‘Harnessing the Power of Partnerships in Learning for Sustainability
On Tuesday 26 November, YouthLink Scotland, the national agency for youth work, and Learning for Sustainability Scotland, Scotland’s national UN University-recognised Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development, welcomed over 40 change-makers with a stake in Scotland’s education system to a creative round-table event centered around this question:
How can we harness partnership approaches to Learning for Sustainability to support Scotland’s aspirations around education reform and the Scottish Attainment Challenge?
Chaired by Joan MacKay, Head of Curriculum Innovation at Education Scotland, this event sought to:
- Explore the value of partnerships and place-based learning in progressing Learning for Sustainability (LfS) in a reformed education system that fully “nurtures the unique talents of all learners ensuring their achievement, progress, and well-being.”: contributing to the ongoing Curriculum Improvement process and the ambitions of the Scottish Attainment Challenge in the context of Scottish education reform.
- Define the hallmarks of effective LfS partnership working that are needed to deliver the Scottish Government’s Learning for Sustainability action plan: Target 2030: A movement for people, planet and prosperity.
- Identify actions needed to recognise and scale-up effective collaborative practice between youth work, schools, colleges and other local and national agencies involved in Learning for Sustainability, so that we can create equitable access to pathways that offer young people more personalisation, choice and agency in learning – particularly those young people who face barriers to engagement.
Participants were inspired by an insight from Marielle Curran, YouthLink Scotland, into the national ‘big picture’ regarding partnerships to support young people; and an input from Betsy King and Kirsten Leask from Learning for Sustainability Scotland which provided a reminder of the importance of Learning for Sustainability and Scotland’s national ambitions regarding this.
We also heard three stimulating insights of successful partnership working to benefit young people. Our warmest thanks goes to Gill Gracie for sharing more about the YouthLink Scotland-led ‘Natural Leaders‘ programme; Andrea McFarlane for telling us more about Stirling Council’s ‘Climate Leaders’ initiative; and to Penny Radway and Julia Duncan from The Green Team who outlined more about their work.
Click here to view the presentations shared
Participants then engaged in small-group discussions to consider several key questions; namely:
- Sustaining and growing these effective partnerships: examining the key actions needed to scale-up and develop them further; and considering which other partners we need to bring into these conversations.
- . How to establish and grow effective partnerships to support positive educational outcomes for young people: examining the success factors that enable this; and challenges that may need to be overcome.
Next steps
Learning for Sustainability Scotland and YouthLink Scotland will now analyse the outputs from the event and identify key action points.
A summary will then be shared with participants for their thoughts and feedback; with a final document and action plan following in due course.
Our warmest thanks goes to all of our contributors for their stories of successful partnership-working, to Joan Mackay for her excellent facilitation of the event, and to the participants themselves for their expertise and willingness to share.