Addressing the Employability-Sustainability Gap

This chapter concerns the nexus between the disciplinary areas of education for sustainable development (ESD) and employability. Sustainability is conceptualized in the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) and focuses on people, the planet, and prosperity. Despite advancing pedagogic practices for sustainability-related education, the premise here is that the talent pipeline becomes enhanced if formal curriculum sustainability content is explicitly connected to graduate career outcomes. This implies that career-based learning requires integration with sustainability-related learning. A case study is presented of a masterclass in a UK university business school, which showcases how students learning about sustainability-related careers can benefit individual, organizational, and broader societal development. Application of Kumar's SOAR employability framework (self-awareness, opportunity, aspirations, and results) to the SDGs generates insights and discussion on the pedagogic practices that can be adopted to bridge any sustainability-employability gap.