International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue XII, December 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
A.P. Aluthge
University of Vocational Technology, Sri Lanka
*Correspondent Author
Abstract: Society requires informed citizens, workers, and consumers to build a sustainable future. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) can help everyone to acquire skills and knowledge, and cultivate right attitudes and values needed to make informed decisions, ensuring transformation into a sustainable society. TVET encompasses pre and in-service education, learning, and other forms of skill development activities relating to occupational fields, production, and livelihoods. By integrating ESD into TVET, TVET becomes greener, which can work as a powerful force to advance people into ecologically responsible citizens, workers, and consumers while meeting the needs of industries, and individual learners. TVET system in Sri Lanka produces 200,000 to 250,000 skilled workforces to the labor market annually. They can make immense contributions to take forward the country’s sustainable development agenda if they are enriched with the right attitudes, skills, and knowledge. There is a significant research gap in this field in Sri Lanka. This research is aimed to understand the reality of integrating ESD into TVET, by assessing the level of knowledge and awareness of ESD among the TVET teachers, its integration with TVET curriculums, and the interest of students in green TVET and green jobs, taking the University of Vocational Technology as the case study organization. Questionnaires and discussion techniques were used to collect data. The analysis indicates strong awareness and interest among the teachers about ESD and the importance of its integration into TVET. Only 30 percent of respondents show less interest, which the study reflected due to poor attitudes. Sri Lanka’s TVET sector is taking considerable effort to embed ESD by reorienting curriculums, and teacher training, but mostly focused on the environmental facet of sustainability. Training is not more practical oriented. Lack of knowledge and skills hurdle the big-picture integration of ESD. The emerging interest in green TVET and green jobs among students shows high potential. Resources allocation, in-service more practical-oriented training, institutional leadership by example, key stakeholder engagement, reporting & communication are important to transform Sri Lanka’s TVET sector into a greener and more sustainability- successful.
Keywords: Sustainable Development (SD), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Green TVET, Green Jobs.
I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 ESD and TVET to foster Sustainable Development
Sustainable development (SD) paves the way to mitigate social, economic, and environmental challenges of development, and, therefore, the world should focus on a sustainable path for development.