How to Foster the Awareness for Sustainable Development in Vocational Training with the Help of Audits

The paper reviews an approach within vocational training that makes use of the audit principles to create awareness and responsibility for sustainable development within corporate structures. First, company-adaptable courses are carried out to underpin the chances for business development regarding sustainability. Subsequently, the instructors introduce the apprentices to a methodology of dealing independently with company-specific topics such as waste of raw materials. Here, the audit principles support the apprentices in making reasoned statements on the progress with the help of e.g., key performance indicators for sustainable development. Based on these insights and the knowledge gained, they carry out improvement actions and projects in terms of e.g., service-learning-processes. In the long run, apprentices become aware of 1) methods to improve processes and 2) the value of sustainability as well as 3) their very own ability to change their work environment. The “NAUZUBI” project has been conducted in the context of a third party funded pilot project of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Thereby, it is an element of the action program on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and linked to the UNESCO Global Action Program on ESD.