Learning for Sustainability
Learning for Sustainability is a whole-school approach that enables the school and its wider community to build the values, attitudes, knowledge, skills and confidence needed to develop practices and take decisions which are compatible with a sustainable and equitable society.
One Planet Schools
In March 2013 Scottish Ministers accepted all 31 recommendations of the Learning for Sustainability (LfS) report.
The strategic recommendations from the report were:
- All learners should have an entitlement to learning for sustainability.
- In line with the new GTCS Professional Standards, every practitioner, school and education leader should demonstrate learning for sustainability in their practice.
- Every school should have a whole-school approach to learning for sustainability that is robust, demonstrable, evaluated and supported by leadership at all levels.
- All school buildings, grounds and policies should support learning for sustainability.
- A strategic national approach to supporting learning for sustainability should be established.
Vision 2030+ report
The National Implementation Group delivered their Vision 2030+ Report setting out the Learning for Sustainability (LfS) vision.
Recommendation 14 is specific to us:
The Scottish Qualification Authority should put mechanisms in place to ensure that all future reviews of qualifications will support LfS and will provide practitioners and learners with sufficient encouragement and time to adopt LfS pedagogies and approaches, including outdoor learning. Appropriate accreditation and qualification pathways are needed to recognise the LfS achievements of young people and prepare them for the world of work.
Read the report
Our progress to date
We are mapping SQA National Qualifications, identifying the contribution that they make towards a learner’s LfS entitlement (as measured by contributing assessment activity).
Future activity
- Ongoing revision of mapping activity as National Qualifications are revised.
- Additional guidance to Qualification Development Teams on the contribution that LfS can make to new or revised qualifications.
- Work with stakeholders to provide LfS recognition, signposting or accreditation.
Learning for Sustainability in action
We encourage Learning for Sustainability approaches during revision of assessment in National Qualifications.
National 5 Environmental Science
Environmental science courses encourage the development of skills and resourcefulness which lead to becoming a confident individual. Successful candidates in environmental science think creatively, analyse and solve problems. Studying relevant areas of environmental science such as the living environment, the Earth’s resources and sustainability produces responsible citizens.
Practical/field work activity within coursework assignment provides centres with opportunities to undertake fieldwork activity.
The topic should be chosen with guidance from the teacher/lecturer and must involve experimental/fieldwork.
Find out more at National 5 Environmental Science.
Partnership working
We are working in partnership with:
Scottish Seabird Centre to provide access to resources that support National 5 Environmental Science and Biology, which have a focus on outdoor and fieldwork activities.
SSERC (Scottish Schools Education Research Centre) to develop resources to support the coursework assignment for all National 5 Science courses, which will allow for the promotion of various aspects of LfS.
