on qualifications and units. SQA also has a sustainability audit tool to help staff embed sustainability within their teaching. The tool is highlighted within the support notes for SQA Higher National Unit Teaching in Further Education: Sustainable Development Education. It uses templates which map each unit according to the opportunities it presents to learn about sustainable development as defined in terms of the key knowledge and skills (shown here). However, almost all staff in the colleges visited were unaware of the existence of the tool. This is an area for further development across the college sector, particularly given the impact of the Quality and Equality of Learning and Teaching Materials (QELTM) curriculum audit tool in promoting equalities in learning and teaching materials in colleges.
Only a minority of the colleges visited had embedded sustainable development within their learning and teaching strategies. Generally these strategies made minimal reference to sustainable development in comparison with other themes such as core skills, equalities and ICT. A few colleges were revising their learning and teaching strategies to take account of national issues such as sustainability and Curriculum for Excellence. Two colleges made specific reference to sustainability within their lesson planning templates. These templates required teaching staff to target opportunities for raising awareness of sustainability issues where appropriate within lessons. Both colleges had found this to be an effective way of encouraging staff to reflect on sustainability issues and exploit opportunities to highlight issues for learners.
Learner awareness of sustainability
Across the colleges, learners demonstrated a good general awareness of sustainability issues. They cited global warming and climate change as being key issues and most were knowledgeable about the range of ways their college was addressing sustainability. However, most were less familiar with specific terms such as biodiversity. Many who studied previously in schools that were part of the Eco-Schools Scotland programme20 had raised their awareness of sustainability. For example, one learner was critical about the college’s recycling facilities because at his school they had recycling containers in every classroom whereas the college only provided these in communal areas. Employed learners who attended part-time spoke knowledgeably about how they addressed sustainability issues at work. In subject areas such as land-based industries and maritime studies where sustainability features explicitly within the curriculum, learners often demonstrated in-depth knowledge about sustainability. For example, one learner in maritime studies who was training to be a deck officer provided a most informative explanation of the risks of ships’ ballast water transferring harmful aquatic organisms. She provided a comprehensive account of the precautions and regulatory requirements to prevent this.
Colleges had used a number of ways to promote learner awareness of sustainability issues beyond their programmes of study. They provided sustainability awareness-raising events to broaden learner experience. Perth College invited a previous graduate of the college and a former winner of the Scottish Business Entrepreneur of the Year award to give a lecture to staff and students on business enterprise, drawing on her experience in developing a device for measuring energy consumption in the home. The lecture demonstrated the opportunities of growing a business with an environmental sustainability theme. Learners used the device to measure energy usage in the college nursery. John Wheatley College’s 2007-08 sustainability report21 includes comment on how it promotes environmental awareness.
‘The college recognises the importance of minimising its environmental impact, and regularly publishes topical articles in its newsletters, displays awareness raising posters and other reminders to learners and staff. Environmental awareness is now an important part of the induction process for learners and is included within the curriculum for almost all learners.’
Examples of sustainable development education in curriculum areas
Across a majority of the curriculum areas, there are examples of teaching staff raising learners’ awareness of sustainability within their teaching and learning tasks.
Art and design
Reducing waste, recycling and conserving energy use are emphasised within learning and teaching in Aberdeen College. Learners are encouraged to recycle scrap paper and art and design learners participated in a waste-aware poster design project. The college is piloting paper-free delivery in the HND Textiles. Routine switching off computers and sewing machines at the end of lessons is part of the lesson plan.
At Ayr College, fashion students use recycled materials and a display in the college foyer included various dress designs using recycled ties and shirts. HND Product Design learners at Glasgow Metropolitan College worked with the Metro newspaper to develop innovative and imaginative approaches to understanding and developing the ‘life cycle’ of a product. They spent a day at the production plant of the newspaper, learning first hand about the materials, resources and production processes used in the production and distribution of the Metro and the complex environmental issues involved in the process. The Metro had instigated a project which sought to address the recycling or further life of the newspaper after it had been read by the consumer. Learners used this as the basis of a design brief and they developed a range of imaginative and fun products for the afterlife of the newspaper including fashion items and food packaging.
Business, management and administration
Teaching staff in business, management and administration at Perth College introduced a number of sustainability themes within programmes. They raised learner awareness of sustainable development by requiring them to address controversial issues relating to the environment as part of business strategy lessons. NC business students visited Can-Able, a project run by the adult resource centre in Blairgowrie, which offers adults with learning difficulties therapeutic employment by collecting, processing and sorting aluminium cans for recycling. This helped students learn about social issues as well as environmental issues and sustainable societies. Accounting students worked successfully as a team to establish a conservation area in the college and administration students contributed to a recycling awareness day in the college.
Care
Staff at John Wheatley College used a community profiling exercise within NQ Social Care and Access to Nursing programmes. This exercise is part of the coursework for the health promotion unit which introduces learners to social responsibility issues in relation to health and attitudes that may affect health promotion. Learners work in groups to examine the community profiles for two contrasting areas and create a development plan for the most deprived community to contribute to improvement in environment, society and economy. They explained how their plan contributes to aspects such as the maintenance and enhancement of biodiversity and the reduction of waste and emissions.
Computing and ICT
Computing staff at Aberdeen College encourage recycling of paper and other computer consumables. They promote paperless classes and encourage the use of the electronic submission of work and the use of reusable printed textbooks to supplement electronic material. The college’s hybrid class model has no reliance on printed material. Learners are not required to attend college as much as in the traditional model of delivery. This reduces travelling, which in turn reduces the carbon footprint of the class.
Construction
Teaching staff at South Lanarkshire College have introduced an initiative called Take 5 to address sustainability issues. Staff use a five-minute period at the end of each practical class for learners to identify what materials could be re-used and/or recycled. This encourages learners to be responsible in their use of scarce resources. The college uses e-portfolios for SVQ programmes in construction including on-site assessment and training. This initiative had a significant bearing on sustainability. Previously each learner had a portfolio in printed format and the college maintained several hundred portfolios. Using e-portfolio, staff could complete reviews of progress directly on a tablet and add photo galleries to each portfolio. They could readily refer to previous work during reviews with learners. Learners could add notes and comments directly to the portfolio and handwritten comments were readily converted to typewritten form using special software. Dundee College works in partnership with Worcester Bosch to provide training and certification in the installation of solar panels within a purpose-built training facility (example of sector leading and innovative practice here).
Engineering
Engineering students at Dundee College designed and manufactured an improved red squirrel feeding box that Dundee City Council countryside rangers use to supplement the red squirrel diet. 22 As well as developing their engineering skills, the project had made the learners very aware of biodiversity issues (example of sector leading and innovative practice here). The engineering section of Cumbernauld College provides a one-week course where school pupils design and construct circuit boards. Teaching staff ensure electronics equipment are recycled which reduces cost and the amount of waste.
Hairdressing, beauty and complementary therapies
Across the colleges visited, staff in hairdressing, beauty and complementary therapies encourage learners to consider the impact that the products they used have on the environment. They raise awareness of biodiversity issues such as the impact of palm oil production. Staff encourage learners to behave in an environmentally responsible way. For example, staff at South Lanarkshire College have reduced waste of consumables in the salons by using washable sponges in preference to cotton wool and single ply tissue rather than multiple ply tissue. Teaching staff in beauty therapy at Aberdeen College encourage paperless classes and plastic products are recycled after use where appropriate. Learners dispose of associated waste such as wax and oils appropriately for subsequent removal by specialist carrier. Paper is disposed of in recycling bins. They encourage learners to avoid leaving water running in the salons as much as possible.
Hospitality and tourism
Teaching staff in hospitality at Ayr College promote sustainability in a number of ways. There are specific units within hospitality programmes that highlight sustainability issues. Staff promote the use of seasonal vegetables and fruit, and local produce to reduce transport costs and sustain local communities. They use local suppliers with a reputation for environmental and sustainable awareness. Staff teaching tourism at Aberdeen College include planning and sustainable development in lessons and case studies that address environmental issues. They use group discussions to encourage learners to consider issues such as airport developments and their impact on the environment. Learners investigate how ecotourism can benefit the environment, local communities and economies.
Land-based industries
Sustainability issues are strongly evident in programmes in conservation, golf course management and greenkeeping provided by Elmwood College. The college has strong links with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (the R and A) which champions sustainability in golf course development and management. The R and A provides bursaries for international learners to study at Elmwood College. The college’s golf course is the first in the UK to have received ISO 14001 for its environmental programme. Sustainability features strongly in the college’s delivery of the greenkeeping programmes, which include units such as turf grass ecology, grass fertilisation, irrigation systems, and wildlife conservation. Other land-based courses at the college also promote sustainability. NC conservation and HNC/HND countryside management programmes have units on wildlife conservation, investigation of ecosystems, natural resource use, investigating animal wildlife, biodiversity, environmental awareness, and earth science.
Media
Teaching staff in the visual communications section of Ayr College include design projects that address sustainability themes to improve learners’ awareness of these issues. Learners have developed a ‘snap’ card game using card designs that promote energy awareness and global warming issues. HNC students in visual communications produced one of the newsletters and promotional leaflets for the college’s green travel day held in October 2008.
Nautical studies
Sustainability issues are embedded within maritime programmes and feature strongly in those delivered by Glasgow College of Nautical Studies. Learners study the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) and related requirements to prevent pollution of the marine environment by ships from both operational and accidental causes. They also study the control and management of ships’ ballast water and sediments to prevent the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens and the resulting impact on local environments.
Learner contributions to sustainable development
Learning For Our Future: Scotland’s First Action Plan for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2004–2014 describes the actions being taken by the Scottish Government to support learning for a more sustainable planet. The plan commits colleges not only to integrate education for sustainable development into curricula, but also to provide a whole experience for learners which contributes to the development of their sustainable literacy and citizenship skills, attitudes and behaviour. It recognises that learners contribute to local cultural diversity and through activities such as volunteering can make a major contribution to the well-being of local communities and community groups. The joint SFC and National Union of Students (NUS) Conference in October 2008 celebrated student contributions to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
In most of the colleges visited there were good examples of learners contributing to sustainable development and these are illustrated below, grouped into five categories: volunteering; Fairtrade; carbon offsetting; reducing waste and recycling; and work in the community. In a few colleges, children in the college nursery also contributed to sustainability. Cumbernauld College’s nursery is very committed to ensuring that the children embrace sustainability. The nursery has in place an extensive environmental programme for the children that includes recycling. It is working towards a Green Flag in the Eco-Schools Scotland programme and has already achieved the bronze award.
The predominantly part-time nature of the learner population of colleges limits the extent to which student associations are engaged in sustainable development activities in comparison with their counterparts in HEIs. However, there were a few good examples of the contribution that the student associations in colleges were able to make.
Volunteering
An excellent example of learner contributions to sustainability through volunteering was showcased at SFC/NUS Conference in 2008. In her keynote address to the conference, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning highlighted the Langside College’s contributions as ‘promoting a strong sense of civic participation and a valuable contribution towards building a strong and sustainable community’ (example of sector leading and innovative practice on page 60). Pre-vocational construction learners at South Lanarkshire College constructed bird boxes from scrap timber and donated these to the local country park in East Kilbride. A learner group from the college is also working with the East Kilbride Talking Newspaper to help the newspaper move from tape cassettes to digital media. The project aims to make the newspaper widely available to people with a visual impairment.
Fairtrade
The student association of Aberdeen College is involved in achieving Fairtrade status for the college. The college is working in partnership with Aberdeen University and Robert Gordon University to become a Fairtrade college. The project is run mainly by students and they are promoting Fairtrade to all staff and students as a way of achieving better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. The college has now started to order Fairtrade goods after meetings with its catering providers. The association is also leading an initiative to recycle mobile phones.
For the last three academic years, learners from the interior design section of Glasgow Metropolitan College have engaged in projects with Fairtrade. Representatives from Fairtrade have acted as clients for interior design projects. Learners have devised functional and aesthetically attractive schemes for shops and cafés that exemplify the ethos of Fairtrade. The completed projects were displayed at the Scottish Parliament to mark the launch of Fairtrade fortnight in 2008. The learners have gained in many ways from the projects, for example by enhancing their interior design skills and gaining in confidence in engaging with and presenting to external clients. Through their research into the ethos and concerns of Fairtrade, learners improved their awareness of working conditions, local sustainability and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.
Carbon offsetting
HNC Construction learners from Ayr College attended Ecobuild 2009 at London’s Earls Court to learn about sustainable design and construction. The learners valued the experience greatly and volunteered to offset their flight by contributing to the Americas reforestation project. The college’s first student member of the college’s Eco Team contributed an excellent article to the college’s newsletter What’s the Buzz, reporting on a creative project that her class were working on. The brief was to help overcome problems of minimising waste at source and during consumption and disposal. The learners researched and analysed waste reduction issues and applied their own knowledge and skills of the design process to suggest strategies for intervention and solution. The article recorded many innovative solutions that demonstrated how well the learners had engaged with the project and raised their awareness of sustainability issues.
Reducing waste and recycling
Intermediate 2 Early Education and Childcare learners and pre-vocational construction learners at John Wheatley College worked together to produce portable flower planters from a prototype designed by a workshop assistant in the construction section. The vocational construction learners made the wooden boxes and the childcare learners painted these before staff helped them mount the boxes onto recycled computer chair bases. The childcare learners planted flowers and are responsible for watering and nurturing them. The portable planters can be easily accessed by learners with impaired mobility and wheelchair users. A local company that manufactures storage containers from recycled materials provided a large container to store rainwater for watering the flowers. The learners plan to donate the planters to a local nursery and nursing home at the end of the session. This project was successful in promoting awareness of sustainability issues, the value of joint working and learner involvement in eco friendly practices.
Work in the community
Across the colleges visited, sustainability was a prominent theme in programmes for learners with additional support needs. Learners contributed in many ways including volunteering, recycling projects, energy conservation and promoting biodiversity. Student development learners contributed to Elmwood College’s Veg-box scheme where organic vegetables from local producers are delivered in recycled boxes to the local community. The learners organised a fashion show that exhibited clothes from local charity shops to demonstrate the value of recycling clothes as well as benefiting charities. In Glasgow College of Nautical Studies, transition learners have established and maintain a community garden that gives them a sense of ownership of sustainability issues, caring for and contributing to the local environment. A few of the learners have work experience placements in the Gorbals Recycle project which is part of the Community Recycling Network for Scotland. Learners often achieve recognition for their achievements through the John Muir Award Scheme23.
Learners undertaking Prince’s Trust programmes often engage in project work to improve the local environment. A group from Dundee College were finalists in the Prince’s Trust Community Impact Award in December 2008. The group were all either homeless or young offenders. They undertook a project to clear two ponds on the Loch Leven Heritage Trail to make way for footpaths and a dipping pond for wildlife. The group worked well as a team and supported each other. Their work added value to the local environment.
Using e-portfolio, staff at South Lanarkshire College complete reviews of learner progress directly on a tablet PC
