BE Recognised for your sustainable practice
Specialist Status in Education for Sustainable Development (SSESD) recognises excellence in the integration of sustainability within educational pratice.
Validate your advanced ESD practice and demonstrate your impact across your organisation. Prove your ability to shape institutional strategies and address UK's pressing green skills needs. Undertake the status if you want to:
- Gain professional recognition with a competency based accreditation
- Validate your existing high level expertise in education for sustainable development
- Demonstrate your capability to influence institution-wide education for sustainable development efforts
- Be part of the solution to address climate change and net-zero goals
- Contribute to bridging the green skills gap
Pricing
- Member price: £215*
- Non-member price: £245
*ETF members are eligible for the member rate.
Not an ETF member yet? Find out more and join today.
Upcoming dates
The next SSESD cohort for 2027 will be announced soon. Register your interest to be among the first to hear when applications open.
Who is it for?
Whether you facilitate learning, are a teacher, leader or in any other professional support role with FE and skills, you should consider SSESD.
The status is ideal for those educators, leaders, and support staff in an educational or environmental setting who already embed education for sustainable development into their learning and working environments.
Programme structure
Our 12-week online, competency-based, validation programme offers a flexible timeline. The status includes:
- Scheduled online group support sessions
- An online portfolio
- An ESD project
- Peer review activities
What does Specialist Status in ESD involve?
The Specialist Status in ESD (SSESD) validation process is organised around a 7-step structure:
Further detail:
Step 4 of the SSESD validation process invites you to demonstrate how you apply your ESD knowledge, skills and competencies in real-world settings. This stage provides an opportunity to highlight the positive difference you are making through your professional role and organisational activities.
To complete this requirement, you can choose to submit evidence from:
- An existing project that you have already completed, or
- A new project that you design and implement as part of the programme.
Using an existing project
If you choose to showcase an existing piece of work, you will complete a project summary using a dedicated template and upload supporting evidence that demonstrates your achievement of the ESD competencies. This allows you to reflect on your impact and celebrate the work already taking place within your organisation.
Undertaking a new project
Using a structured planning template provided within your portfolio, you will outline your objectives, intended outcomes and relevant ESD competencies before submitting evidence once the project has been completed.
Flexible evidence options
This can be submitted in a range of formats, including:
- Written reports and case studies
- Presentations and visual resources
- Videos and recordings
Guidance and support
To help you present your work with confidence, the programme provides comprehensive guidance, practical templates and project exemplars. You will also benefit from ongoing support from programme leads and the wider participant community.
Estimated time commitment
- Existing project – Miniumum 30 hours across 12 weeks
- New project – This will vary depending on the type and scope of the project
As part of Step 5 of the validation process, participants will take part in a collaborative peer review activity designed to encourage professional dialogue, constructive feedback, and shared learning. This stage enables you to present your project, gain valuable insights from your peers, and strengthen your professional network within the ESD community.
During this stage, you will both present your own project and provide feedback on the projects of your peers.
What to expect:
- Your Peer Review Group – In week 2 of the validation process, you will be assigned to a peer review group of 4-5 participants
- Arranging Your Meeting – Group members will work together to schedule a peer review meeting at a date and time that is convenient for all participants.
- Commitment to Communication – To ensure a smooth and successful process, participants are expected to engage proactively with their group and share their availability as early as possible.
- Action Participation Required – Engagement in the peer review process is a mandatory element of the programme. Particiapnts who do not actively participants may be withdrawn from the current validation cycle. Where applicable, reapplicable and fee transfer options may be available. We encourage all applicants to ensure they can fully commit to the programme requirements before registering.
- Planning Ahead – Please note that programme activities may continue furing half-term, Easter, and summer holiday periods. Participants are responsible for ensuring they can attend and complete their peer review meeting within the programme timeframe.
Key information:
Requirements to undertake the validation programme:
- Be working in an educational setting or environment, either on a paid or voluntary basis
- Support from your organisation
- Be in a position to demonstrate
- A high level of effective practice and application of ESD in an educational environment*
- Opportunities to develop and validate advanced knowledge, skills and behaviours related to ESD policy to continue demonstrating the most effective practice in your own setting**
- Opportunities to apply ESD knowledge, skills and behaviours with your own role, professional setting and/or organisation
- Opportunities to evidence impact of the SSESD developmental process on your own practice, learners, colleagues or organisation in accordance with the nine core competencies in the programme framework
- There is no requirement to hold formal qualifications in ESD to access the programme.
*The SSESD process validates and confirms existing advanced knowledge, skills, behaviours and effective practice related to ESD. The programme does not contain learning materials.
**The SSESD is not suitable for those seeking an introductory programme to ESD. Applicants who are currently building their knowledge and skills in ESD may need to undertake CPD prior to registering for the SSESD programme.
Align your work with the UK's Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy and UNESCO's ESD framework, helping professionals and institutions transition toward a low-carbon economy.
The SSESD framework is built around nine core ESD competencies derived from the ETF-EAUC report and UNESCO's ESD guidance ensuring particiapnts can illustrate genuine impact:
- Continuously reflecting on and investing in ESD-related CPD
- Self-awareness of personal ESD competencies
- Contributing to learners' ESD skills (directly or indirectly)
- Supporting learners' progression and employability
- Developing and sharing role/subject-specific sustainability expertise
- Using evaluation and feedback to measure ESD impact
- Collaborating to build partnerships and sector-wide networks
- Ensuring ESD is accessible and inclusive
- Driving broader organisational and community change
How the status has been developed
SSESD was developed by the Education Training Foundation (ETF) and the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC).
We adopted an evidence-based approach; evaluating research, delivering consultation and drawing on existing external standards and their equivalents in the UK and internationally.
See the background and context in our seminal joint report.