ABSTRACT
This paper sets out to explore some of the implications of the sustainable development agenda for the role and practice of professionals in a number of occupational contexts and hence has generic relevance to geographers interested in environmental education. In addition, it has specific relevance for all those teaching on undergraduate and post graduate programmes in the environmental field, such as the environmental sciences, geography and earth sciences, because it refers to some of the emerging career trajectories for graduates from such programmes. It also describes the principal learning outcomes from a sustainability workshop specifically designed to support interprofessional working. The paper reflects some of the evidence presented in the recently published Egan Review (2004), which emphasizes some of the ‘skills’ requirements of those seeking jobs in the built environment, local government and environmental occupations as part of the UK government’s sustainable communities programme. The report describes the skills gaps in the current supply and demand levels for core occupations needed to deliver the Sustainable Communities Plan. It emphasizes inter alia the need for skills that meet:
… the diverse needs of existing and future residents, their children and other users, contribute to a high quality of life and provide opportunity and choice. They [Sustainable Communities] achieve this in ways that make effective use of natural resources, enhance the environment, promote social cohesion and inclusion and strengthen economic prosperity.
(A definition of Sustainable Communities—The Egan Review (2004))