What is the Sustainability Honours Programme?
The Sustainability Honours Programme has been developed with our employer and education partners to equip students with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that empower them to contribute to sustainable development within their lives, society and future careers. Â
Students who embark on this programme will become sustainability change-makers who can reflect on the social, cultural, economic and environmental impact of their decisions, behaviours and actions. With a deeper understanding of local and global sustainability challenges and priorities, they are better placed to initiate and promote sustainable development within communities and the workplace.
Sustainable Development Focus
Learning focuses on UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals and, with the support of specialist teachers, students independently examine the application and relevance of these goals to their lives and the subjects they study, with opportunities to extend knowledge, application and expertise through competitions, enrichment options, work experience, Higher Education initiatives, and various research, community, and employer projects.  Â
Sustainability Competencies: Skills and Behaviours
It is crucial that young people develop the skills, attributes and behaviours that are necessary to build a highly skilled workforce to meet the demands of a more sustainable world. The programme is designed to give students a head start when progressing onto further training, employment and university. Students on the honours programme will uniquely map their activities and learning in line with the UNESCO framework under three main headings : Ways of Thinking, Ways of Being, and Ways of Doing. Find out more here.
Students will work towards these goals in their chosen areas:
Cognitive (Ways of Thinking)
Comprises knowledge and thinking skills necessary to better understand the sustainable development goal and the challenges achieving it
Socio-emotional (Ways of Being)
Demonstrate social skills that enable students to collaborate, negotiate and communicate to promote sustainable development, as well as self-reflection skills, values, attitudes and motivations that enable students to develop themselves
Behavioural (Ways of Doing)
Applying learning to activities supporting sustainability
Sustainability Honours Awards
Students receive sustainability awards for achieving the agreed outcomes of each activity they complete. Students will graduate from college with either Bronze, Silver, or Gold Honours, depending on the number of sustainability awards they achieve:
Gold Honours | Four+ Sustainability Awards |
Silver Honours | Three Sustainability Awards |
Bronze Honours | Two Sustainability Awards |
Why is this such a great opportunity?
- Reindustrialisation will drive employment and provide career opportunities
- The green jobs taskforce report from Central Government suggests that decarbonisation will generate at least 300,000 new jobs by 2050.
- Reindustrialisation will generate economic growth and provide major opportunities for students.
- There are unique opportunities in the area for local students to be employed in jobs related to net-zero.
- Curriculum links are vital to ensure that local people benefit from this re-industrialisation.
