October 2021 saw new data from the British Chambers of Commerce which highlighted the skills gap across the UK, and just weeks later the conservative party promised to invest £3.8bn into upskilling the nation during the Autumn Budget. Rishi Sunak particularly commented on the need for an increase in green skills, following a recent report which predicted 694,000 ‘green jobs’ will exist across England by 2030*.
In response to this new market insight, The Skills Network is developing a new course on sustainability and eco literacy to help educate businesses to drive change.
The Skills Network will bridge the sustainability skills gap through providing businesses with the knowledge to raise awareness of green objectives. Subsequently, encouraging employees to feel empowered and actively involved in becoming Sustainability Change Makers, especially as the government will now be investing more in the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
Through providing practical strategies, end-to-end support and resources, business stakeholders will be able to embed sustainability and address the skills gap through transformative solutions.
The new courses in Mass Sustainability and Eco Literacy Skills will be funded by the government through the Adult Education Budget (AEB). These can be accessed by employers to upskill workforces, allowing employees to build competency-based sustainability knowledge and skills that can be aligned to various roles and business sectors.
Overall, this will allow learners to use practical skills developed on the programme to effect positive change at work, fulfilling the requirement of businesses to act on climate change, which is now a responsibility and not an option.
Paul Wakeling, Executive Director of Curriculum and Quality said: “All employees should feel empowered to actively contribute towards protecting our ecosystem and make an impact towards preserving natural resources for generations ahead.
“Helping businesses and their employees to become more able to commit towards sustainability will not only be beneficial for the business, but for society as a whole and the overall goal towards zero emissions in the long term.”
To find out more information on The Skills Network’s sustainability courses and to sign up click here.
