Sustainable Development Education Panel
Review of Sustainable Development Education Initiatives in the Workplace
3. Survey findings: Towards a template for sustainable
development education initiatives in the workplace.
Reinforcing the Panel's existing findings
The survey reinforced a number of the findings of earlier work undertaken
by the Panel as reported in the Panel's first annual report:
- Most people do not yet have a clear understanding of the term 'sustainable development'.
- To reach the entire population, education for sustainable development must be adapted to many different audiences.
- Education in sustainable development is, as yet, not widespread and affects only a small proportion of the country's workplaces: there is no widely accepted view of what does and does not work.
- Many existing projects lack clear, stated objectives and hence indicators against which progress and success can be measured.
Developing a template for sustainable development education in the
workplace
From the 73 case studies contained in this report, it is possible to identify
those features that are shared by the most successful projects.
1. A clearly-defined objective.
The most successful projects have a single, easily-understood objective.
For example, The Forestry Stewardship Council is attempting a huge and
complex task, yet has a mission that is easily and clearly understood.
2. Practicality
Projects in which participants can take positive action are more successful
and appear to have a greater impact than those where people play a passive
role. Trees of Time and Place, in which people are encouraged to plant
trees seems to have a greater impact than, for example, general publications
which often do not get read.
3. Fitting into the mainstream
Initiatives such as the B&Q QUEST Programmes and The Ethical Trading Initiative
bring sustainable development issues into the mainstream of workplace
life. They place environmental concerns alongside more conventional issues
as fundamental to business success, not as something that can be dealt
with as an afterthought.
4. Helping people do their jobs better
Projects are more readily accepted and therefore more successful if they
fit readily into people's existing jobs. The TGWU environmental diploma
and the Environment Council's Conservers at Work Programme both fit environmental
issues into participants' current working lives.
5. Motivated and focussed management
To be successful a project needs both a champion at senior level and a
skilled, focussed management group to carry it forward. B&Q's Quest Programmes
and the Forest Stewardship Council are both good examples of this.
6. Cost-effectiveness
Particularly for smaller organisations, cost-effectiveness is vital to
the success of sustainable development initiatives. Bradford District
Council's Business and Environment Support Team reaches hundreds of SMEs
each year because it provides practical advice for little or no cost
7. Replicability
Notwithstanding the need for projects to have a clear focus, the most
successful schemes work, not only in one organisation, but are capable
of replication in others. The Forest Stewardship Council provided the
model for the Marine Stewardship Council, and The Natural Step provides
a framework that can be used in any organisation.
Page published 12 May
2000;
Page last modified
20 August, 2002