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2 BUILDING ON PROGRESS

Building on progress

Part 2 of this report highlights some of the work that is already going on in support of sustainable development education in Scotland.

Schools

Curriculum resources

Support is available on a wide range of issues within the spectrum of education for sustainable development, including programmes on health, waste, energy efficiency, climate change, biodiversity and global issues. Current arrangements include:

• Development education: the IDEAS network of development education practitioners in Scotland supports teachers with resources and training to bring a global dimension to their work
• Health: health promoting schools programme, supported by health promoting schools unit
• Biodiversity: The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy identifies communication and education about the value of biodiversity as a key priority. The Scottish Executive has funded the production of an Eco schools module on biodiversity
• Historic environment: Historic Scotland delivers an outreach programme to schools which raises awareness in the classrooms of their surrounding historic environment and its role in sustainability. The opening to the public of Stanley Mills, near Perth, in 2007 will offer extensive educational opportunities to learn about renewable energy resources
• Woodlands: publication of Woods for Learning Education Strategy by Forestry Commission Scotland ( FCS) which encourages the use of forests in education
• Climate change: a climate change website for Scottish schools was launched in 2002 ( www.ltscotland.org.uk/climatechange ) aimed at young people aged between 9 and 14. The aim of the site is to inform and raise awareness of some of the key issues surrounding climate change and the effect on Scotland.
• Energy efficiency: Support is provided through the Energy Savings Trust and local advice centres. The forthcoming energy efficiency strategy will set out future actions on energy efficiency education
• Waste: funding is provided through the Strategic Waste Fund to support Eco Schools. There are also waste education officers in some local authorities. SEPA co-ordinate a network providing advice and access to resources for waste education practitioners ( www.sepa.org.uk/nws/thenetwork/database/index/aspx )/
• Natural heritage: educational support programmes run by SNH, including school grounds grants and the Biodiversity at the Chalkface training event for student teachers

Learning about footprint

Schools in Scotland are starting to explore the potential of the 'ecological footprint' as a tool for increasing understanding of unsustainable consumption and learning how to make more sustainable choices. Scotland's Global Footprint Education Project aims to explore ways in which schools can examine, measure and reduce their impact on the environment.
The project is being developed in conjunction with Eco Schools Scotland and the materials which have been piloted in 19 schools in the north-east of Scotland will be rolled out in time for the 2006-07 school session. Materials will include a Footprint calculator, teaching materials and training which will provide an interactive method for upper-primary and lower-secondary schools throughout Scotland to calculate their footprint at a whole school level, and go on to help schools develop strategies to reduce it.

International development strategy

One of the aims of the Executive's international development strategy is to encourage active consideration of the positive impact of our policies on the developing world. This policy strand aims both to raise awareness of international development issues amongst children and the wider population and to ensure that the Scottish Executive policy is generally consistent with international development aims.

There are many individual projects already in place which provide support from Scottish schools to schools in the developing world, and enable the schools to learn more about each other. These include school twinning projects and teacher exchanges. There could be benefits from providing some level of central support and education for such projects and this will be investigated further.

Education is a priority for the Executive's International Development Policy and the Executive, through its International Development Fund, will consider applications for projects that support that priority. Education projects have been supported in the first round of the International Development Fund (announced in November 2005). This includes support for UNICEF to adapt its Global Enterprising Citizen course (already running in Scotland) for implementation in Malawi. The aim of the course is to implement a coherent programme in schools which encourages children to develop enterprising instincts and behaviour in an ethical and sustainable way.

IDEAS is taking forward the Scottish strand of the 'Enabling Effective Support of the Global Dimension' initiative, supported by DfID. This will be matched by funding and in-kind support from NGOs such as Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children Fund and the six Development Education Centres around Scotland.

Whole school

Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, works on practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport for health, safety and environmental reasons. Its aim is to create a Safe Route to school for every child in the UK. The initiative:

• encourages more people to walk and cycle to school safely
• improves road safety and reduces child casualties
• improves children's health and development
• reduces traffic congestion and pollution
• supports the network of School Travel and Active School coordinators and provides information and training

The Scottish Executive's School Travel Advisory Group report (2003) recommends that all schools should prepare a school travel plan. This should be the responsibility of the school travel team. It should contain short- and long-term targets to achieve modal shift on the school run and should be subject to constant review. Sustrans have developed extensive guidance for the development of school travel plans and the promotion of sustainable travel.

In addition, the Executive has made funding available for the provision of school travel co-ordinators. Each Scottish local authority now has its own co-ordinator who works with schools to develop and deliver their school travel plan.

The Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit provides leadership, support and guidance to local authorities in delivering health promoting schools. The Unit's partner organisations NHS Health Scotland and LTS work to provide underpinning support and resources.

Learning outdoors

The Forestry Commission for Scotland is developing a Local Woods for Learning Programme that makes it easier for schools to access their local woodlands and encourages learning in the outdoors. This can cover education across the curriculum (art, science, drama) and is particularly suitable for primary school education. The programme is also available for secondary schools and the Commission are developing vocational programmes around rural skills. The first stage of the programme is to support those 8% of schools that are under 1km from a Forestry Commission site; it will then roll out to the 90% of schools that are within 1km of some woodland (subject to access and safety considerations). Other programmes supported by the Forestry Commission include 'Forest School' - learning through regular visits to the same wood over an extended period - and Active Schools in Woods - encouraging the use of woods both for active outdoor learning and safe routes to school.

SNH is developing a web-based directory of places where schools can undertake curriculum-based learning at all stages 3-18 in a natural setting. Teachers will be able to find out where to go in their local area, what they can do there to meet the current agenda for schools and who to contact to support their visit. It is intended that schools will be able to visit some of these places regularly, because they will be close to their school. The website will include a range of types of site, including National Nature Reserves, Local Nature Reserves, Country Parks, or local footpath networks, and partnerships will be built with initiatives such as Local Woods for Learning and Forest Schools, and with the BBC initiative Breathing Places. SNH has also piloted the teaching of Standard Grade Biology units outdoors, at Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve.

Grounds for Learning is the charity which promotes and facilitates the development of school grounds for learning. SNH runs a grant scheme to assist schools in meeting their aspirations for their school grounds. School grounds offer the opportunity for all school children to experience the natural world daily and with easy access. Developmental work by Grounds for Learning has also made links to the Health Promoting Schools programme and Local Action Plans. It is essential that new schools are designed in such a way that these opportunities are maximised.

Historic Scotland encourages outdoor education with a focus on sustainability and the historic environment. The Agency is currently working with its rangers services to use woodlands around historic properties as a resource for learning. It is also developing use of a historical site and its grounds near Dundee as a learning centre for children with behavioural needs.

RSPB Scotland provides field teaching for school pupils at 10 sites throughout Scotland, from Sumburgh Head in Shetland to Mershead on the Solway. These programmes offer pupils an inspiring learning experience, often in some of our most spectacular natural environments. The network is being extended with plans to double participation over the decade.

Further and higher education

College estates and campuses

Colleges who are currently developing new campus projects are considering their 'public face' and are keen to offer a 'greener' environment for their communities and are providing landscaped areas.

The Funding Council is providing additional funds to two pilot projects to achieve BREAM excellent ratings. The projects at John Wheatley College and Lauder College are addressing a range of environmental and sustainability features. Key elements included in the colleges' projects are: biomass boiler; solar energy system; water harvesting and passive ventilation systems.

The Lauder project also incorporates sustainable and environmentally-friendly measures in the construction including the use of sustainable materials and local contractors and suppliers.

Queen Margaret University College is relocating to a new purpose-built facility, which also incorporates sustainability elements, many similar to those mentioned above with a further aim to improve its carbon footprint. The University of Aberdeen is involved with local partners in the largest CHP (combined heat and power) project in Scotland. The outcome from these projects will be used to demonstrate to the sectors what can be achieved.

Sustainable development in curricula

There are a number of courses and modules in Scotland that have sustainable development as the principal subject matter. The University of St Andrews has recently introduced an MA/ BSc honours degree in sustainable development. Some universities run first-year cross-disciplinary modules open to all students, including 'Sustainability, Society and the Environment' at the University of Edinburgh, and 'Sustainability: ensuring our common future' at St Andrews.

At Lauder College, students and staff were engaged in their sustainable building project to procure a new construction training centre. Future students of the college will be learning about sustainable construction in an exemplar sustainable building.

In FE there are a number of separate generic units which have sustainable development as the main focus - for instance Stow College developed SQA units in 'promoting sustainability' which are available for inclusion in the programmes of a number of awards.

At least five universities have specialist-taught MSc Programmes in which sustainable development provides the central element. These are Aberdeen (Sustainable Rural Development), UHI Millennium Institute (Sustainable mountain and rural development), Edinburgh (Environmental sustainability), Strathclyde (Pollution Studies and Sustainable Development) and Stirling (Sustainable Development).

Lifelong opportunities to learn

Young People: Project Scotland

Project Scotland offers high-quality, full-time, volunteering opportunities for young people aged 16-25. One feature is a ground-breaking portal through which young people will access hundreds of full-time volunteering opportunities, in the environment, new media and the arts, education, sports or health, giving young people the chance to get involved, contribute to the community and help them to make the key choices in their lives. Over 100 organisations are involved in offering volunteering opportunities through Project Scotland, including the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers ( BTCV), the UK's biggest practical conservation charity; the Craigencalt Ecology Centre, Scotland's Garden Trust and A Rare Breed which aims to encourage and educate through farming and food awareness the importance of conservation, respect for animals, the countryside and rural life.

Young People: World Youth Congress

Working in partnership with Peace Child International, the Scottish Youth Parliament, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and a wide range of other statutory and voluntary organisations, the Scottish Executive played host in August 2005 to the 3rd World Youth Congress in Stirling. A total of 543 of the world's most dynamic young people, from
115 countries, joined nearly a hundred VIP speakers and facilitators to share and develop their experience of youth-led sustainable development. Over a 10-day period, delegates completed 40 locally-inspired and funded action projects in communities across Scotland, wrote a policy document which was presented to the First Minister in a ceremony at the Scottish Parliament, and which subsequently informed the UN Millennium Development Goals ( MDG) Review, and contributed their knowledge of delivering successful projects into an Action Toolkit, which has now been distributed to other young activists around the world. The Toolkit is part of a package including a DVD and CD- ROM telling the story of the Congress, introducing the delegates, recording their personal pledges for future action, and showcasing community projects across Scotland.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Independent delegate evaluation confirms that:

• 82% of delegates rated the organisation of the Congress as good or excellent
• 85% of delegates said the themes and issues which were discussed during the congress were relevant or very relevant
• 62% of delegates learned more than they expected to from the 3-day projects and 60% said the projects inspired them to take similar or other actions
• 92% said the Congress provided excellent opportunities for networking

Delegates completed Personal Action Plans setting out activity they planned to undertake and the related Change '05 initiative generated a further 35,000 personal action ledges from some 7,000 young people in Scotland.

In addition, SCVO and Lloyds TSB set up a $50,000 international fund to support 40 to 50 youth-led development projects proposed by delegates at the Congress, allowing immediate implementation of post-Congress action projects.

Finally, planned post-Congress policy activity aims to:

• help the Scottish Youth Parliament to adapt the aspirations of the MDGs to a format which is more immediately meaningful and challenging for young people in Scotland
• develop Ministers' regular dialogue with Scottish WYC delegates and thereby support the integrated development of the youthwork strategy and related WYC-inspired programmes
• structure outcomes into a coherent delivery and communications strategy which prepares a group of Scottish delegates for WCY4/Quebec 2008

Support for business

The Business Environment Partnership ( BEP) supports workplace learning for small and medium-sized businesses throughout Scotland. The Partnership involves over 40 public and private sector organisations and provides free assistance on environmental management issues. The Partnership runs the Environmental Placement Programme, placing undergraduate students from Scottish universities into companies for 8 weeks at a time to assist with the practical implementation of environmental management. Since 1998 351 students have been placed in participating companies, resulting in the identification of over £4.4m in cost savings, as well as the associated educational benefits to both the students and the companies.

The Vision in Business for the Environment in Scotland ( VIBES) award scheme recognises businesses who go beyond legislation and achieve economic benefit from incorporating sustainable development principles into the company ethos. The VIBES award is the only Scottish feeder for the European Environment Awards and of the 12 UK companies who were nominated for European Environment Awards this year, three were VIBES winners.

Business innovation

The East of Scotland Waste Minimisation project worked with a total of 42 companies to minimise the consumption of resources and to use them as effectively as possible. By the end of the project, the combined savings of participating companies totalled £2.3m per annum with reductions in consumption of water (20.3%); effluent discharge (36.8%); waste (22.3%); emissions (31.3%); and energy (23.9%).

Through a supply chain model of intervention, Dunbartonshire Environmental Management Initiative ( DEMI) achieved savings on company turnover through resource efficiencies of 1.0%; reducing the quantity of solid waste sent to landfill by 5.7%; reduced the amount of water used by 20.5%; reduced the amount of energy consumed by 6.9%; and helped companies achieve total savings of £228,000 per annum.

The Resource Efficiency Action Project ( REAP) ran from
1999-2003. Through workshops and one-to-one assistance REAP achieved £4m combined annual savings for 25 companies in Edinburgh and the Lothians and reduced waste and energy by 5% per annum and an effective training manual was produced to expand the REAP message across Scotland.

The Business Wins programme took the successful supply chain model developed by REAP and DEMI and applied it to businesses in the north of Scotland. Again, those companies participating in the programme of workshops, audits and one-to-one meetings achieved combined savings of £4m per year and an average of 5% reductions in waste, energy and water usage.

Communities

Community learning

Learning Connections, within Communities Scotland, which has responsibility for Community Learning and Development ( CLD) within the Executive, and Scottish Natural Heritage are currently developing a project to identify successful mechanisms for integrating the natural heritage into CLD programmes and inform the preparation of information and guidance for practitioners. The project will include work to determine where and how the natural heritage has become a focus for community learning and development projects and programmes and share effective practice across the country. It will also provide case studies of good practice and will show how involvement in the natural heritage can contribute to health and well-being.

Community engagement

Projects to manage or improve the natural environment, or greenspace, close to communities, have a long track record in providing a focus for community engagement. The SNH/ CS project mentioned above forms the first stage in work to promote and facilitate the use of the natural heritage as a focus for community learning and development. The role of the natural heritage and greenspace in promoting well-being is also well documented. SNH and Community Learning Scotland have carried out work in the past with communities to conduct a sustainability audit of their local place, again as a focus for community learning and development. A more recent project from SNH and the Scottish Adult Learning Partnership used exploration of the local heritage, including cultural and natural heritage as a focus.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, working in partnership with local authorities, SNH, the Forestry Commission Scotland ( FCS) and the Local Enterprise network, have resourced and supported the Community Futures Programme. Through a structured community capacity building process, this has supported local people to develop Action Plans for their own communities, which have not only provided a focus for influencing agencies, but have enabled the formation of local Development Trusts, through which many communities in the Park area are playing a leading role in shaping their own futures.

Agencies and public bodies can build learning opportunities into their engagement with communities and local people. FCS for example is actively developing new methods of engagement, ranging from informal arrangements with community councils when planning forestry activities to ambitious business partnerships sharing forest management. A new dimension was added in 2005 with the launch of the National Forest Land Scheme which gives communities the right - subject to certain conditions - to buy land on the national forest estate.

BTCV Scotland supports the Community Local Action Network ( CLAN). CLAN provides a communication and sharing network for groups and communities who want to improve their physical environment. It also provides members with discounted insurance, training, access to expertise, tools, plant materials and grants.

Scotland's community webnet is co-ordinated by Forward Scotland. It provides a valuable resource for communities carrying out projects to improve their environment and quality of life. It also provides an interactive space to exchange ideas and best practice with other groups, and an opportunity to learn from over 350 project case studies across Scotland.

Building community assets

Scotland is pioneering an assets-based approach to community regeneration in the highlands and islands. A partnership of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Land Fund, the Community Land Unit and the Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company is supporting community-based organisations and the voluntary sector to build assets and provide services, providing advice and support for the acquisition and management of land and marine resources for community benefit, enabling communities to harness the area's renewable energy, and bringing integrated and innovative approaches to regeneration and asset management, including housing and other infrastructure. Communities are acquiring not just assets but also skills, capacity and confidence: a model from which other communities - and national programmes - should borrow and learn. The Executive, through Communities Scotland, is exploring how this may work in urban areas and will work with the Big Lottery Fund, which is also exploring the development of communities owning and managing facilities and services Scotland-wide.

The social economy - those voluntary and community organisations which trade and deliver public services - has an important role in the delivery of sustainable development, including through recycling and other environmental projects and working with young people, often facing disadvantage. The Scottish Executive and Communities Scotland are supporting such organisations through the Futurebuilders Scotland programme and the development of a Social Enterprise Strategy.

Building community capacity

Involving local people in the changes that are happening in their area can bring a range of benefits, both producing improvements in the local environment in which people have a stake, and building confidence and valuable transferable skills in those who get involved.

In order to strengthen the role of communities, particularly those that have been most excluded, it is important both to support communities to build their own capacity, and to improve the practice of agencies in engaging with communities. The Executive, and Learning Connections - Communities Scotland in particular, is focusing on both these aspects.

One of the three national priorities for community learning and development set out in 'Working and Learning Together to Build Stronger Communities' is 'achievement through building community capacity'. Learning Connections is delivering a programme of support for implementation of the national priorities, and working specifically on strengthening the capacity building role of community learning and development.

Learning Connections is supporting both Community Planning Partnerships and their Community Learning and Development Partnerships to make best use of the National Standards for Community Engagement to help them improve the quality of community engagement practice.

Communities Scotland is working to help communities and the agencies working with them to identify their skills needs and ways of filling these through its Skills Framework for Community Regeneration. It has also established the Community Voices Network. This will support people to engage effectively in the regeneration of their communities by building their knowledge, sharing information and learning from each other about what works in community regeneration and by providing a mechanism to enable communities to influence national policy and practice.

Skills and training

Historic Scotland runs a Fellowship and Internship Programme to train in traditional skills. The use of local resources, traditional materials and skills all contributes to a sustainable future and can help to reduce the impact of transportation. The Agency is currently investigating a way to bring this into the education system at an earlier stage. Career days focusing on traditional skills are also being organised.

BTCV will shortly be launching a 'Natural Talent' programme. The Heritage Lottery Fund Natural Talent Bursary Training Scheme will use an apprenticeship system, offered in Northern Ireland and Scotland, to develop 20 highly-skilled individuals with specialisms within the natural heritage field.

Apprenticeships will be offered in specialist skills in the fields of:

• Study and recording of inverterbrates, lower plants and fungi
• Conservation management of specialist wildlife habitats

The scope for the Apprenticeships has been determined by the priorities recognised by key wildlife conservation bodies in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Apprentices will be given a living 'wage' and will be drawn from a variety of backgrounds. Although the scheme is relatively limited in scope it will have a major impact on the availability of greatly lacking skills within the sector and will achieve a real conservation benefit.

Engagement

Recreation

Forestry Commission Scotland ( FCS) supports a range of visitor centres and informal recreation programmes which encourage learning about, for example, the woodland environment, biodiversity and forestry as a sustainable industry.

The experience of visiting National Parks can be a key factor in engaging with issues to do with the environment. Scotland, richly blessed with impressive and beautiful landscapes, can offer this experience to its own citizens and countless visitors from abroad. Provision for education and awareness raising is a key component of National Park investment in Scotland.

John Muir Award

The John Muir Award aims to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to discover, enjoy and conserve the planet's wild places, through a structured yet adaptable scheme. It was launched in 1997 by the John Muir Trust, which was formed in 1983 to safeguard and conserve wild places in the United Kingdom, and to increase awareness and understanding of the value of such places. The John Muir Award is the main educational initiative of the Trust.

The aims of the John Muir Award are to:

• Increase and enhance awareness of wild places
• Encourage people to take responsibility for wild places
• Encourage individuals and society to value wild places
• Promote educational, social and personal development of young people and the wider community
• Encourage an environmental agenda within youth organisations, and a youthwork agenda within environmental organisations
• Ensure that social circumstances don't exclude people from opportunities to experience wild places
• Raise awareness of John Muir and the John Muir Trust

Partners and Stakeholders

National Agencies

Scottish Enterprise
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
Scottish Natural Heritage
SEPA
Communities Scotland
Forestry Commission Scotland
Historic Scotland
Learning and Teaching Scotland
Funding Council
Scottish Further Education Unit
Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland
Youthlink Scotland
Scottish Adult Learning Partnership
Learning Link Scotland
VisitScotland

Local authorities
Community Planning Partnerships
Institutions: schools, universities, colleges, businesses

Voluntary and community sector
Environmental and international development NGOs
Voluntary sector organizations
Community sector

Umbrella bodies
SCVO
Environment LINK
IDEAS

Sustainable Development organizations
Sustainable Development Commission
Sustainable Scotland Network
Scottish Sustainable Development Forum
Forward Scotland

Scottish Partnerships

The Sustainable Development Education Liaison Group ( SDELG)

The Sustainable Development Education Policy Network (and linked Action Network) brings together a range of practitioners engaged in and working on sustainable development education in Scotland.

What organisations can do

SEPA

SEPA has been active in environmental and sustainable development education for many years. This role is reflected in the organisation's corporate plan and business plans. SEPA's contribution includes work as:

A partner in policy and action networks, and in projects and programmes including waste/resource use education

A provider of advice and guidance, for example providing guidance on waste management and waste minimisation to the education and business sectors

A provider of information, for example through the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory

A commissioner, supporter and influencer of research policy and programmes

An example of good practice in organisational management

Historic Scotland

The principles of sustainability are central to the conservation and management of the historic environment. Maintaining and using existing resources and the re-use of buildings and materials are vital to ensure that we minimise the impact of our actions. Historic Scotland published its policy on sustainability Passed to the Future in 2002. The Agency has built on this and, along with the creation of an Education Unit, has developed a wide range of educational activities with sustainability in mind. Projects such as the Outreach Programme in schools to the ongoing work at Stanley Mills and the programme for fellowships and internships ensure that future generations will be able to understand, appreciate and benefit from the historic environment. Additionally, through a programme of building repair grants, Historic Scotland encourages the public and private sectors and voluntary organisations to secure a sustainable future for the historic environment. The criteria for awarding grants takes account of wider benefits such as contribution to community life and projects which promote quality and develop knowledge and skills. Promoting these wider benefits of caring for our historic environment helps ensure the sustainable use of indigenous building materials and recognises the educational value of the historic environment.

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