Pricing
- Non-member: £245
- Member: £215.60 with use of member discount code*
Why choose SSESD?
Specialist status in Education for Sustainable Development (SSESD) sets the benchmark for what excellence looks like in the integration of sustainability within educational pratice.
Showcase your ability to shape institutional strategies and address the UK's pressing green skills needs. Consider this increasingly popular status if you want to:
- Gain professional recognition with a competency based accreditation
- Develop your knowledge of sustainability
- Integrate globally recognised sustainability competencies into your practice
- Demonstrate your capability to influence institution-wide sustinability efforts
- Be part of the solution to address climate change and net-zero goals
- Contribute to bridging the green skills gap
Upcoming dates
We have one upcoming dates available to book below:
- 5 May 2026
Member discount
Our membership brings together professionals from across the sector. Together, we form a strong and dedicated network that will shape the future of FE and skills. As a member, you benefit from a range of exclusive discounts and benefits.
*Members are eligible for the discounted rate. Please enter the discount code provided in your member portal at checkout.
Not a member? Find out more and join today.
What to expect
Whether you're a teacher, leader or member of FE professional services, the SSESD process accommodates diverse roles and busy schedules.
Key features:
- 12-week, competency-based online validation process
- Inclusive and flexible timetables
- Non-member price: £245 to participate and gain the accreditation
- Member price: £215.60 to participate and gain the accreditation
Who is it for?
The status can be attained by working people in these broad categories:
- Educators, leaders, and support staff in an educational setting or environmental who already embed sustainability into their learning and working environemnts.
- Professionals at any career stage aiming to formalise their sustainability expertise and enhance their impact.
SSESD is designed to acknowledge the exceptional capabilities of professionals leading the way in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and to ensure these high standards are constistently met and exceeded.
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.
Take your first step
Gain recognition and develop skills while supporting students, colleagues, and workplaces. Help them develop the competencies needed for a sustainable workforce to meet the urgent demand for green skills.
SSESD validates your expertise, and helps you drive meaningful, lasting change that advances sustainability goals, not only within your organisation, but across the sector.
Specialist status highlights:
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 further develop 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.
- Non-member: £245 for the 12-week SSESD accreditation
- Member: £215.60 for the 12-week SSESD accreditation
- Re-accreditation is likely every three years at a nominal fee, promoting ongoing professional growth in ESD
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