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Sustainable Development Education Panel

First Annual Report 1998

Future Work Programme

43. In addition to following up the recommendations that we have made for others, our future work programme is essentially the recommendations that we are making for ourselves. It will also depend on Government's response to this report. Our proposals below cover those areas which we wish to explore further, and where we would like to make progress over the course of 1999. We will continue the existing work that we are doing, including the seven projects that we have under way.

    Overall

    1. We intend to commission a funding map of education for sustainable development and work towards promoting a more strategic approach to funding

    2. We wish to develop links with development awareness, and work with the Department for International Development's Development Awareness Working Group on some issues of mutual interest

    Central Government

    3. We will respond to the Government's consultation paper on headline indicators for sustainable development, and any other consultation documents that fall within our remit.

    4. We will evaluate our role within the UK Sustainable Development Strategy.

    Local Government

    5. Members of the Panel will meet with the Local Government Association and Local Government Management Board to explore ways of developing the education and awareness raising strand of Agenda 21; and opportunities for local government to report on its performance.

    6. We will explore with the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and other professional bodies, the routes by which sustainable development could be incorporated into their syllabuses, and continuing professional development programmes.

    7. We will explore the sustainable development issues relating to urban living and planning including feeding into the work that the Town and Country Planning Association are doing on Planning for the 21st century.

    Schools

    8. We intend to carry out research on the link between education for sustainable development and school standards.

    9. We will develop training programme content for use in the schools sector in initial and continuing professional development.

    Youth Service

    10. We will build on the basis of the mapping study and suggest appropriate learning outcomes, and develop the content for training programmes, for youth work professionals.

    Further and Higher Education

    11. We will develop higher education level learning specifications relating to agriculture and other targeted areas.

    12. We will carry out a feasibility study for a 'Sustainable Development in Further and Higher Education Initiative' linked to a Centre of Excellence Award for institutions achieving defined performance standards.

    13. We will develop best practice guides for Further Education institutions.

    Employers, Employment and Training

    14. We wish to engage with more employers to create new kinds of green learning organisations, a process which will begin with a major conference in 1999.

    15. We will establish a formal link with the Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment to ensure greater strategic cohesion.

    16. We will invite the response of the National Training Organisations to this paper and engage with them to explore their role.

    Other Key Bodies

    17. The Panel will seek to help the pioneering work of many voluntary sector organisations and will find ways of supporting their work and helping them develop coherent policies and programmes.

    18. The Panel recognises the huge opportunity that will be provided by the creation of the Regional Development Agencies. The Panel will keep itself informed of the progress of their work and to monitor the potential for regional programmes of sustainable development education and how they fit with both national and local programmes

    The Public and Households

    19. We will carry out an analysis of the households and general public audience, followed by work with professional communicators to draw up a strategic plan for communicating with, and educating, the sector and to work with the Government on initiatives such as 'Are You Doing Your Bit?'

    20. We will discuss with the Advertising Standards Authority the need for advertising to be sensitive to sustainable development issues

CONCLUSION

44. As this report makes clear, we have covered a lot of ground. We have, we believe, made a substantial contribution in some areas. We have also set out our goals for 2010 as our agenda for transformation in the longer term. In the shorter term we have made a series of recommendations which we intend to pursue over the coming year. We ask you to endorse this report and give us your full backing and support in taking it forward.

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Page published 28 April 1999;
Page last modified 20 August, 2002

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