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participants to reflect deeply on their identities and
responsibilities as lecturers within an industry with
deep-rooted sustainability impacts is a significant task
to be tackled with care as it’s easy for staff to be put
off.
- Inform new staff about the institution’s commitment
to sustainable fashion in staff inductions.
- Create a mentoring system for staff.
- Involve curriculum development teams and
professional staff in this process.
- offer opportunities to students
- Placements could have a sustainability focus and be
offered across different courses.
- Competitions could be organised.
- Ideas could be developed with student unions and
student societies.
- Useful links
There are a number of organisations that support
educational institutions to bring sustainability issues into
their teaching, including:
- Fashioning an Ethical Industry, a project
of Labour Behind the Label (UK)
http://www.fashioninganethicalindustry.org.
- Higher Education Academy – Education for Sustainable
Development (UK) http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/
ourwork/learning/sustainability.
- Environmental Association for Universities and
Colleges (UK) http://www.eauc.org.uk/home.
- Educators for Socially Responsible Apparel Business
(USA) http://www.huec.lsu.edu/esrab/.
- Modnie i Etycznie, a project of Polish Humanitarian
Organisation (Poland) http://www.modnieietycznie.pl.
- Fair Fashion, a project of Schone Kleren Campagne
(Netherlands) http://www.fairfashion.org.
- My Design. My Responsibility., a project of Südwind
Agentur (Austria) http://www.mode.cleanclothes.at.
dEVElopIng a sustaInaBIlIty polIcy
Fashioning an Ethical Industry’s area of expertise is working
conditions in garment production within fashion education
and not in sustainability policies. However, we wanted to
share our experience of corporate sustainability policies
and of developing our own as Labour Behind the Label.
Please see the five recommendations as above which
are important in establishing a sustainability policy for the
school/college/university. It is important to:
- Have buy-in from top-level management.
- Create the case for a sustainability policy.
- Have ownership by key stakeholders including support,
teaching and admin staff and students.
- Ensure dedicated staff time to take recommendations
forward.
- Communicate the school/college/university’s
commitment to its sustainability policy and how
stakeholders can get involved.
- Learn from the experience of others
Your institution is not alone in developing a sustainability
approach; for many companies and organisations it
is now considered as essential as having an equal
opportunities policy. Publicly listed companies now have
to report on certain social and environmental impacts
of their businesses by law. Other companies, including
the major high street brands and retailers, voluntarily
publish social and environmental reports. Organisational
approaches to sustainability policies vary dramatically –
some start small and are built on each year, others are
launched across the organisation.
Within higher education, the following universities have taken
an institutional approach to change or have departments to
engage on these issues:
pEdagogy and InstItutIonal approachEs
