Green custodianship skills, particularly for young people

Young people are the leaders and custodians of the region’s future sustainability and investing in their skills and knowledge is essential.
Extending beyond technical skills for jobs, AIMHI EARTH have developed a framework of ‘15 essential green skills’ which can equip young people to be custodians of future sustainability.
These are the values, knowledge, experience, attitude, and abilities, needed to bring human systems into line with the rest of nature to minimise the destruction of the climate emergency and to steer a path to a healthier fairer more prosperous future for our descendants.
AimHiEarth – 15 Green Skills
They are:
- Critical, systems & nature-centric thinking
- Scientific understanding
- Nature connectivity
- Practical & technical “hard skills”
- Long-term thinking
- Dynamic operations & crisis management
- Historical & cultural understanding
- Monitoring skills
- Baseline fallback skills
- Pioneer & entrepreneurial skills
- Interpersonal skills & kindness
- Informational skills
- Defence skills
- Diverse thinking & non-neurotypicality
- Artistry & storytelling skills
The majority of the region’s young people aged 16-18 years in full time education study in further education colleges.
Through full time study programmes, colleges can help develop the custodianship skills of all young learners, no matter what they are studying on their core programme.
And young people need better support in understanding green careers.
In 2022 WSP, with input from partners, including Engineering UK, surveyed nearly 4,000 16–23-year-olds in different stages of education to gauge their attitudes towards the future, green jobs, skills, and the future. They asked questions which helped gain an understanding of their views on climate change and careers provision.
The majority of young people expressed concerned about climate change and said they would like to learn more. But most were not confident in their understanding of the of the meaning of the phrase ‘green jobs’, and a minority of student in the West Midlands felt informed about green jobs available to them.
Colleges in the West Midlands and Warwickshire could enhance young people’s knowledge of green jobs and careers.



Case Studies

In a bid to inspire and engage students in climate justice and Green Skills, Birmingham Metropolitan College signed up for Planet Earth Games, a student competition organised by Pearson and AoC Sport. The games involved students from all subject areas, introducing them to the seven Planet Earth themes. Students undertook projects such as carbon footprint reduction, responsible travel, waste minimisation, and garden creation, with each of the college’s campuses actively involved. The college’s comprehensive submission earned third place nationally and was recognised for its breadth of activities. In addition to learning Green Skills, students enjoyed the camaraderie and practical experiences, leading some to secure volunteer and paid positions at Sutton Park National Nature Reserve. The initiative’s success has spurred ongoing activities like a gardening club, further showcasing students’ commitment to sustainability.
The Planet Earth Games initiatives have helped to raise awareness of environmental sustainability among BMet’s student community and encouraged them to take concrete steps towards supporting the college’s drive towards sustainability.
Jason Allen, Department Director for Business & Professional, Sport and Apprenticeships at the college

With inspiration from a Student Leadership for Sustainability event arranged by Fircroft College and led by Students Organising for Sustainability, students from colleges across the West Midlands designed and delivered innovative sustainability projects for their college campuses. The group came together again several months later to showcase their projects to a panel of sustainability experts and to demonstrate how their work had impacted change.
Awards were presented in recognition of the outstanding achievements and exceptional contributions to sustainability. First place went to North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College for their Green Week which was part of their ‘Respect the Environment’ initiative and saw over 3,000 young people engaging in many ways including pledging to adopt more sustainable practices at home and at college. Students also got involved with planting projects, desiging eco-friendly systems for their vocational area, upcycling and becoming more knowledgeable about food miles. Also recognised were students from Dudley College for a joint project to grow and cook food sustainability. Highly Commended was also awarded to Telford College for raising awareness about environmental issues and highlight the college’s actions to improve sustainability.

Signposting for Colleges
Green custodianship skills for young people
Engage the students’ union in green citizenship
Colleges should ...
Engage students’ unions in colleges in the influential role they can play in championing green citizenship across their membership bodies.
Share green custodianship resources across colleges
Colleges should ...
Set up a West Midlands professional network for growing and sharing learning resources to support green custodianship.
Ensure links between green skills and digital are clear.
Colleges should ...
Ensure that the potential for digital to impact on green skills is clearly understood and acted upon.
Increase participation in green skills within World Skills.
Colleges should ...
Support and encourage more young people to participate in World Skills competitions in green skills disciplines.
Promote green careers and green skills to young women.
Colleges should ...
Promote green skills programmes for young women, working in collaboration with all agencies and stakeholders connecting with young people.
Develop and promote a WM green careers strategy.
Colleges should ...
Working collaboratively and drawing on EAUC resources, develop and deliver a regional green careers strategy making resources available to all colleges in the region. Promote the green careers skills strategy in schools across Warwickshire and the West Midlands.
Develop a method to assess green custodianship.
Colleges should ...
Embed green custodianship in all study programmes.
Colleges should ...
Embed skills and knowledge on green custodianship and green citizenship into core units of Study Programmes across all curricula areas for learners aged 16-19 years.