A National Approach to the Professional Development of Sustainability Educators

In August last year, some of you participated in a survey commissioned as part of the project “A National Ap¬proach to the Professional Development of Sustainability Educators.“ The aim of the survey was to identify the professional development short courses currently available to Educators in environmental areas and the providers of these courses, and secondly, to shed light on the needs of Educators in environmental areas for professional development especially within areas where short courses are currently not available.

Four associations (Australian Association for Environmental Education, Waste Management Association of Australia, Marine Education Society of Australasia and the Australian Water Association) were successful in obtaining a grant from DEWHA to identify, recognise, and facilitate the delivery of endorsed short course professional development modules for those who design, deliver and/or evaluate Sustainability / Environmental Education.

Results of the survey are now available on the Australian Water Association’s website. This document summarises the learnings from the review undertaken by Martin Richards for the initiative, September 2009, and will assist to scope the way forward for the design of the project.

Snapshot - Review of Educators in Environmental Areas Professional Development Short Course 2009

The two most common employer types included State government agency 94 (28.7%) respondents and Councils (local governments) 89 (27.2%) respondents. More than half (56%) of the total respondents were employed by either a State government agency or Council (local government).

The two most common sectors in which respondents work are General Sustainability and Water. It was clearly evident that respondents work in more than one sector. When comparing employer types with sec¬tors in which respondents worked:

• of the respondents employed by a (Council) Local Governments 49.4% indicated that one of the sec¬tors in which they mainly worked was General Sustainability and 46% indicated that they worked in the Waste and resource recovery sector.
• of the respondents employed by a State Government agency 50% indicated that one of the sectors in which they mainly worked was Water and 39% indicated they worked in the Biodiversity sector.
• of the respondents employed by schools, a university or TAFE a significant number indicated General Sustainability as a sector in which they worked.

Within the past 12 months 193 (55.1%) respondents indicated they had undertaken a professional development short course.

The top five responses to the question ‘What topics for short course professional development would you attend if available?’ were:

• Program design and evaluation
• Facilitation skills
• Behaviour change
• Climate change
• Community engagement