Experiences of Education for Sustainable Development in the FE and Training Sector

This report provides the results and an analytical narrative of findings from a survey of the FE and training sector about experiences of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). We wanted to understand the current landscape, and particularly the experiences and needs of those who work in the sector.  

With the support of the Society for Education and Training (SET), and other partners, we surveyed 830 people who work in the FE and training sector. Our data showed that whilst there was almost widespread recognition of the potential and importance of this field, the extent to which it is being practiced at an individual and organisational level varies greatly. There are a range of barriers that we also explored, alongside solutions to these challenges.  

The most significant statistics are presented as an infographic. Our findings broadly fall under one of five headlines: 

1. Sustainability as a concept is broadly well understood 
2. There’s widespread belief that the sector is well placed to lead on sustainability solutions 
3. Diverse subject specialisms all have a role to play 
4. Different FE providers are at different stages of their ESD journey 
5. The FE workforce have had very little training on how to deliver quality, impactful ESD. 

Findings from the survey have enabled us to develop our strategy and inform our design and development process when creating tools and resources that support the sector’s adoption of ESD. IT also provides FE and training sector practitioners, providers and stakeholders data with data to plan their own ESD approaches.

Read the full report ‘Experiences of Education for Sustainable Development in the Further Education and Training Sector’.

To enable FE practitioners and providers best utilise the data, we’ve also produced the following resources:

Watch this webinar recording, outlining the findings of the ‘Experiences of Education for Sustainable Development ESD in the FE and Training sector’ research.