Skills for sustainable development: Transforming vocational education and training beyond 2015

This 2016 article by McGrath and Powell critiques current approaches to "environmental skills" in vocational education and training (VET) across the world and argues for a more transformative vision that integrates both human development and environmental sustainability. The authors assert that simply training people for "environmental jobs" in a "green economy" is insufficient and problematic for several reasons:

1. It assumes a simplistic relationship between skills training and economic growth without considering broader institutional and political factors

2. It fails to address poverty and inequality, as green jobs often require higher skill levels and are typically urban-based, potentially excluding disadvantaged populations

3. It doesn't question fundamental issues with current economic models or challenge unsustainable work practices

4. It remains focused on economic growth rather than human wellbeing and environmental limits

Instead, the authors propose that VET for sustainability should be: 

1. Grounded in decent, life-enhancing work that supports both human development and environmental protection
2. Focused on reducing poverty and inequality
3. Supportive of individual agency while acknowledging structural constraints
4. Designed to minimize risks and costs for poor and marginalized populations during environmental transitions 

The authors outline four key principles for reimagining sustainable VET:

1. A strong focus on human development – i.e. viewing learning as a life-long process of personal growth and capability development, not just skills acquisition

2. A theory of sustainable work – e.g. moving beyond the constraints of traditional capital-oriented employment to include caring work, voluntary work, and work that regenerates communities and environments, as well as the right not to work (which has links to the degrowth movement)

3. A critical approach to the political and economic systems in relation to work, acknowledging how institutional arrangements and power relations shape the world we live in, including how we perceive skills development

4. Anti-poverty approach - ensuring transformations benefit rather than further marginalize vulnerable populations

 For practitioners, these points could inform our practices in a number of different ways. For example, in order to ensure that VET courses take an anti-poverty approach, it would be advisable to include marginalized groups in program design and implementation. To ensure that VET programs have a strong focus on human development, their curricula should move beyond narrow technical training for green sectors and instead incorporate broader life skills and sustainable development awareness. Building partnerships across different sectors in the delivery of VET would also go some way towards ensuring that they address work beyond “capital-oriented employment” to include caring work and other types of work. Taking a critical approach to political and economic systems in relation to  “green work” and “green skills” alongside building the political agency of VET students could also help to bring about ‘transformative’ and “post-productivist” VET.

This article puts forward a strong case that VET must be reimagined to contribute meaningfully to both human well-being and environmental sustainability, rather than simply serving economic growth objectives in a slightly greener form.

Return to environmental skills and net zero education collection