Green skills in the field of Social Economy

Abstract

Climate change has brought the irresistible pressure toward a paradigm shift focused more on the complex consequences of environmental and social crises. Inclusive-ecological-transition-driven role of the Social Economy sector (social enterprises, cooperatives, mutual societies, non-profit associations) is concentrated in so-called green social economy entities (SEEs). By introducing and developing innovative solutions green social economy entities operate in such economy areas as circular economy, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, social housing. Their presence is manifested also on the level of intersectoral cooperation (with enterprises, citizens). Against this background the role of education emerges which is of paramount importance to harness the full potential of the SEEs toward a green transition. Higher Education Institutions have a particular role to play in building students’ green knowledge, skills, and competences so as to upscale the role of the SE in the green sector. There are deficiencies of Higher Education Institutions in terms in aligning curricula and syllabuses to the requirements of environment sustainability, on the one hand, and the increasing demand for green skills (as transversal competences) in SEEs, on the other hand. The adjustment towards green transition taking place in SEEs is assumed to be the central issue of the paradigm shift, and the innovation in education (training programmes, workshop methodologies such as simulation-based learning) is a key driver. This monograph is the result of research in the project entitled “Harnessing the potential of the Social Economy towards a green transformation through the establishment of Socially Driven Green Labs within Universities” (SDG Labs) and consists of 9 chapters. The first is devoted to the genesis of the green transformation in the European Union with a presentation of the key concepts related to it. The second chapter presents the role of the public sector in relation to other market actors in the green transition process. This outlines the framework for the role of the social economy in this process, which is discussed in detail in chapter three. In this way, the key issues from the point of view of the green transformation process are presented. Chapter four is devoted to the green skills component of this transformation, where their characteristics are outlined. Chapter five presents the activities of public institutions for the development of green skills. The sixth chapter is devoted to the role of education in green skills development. Based on this, a framework for the concept of SDG Labs as a laboratory space for green skills development in the social economy sphere was developed, which formed the content of the seventh chapter. The eighth chapter was a presentation of the research methodology and results of the international surveys carried out within the project among its three target groups: social economy actors, social economy academics and social economy students. The final ninth chapter dealt with the development of a theoretical model for the SDG labs programme, which will be the subject of further project activities. The authors are aware of the introductory nature of some of the issues raised here, which, however, arose from the need to initiate a wide-ranging discussion on green skills and the strengthening of the capacity of social economy actors to be part of the green transformation of the whole economy.