Student attitudes towards and skills for sustainable development

1. Student attitudes towards and skills for sustainable development Charlotte Taylor| Community Project Officer November 2012

2. Background • Over 1m unemployed young people • Education for Sustainable Development is of increasing policy relevance through climate change and the ‘green economy’ • Amending curriculum to meet the needs of graduate employers • Changing funding landscape within higher education

4. Act as a responsible citizen locally & globally Adapt to new situations Understand people’s relationship to nature Analyse using many subjects Plan for the long term as well as the short term Use resources efficiently Think of the whole system and the links when considering new ideas Consider the ethical issues of your subject

5. Key findings

6. Understanding, behaviour and influence of SD • Understanding of SD as a concept is good, although focused on the environmental dimension • The majority of students reporting conducting sustainability skills at least sometimes • University action on SD is important to students in selecting an institution but not a deciding factor

7. First year students - 2011 Second year students - 2011

8. HE curriculum and SD • Majority think that universities should actively incorporate and promote sustainable development. • Students think sustainability skills increase their ability to perform well in their course • Student accept responsibility for skills development along with strong expectation for assistance from both universities and future employers • Existing course content should be reframed rather than additional courses or modules

9. HE curriculum and SD To what extent do you agree, or disagree, with the following statement: “Sustainable development is something universities should actively incorporate and promote.”

10. HE curriculum and SD

11. SD beyond HE • Overwhelmingly skills in sustainable development are seen as valued by employers • Wider, core skills seen as more important/relevant than sustainability specific skills • Preference for improving employability skills over deepening subject knowledge changes throughout the university career • Two thirds of respondents would sacrifice £1000 from salary to work in a responsible company • This trend is reduced at a sacrifice of £3000

13. Recommendations

14. Understanding sustainable development • Improved understanding is needed of student and employer demands for SD to gain foothold and importance within the curriculum • Understanding further the mismatch in definitions of SD between students and academics/policy-makers will be key when developing curricula, mechanisms and resources for delivery

15. Wider recommendations • Students focus more on employability through their university career emphasising the need to secure business and professional organisation support • Predictions of growth in the ‘green economy’ and the levels of graduate employment highlight the necessity of SD skills • An important need exists to understand the impact of tuition fees on student aspirations and expectations of the role of higher education.

16. www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/esd/Student_attitudes_towards_and_skills_for_sustainable_development.pdfwww.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/esd/Student_attitudes_towards_and_skills_for_sustainable_development.pdf

17. Charlotte.taylor@nus.org.uk 07817010044