Finding the Common Ground:

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Finding the Common Ground Is there a place for
Education for Sustainability in VET policy and
practice? David Goldney, Tom Murphy, John Fien,
Jenny Kent and Julie Buckley
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Global Context
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• There are limits to growth

• Complex ecosystems underwrite life

• Wealth creation and development based on
  non-sustainable growth models

• We live in a world of exponential degrading
  changes
• population increases
• loss of species and natural areas
• increasing land degradation
• key resource shortages (water and oil)
• ecosystem/system malfunctions (global
  warming)
• increasing pollutants.

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Sustainability and Sustainable Development

• meet the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs

• about maintaining the resilience of systems
• at best a transition process

• Commonly expressed as the pillars of Sustainable
  development

• biophysical system
• economic systems
• social and cultural systems
• political systems.

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• Despite our best intentions to incorporate
  sustainability principles into our daily lives,
  we do not yet have macro examples of sustainable
  cities or landscapes (Diamond, 2005).

• The weight of evidence suggests that we are
  moving away from, rather than towards, the goals
  of sustainable development.

• Sustainable development is at best a
  transitionary process (Millennium Declaration,
  2002).

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Education for Sustainable Development
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• Governments agreed to integrate SD at all levels
  of education (WSSD 2002).

• Australias EE National action Plan states that
  environmental objectives should be afforded the
  same priority as its social and economic
  objectives.

• VET has CENTRAL role to play.

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• KEY ISSUE VET sectors view of SD is currently
  too narrowly focused and perpetuates a production
  focused mentality

Transformation assured?

• The importance of the limitations of the
  environment can no longer be ignored

• Need for EfS to transform VET policy and practice.

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Some International Trends
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• TVET the master key that can help to achieve SD
  (UNESCO 2004).

• England is a world leader in education for SD,
  grounded in a national framework a 2005-2015
  post-school strategy

• capacity building identification training of
  SD Champions

• encourages a whole-of-institution acceptance and
  delivery of EfS in VET

• develops links and partnerships between VET
  providers, industry, schools, employers and the
  community.

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Australian Policy on Vocational Education and
Training and Sustainability
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EfS in Australia influenced by 3 policy levels
tending to lead to a divided and haphazard
approach.

• VET policy shaped by Australian National Training
  Authority Act (1992), administered by DEST

• 2 key policy papers
• - Flexible learning for the Information
  Economy
• - Backing Australias Ability Building our
  Future through Science and Technology 2004

One of 4 priorities is an environmentally
sustainable Australia BUT the role of VET is not
clearly evident.
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2. National Sustainability Policy

• Australias primary national policy towards
  sustainability

• Based on
• - National Strategy for Ecologically
  Sustainable Development 1992
• - Intergovernmental Agreement on the
  Environment

However concept of SD is not well understood in
community nor is it currently seen as a
whole-of-government commitment.
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3. Industry Policy

• Policy framework underpinned by the Environmental
  Industry Action Agenda

• Investing in Sustainability 2000
• (Dept. Industry, Tourism and Resources Dept.
  Environment and Heritage).

• Global industry 1,000 billion/year
• Domestic market 8.6 billion/year and 3 growth

Demand driven by regulation, international
standards, consumer pressure, changing business
attitudes and technological developments.
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The Great Policy Divide -dilutes the ability of
EfS to be optimised in Australia

• Without a whole of government approach
  community and industry backing, VET is unlikely
  to respond appropriately to SD challenges.

• The UKs overarching sustainability policy across
  government portfolios points us in a useful
  direction.

• A skill ecosystem approach would enable
  integration across economic, social, political,
  environmental and cultural divides.

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Barriers to Sustainability in VET
..the rates of change in industry, the growing
recognition of adverse environmental outcomes, as
well as the intervention of green technologies
can be quite overwhelming to educators concerned
with serving the needs of the community, given
the restrictive traditional modes of delivery and
training package delivery..
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• Lack of a Shared National Vision

• Imperative that the Australian VET sector
  approach sustainability under a whole of
  government approach, across the legislative
  spectra, policy and action plans.

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• Lack of Adequate Resources and Trained Personnel

• Teacher training in SD appears sub-optimal,
  contemporary disciplinary understandings poorly
  reflected in programs

• Significant gaps exist in VET training packages,
  with a tendency to focus on compliance

• Need to develop coping strategies given rapid
  changes required by industry community within
  budget constraints

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• Delivery of packages and skills likely to be
  optimised if VET becomes a shaper rather than
  just a delivery system

• Need to adopt teaching and learning model able to
  embrace change to rapidly adjustment as
  required

• To remain credible, VET will need to demonstrate
  the integration of SD into daily practices and
  policies.

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• Existing VET Culture, Pedagogy Training
  Packages

• VET identified as one of the keys to unlock a SD
  future

• Ability of VET system to fulfill role may be
  hampered by focus on production and industry

• Appears to be lack of coordinated integrated
  action plans ensuring VET meets its
  sustainability obligations

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• VET needs to embrace a semi-permanent
  transition culture to address enormity of EfS
  Challenge

• Roadmap with signposts and milestones needed to
  ensure continual change in culture, attitudes
  and behaviours

• Sector-wide approach allowing for teaching and
  learning of emerging skills needed to create
  integrated and relevant training packages for SD.

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VET EfS The Common Ground
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• If VET is to remain relevant, the integration of
  EfS in policy and practice will be mandatory.

• Growing recognition of need for SD, necessitates
  transition from productivism to a more balanced
  approach to life and learning, including a
  consideration of
• economic
• social
• political
• environmental issues.

• Australia has adopted EE for a Sustainable
  Future, National Action Plan supported by
  additional C/W and State initiatives including
  policies for VET.

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• A new paradigm required that recognises need for
  generic skills takes an active role in the
  integration evaluation of sustainability skills
  across industry training packages.

• Government in taking a facilitating role to embed
  employability skills in industry training
  packages and the entire education pathway,
  thereby has opened an opportunity for the
  recognition of sustainability skills.

• If EfS is embedded in VET and workplace culture,
  rather than tacked on, there is a greater chance
  that SD can be achieved.

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• EfS must pervade all aspects of learning
  teaching to avoid risk of sustainability being
  perceived as non-core therefore being
  excluded from learning pathway.

• It follows that incentives need to be provided to
  training establishments to fund sustainability
  courses or subjects.

• The opportunity now presents itself for
  Australian VET providers to become world leaders
  in EfS and to similarly position Australian
  industry.

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Making It Happen
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1. Develop a national approach to EfS in VET

• Develop a coherent integrated national vision
  with supporting legislation should be high
  priority.

• Concurrently optimise networks between VET
  providers, government, industry and international
  bodies.

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2. Encourage a culture of Sustainability within
VET

• Undertake an analysis of VET policy and culture
  to assess appropriateness for facilitating
  transition towards a sustainability culture
  identify impediments.

• Identify gaps in staff understanding of
  sustainability invest in Capacity Building at
  all levels.

• Develop a road map to ensure vision is
  implemented

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3. Determine an appropriate VET pedagogy that
will promote sustainable Development

• Assess the flexibility of VET sector to respond
  rapidly to change.

• An appropriate pedagogical model might be a
  learner-directed approach that distances itself
  from social reproduction and maintenance
  recognises the rapid rates of change occurring in
  society.

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4. Embed sustainability in VET policy and practice

• Redirect current primary focus of VET with its
  narrow view of sustainability to a more
  contemporary understanding and a recognition of
  the limits of current economic models.

• Develop a core, compulsory national
  sustainability unit.

• Take steps to move from compliance and competency
  skills towards sustainability sustainability
  competencies.

• Necessary to ensure appropriately skilled input
  into the development and review of national
  training packages.

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• Shift content design of training packages to
  encompass range of sustainability skills and
  competencies.

• The Guideline Competency Standards for
  Sustainability (NTIS 2005) should be considered
  as input aid to TPs.

• The Training Package Developers Handbook should
  be revised to reflect greater environmental
  sustainability content in TPs.

• The VET sector should set up an equivalent to the
  Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative.

• VET should work towards managing its estates,
  facilities, etc on sustainability principles.

• Pursue flagship sustainability projects with key
  partners.

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5. Identify areas in particular need of
sustainability training

• For example develop courses that respond more
  effectively to major issues of land degradation,
  environmental restoration and the creation of
  sustainable landscapes.

• Triple bottom line reporting and practice for
  large and small businesses should be targeted.

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6. Encourage and facilitate the adoption of EfS
across the entire education sector

• VET providers, universities and industry should
  work together to establish sustainability codes
  of practice.

• Pathways for articulation of sustainability
  courses between universities and the VET sector
  should be defined.

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7. Pursue a nationwide, united shift towards SD

• Policy development needs to be repositioned
  outside of a single portfolio in a
  whole-of-government approach to establish and
  commit government to genuine sustainability
  goals.

• The Australian Government should
• - develop an Australian Sustainability
  Charter to set key national targets and
  sustainability objectives,
• - implement a national report card
  administered by an independent Sustainability
  Commissioner.

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• Acknowledgements
• NCVER for funding
• NCVER staff for advice and direction
• NSW TAFE staff
• Anonymous reviewers of report
• Professor Peter Newell

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Thank you
Any questions? Or Comments?