Greening of Training Programs for Construction Specialists for

Sustainable Development

Irina P. Nuzhina

1,3 a

, Liudmila A. Kaverzina

2 b

and Lidiia V. Shershova

Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building, Solyanaya Sq. 2, Tomsk, Russia

Bratsk State University, Makarenko St. 40, Bratsk, Russia

Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Nevskogo str. 14A, Kaliningrad, Russia

Keywords: Green initiatives, Education, Construction, Professional Training, Sustainable Development.

Abstract: Modernization of professional training programs in solving the problems of sustainable development is

considered. To study the share of green initiatives in employees' job functions, the professional standards of

specialists with higher education who solve organizational and managerial tasks in construction were

analyzed. The necessity of transforming the educational paradigm for adding green initiatives to personnel

training programs is proved, the model is offered of adding green initiatives to the degree program for training

construction specialists based on developing the interdisciplinary approach and integration of the

environmental component into obligatory and elective competencies, expanding the content of competences

taking into account the prospects of new professions emerging. Proposals for forming the educational

program "Eco-engineering in construction and design" were developed, the main competencies were

formulated. The paradigm of green education is implemented on the basis of adding green initiatives to

universal, general professional and narrow-focused professional competencies.

1 INTRODUCTION

The concept of "greening" appeared in the scientific

lexicon late in the XX century and is actively used in

modern scientific literature. By the definition of

Reimers, N.F., greening means "a versatile, more

systematic approach to the objective world and a

greater awareness of the role of nature in human life"

(Reimers, 1990). Greening the economy from

industries to households "results from realizing the

necessity of harmony in society, in the relationship

between human and nature" (Bobylev, Zakharov,

2015). In a broad sense, greening means the transition

to an environmentally and socially oriented model of

developing all spheres of the economy. The

development effectiveness of greening the economy

is inextricably linked with the education and training

of specialists.

Adding green initiatives to professional education

and training programs is an urgent task of the modern

world community (Report of the UNESCO-

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9303-3199

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9173-3917

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7568-4724

UNEVOC, 2012). The declaration of the UNESCO

World Conference on Education for Sustainable

Development (Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, 2014) calls for

increased efforts to transform educational processes

and programmes following the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDG) and "expand their reach,

to meet the needs of both present and future

generations, based on a balanced and integrated

approach to the socio-economic and environmental

aspects of sustainable development" (UNESCO

Aichi-Nagoya Declaration, 2014). One of the

declaration points was an appeal to the governments

of the states on the need to ensure the integration of

SDG in education and training programs.

In the works by Glazachev, S.N. (Glazachev,

2011), humanization and greening of education are

considered as the basic principles that determine the

strategic development of modern education and

reflect the ideas of Vernadsky's V.I. noosphere

concept. The theoretical foundations of the noosphere

678

Nuzhina, I., Kaverzina, L. and Shershova, L.

Greening of Training Programs for Construction Specialists for Sustainable Development.

DOI: 10.5220/0010595806780684

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure (ISSDRI 2021), pages 678-684

ISBN: 978-989-758-519-7

paradigm of education are considered in the works by

Smirnov, N.G. (Smirnov, 2008; Smirnov, 2001).

The authors of the analytical report (Grachev,

Ilyin, Ursul, Ursul, Andreyev, 2017) focus on the

importance of education as a key tool for achieving

the Sustainable Development Goals. According to

scientists, the transition to sustainable development

actually begins with forming Education for

Sustainable Development (ESD). The content of

green education is considered as part of the

peculiarities of development and formation of the

noosphere education system. These are the temporal

peculiarity and futurization of education, i.e. the shift

of emphasis in education to the forecasting study and

modelling of processes evolving in the future; the

globalization of education in relation to social,

economic and environmental development processes;

the close relationship with security problems in a

broad sense (Grachev, Ilyin, Ursul, Ursul and

Andreyev, 2017; Ursul, A.D. and Ursul, T.A., 2015;

Ursul A.D. and Ursul T.A., 2017).

The works (Kaz, 2020; Sokolova and Ermakov,

2020; Sokolova and Ermakov, 2020; Zakharova,

Tarshis and Mamontova, 2020) analyze and

summarize the experience of introducing elements of

sustainable development into Russian and foreign

education systems. The development of higher

education has a significant impact on progress in

greening in economic development. Indeed, it is

specialists with higher education who possess

interdisciplinary knowledge, develop and advance

knowledge-intensive and resource-saving

technologies, successfully adapt to the conditions of

high-tech production, and implement projects in

environmental protection for sustainable

development. The paper (Wenjuan Gao, Xiaohao

Ding, Ran Chen and Weifang Min, 2019) suggests

estimating green GDP based on modelling the

relationship between education quality and green

economic growth. The sensitivity of "green" GDP to

changes in higher education has been empirically

proven.

The peculiarity of modernizing educational

programs for engineering and technical specialities is

its interdisciplinary aspect. In developing and

implementing construction projects, future engineers

must solve technical problems connected with social,

economic and environmental ones (Muravyova,

Oleynikova, 2016).

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Modernization of education for sustainable

development requires transforming the educational

paradigm, the key element of which is changing the

content of educational programs (Muravyova,

Oleynikova, 2016). The methodology of the

ecosystem approach should be integrated into the

educational programs of training specialists at all

levels, the essence of it is the interrelation of

economic, environmental and social components in

solving professional tasks and performing job

functions.

In accordance with the current priorities of urban

development, construction technologies for the

construction of objects and the development of

territories are being upgraded, innovative and

environmentally friendly materials, structures,

engineering systems are being used, and social

architecture is being developed. Methods and tools

for regulating urban planning are developing:

participatory design is becoming more widespread;

the number of real estate objects certified according

to "green" standards is increasing; along with social

aspects, construction business enterprises actively

declare activities that lie at the heart of environmental

responsibility; non-profit structures, representatives

of public organizations and movements are involved

in green construction.

Recognizing social and environmental priorities

for the development of production systems and

territories in the XXI century was the ground for

introducing the methodology of the ecosystem

approach for transforming educational programs of

training future specialists in all the fields. Realizing

the ecosystem approach at construction companies

will require management process reengineering. And

this is most closely related to specialist training based

on the implementation of the competence approach.

To develop specialists' skills in the XXI century, it is

necessary to integrate the key competencies of

sustainable development into educational programs at

all levels (González-Salamanca, Agudelo, Salinas,

2020).

The conceptualisation of making training

programs green is based on a comparative analysis of

current professional standards in Construction,

studying job functions, as well as the requirements for

knowledge and skills of specialists.

The methodological basis for designing the

architecture of the program of professional training

for green construction is a paradigm based on the

greening of knowledge, skills and abilities (green

Greening of Training Programs for Construction Specialists for Sustainable Development

679

education), taking into account the interdisciplinarity

of the professional tasks to be solved.

3 RESULTS OF RESEARCH

Currently, one of the determining factors in the

justification of management decisions in urban

planning is how significant results of construction

projects implemented are for ecological and

economic systems at various levels. Modern urban

planning policy, the priority of which is forming a

comfortable urban environment, is consistent with

these trends. (Irina Nuzhina, Maria Zolotareva and

Iuliia Vasileva, 2018; Vyacheslav Buzyrev, Irina

Nuzhina and Maria Zolotareva, 2018). A future

specialist training in Construction should know not

only the current trends in Russian and foreign green

construction technologies but also possess skills in

organizing construction, using environmentally-

oriented methods and management tools.

To study the environmental component in the job

functions of specialists with higher education

(bachelors and masters), the professional standards

(PS) of specialists who solve organizational and

managerial tasks in construction were analyzed. The

analysis results showed that the environmental

component is present in the competencies of training

specialists in almost all the considered professional

standards.

Summarizing the professional standard analysis

results, we can draw the following conclusions:

firstly, to a greater extent, the environmental

component takes place in job functions of the

organizer of construction operations (PS "Organizer

of Construction Operations" (Order of the Ministry of

Labour of the Russian Federation No. 516н dated

June 26, 2017). Besides knowing regulations and

legislation in environment, fire and labour safety, a

qualified employee must possess skills of identifying

types of negative impacts on the environment in

performing general and special construction works

and know methods for their prevention and

minimization. This significantly complements the

knowledge and skills in ensuring only the safety of

construction.

Secondly, the PS "Head of a Construction

Organization" (Order of the Ministry of Labour of the

Russian Federation No. 803н dated November 17,

2020) only contains requirements to know laws and

regulations in labour, environmental and fire safety

and to use rationally natural resources (for the

master's degree). In full, the job functions of the head

are not green.

Thirdly, the construction department can be

managed by a professional urban planner according

to the PS "Urban Planner" (Order of the Ministry of

Labour of the Russian Federation No. 110н dated

March 17, 2016). An urban planner who performs a

master's degree functions must know not only the

principles of sustainable development of territories

but also the basic principles and methods of urban

ecology and nature management. It is also obligatory

to know the regulations in the environment and life

safety, requirements for final products and preparing

urban planning documentation. The urban planning

documentation includes landscape and environmental

solutions, proposals for territory protection from

natural and man-made emergencies, etc. The

specialist must know the technologies that ensure

urban planning safety and ways to preserve a

particularly valuable natural and historical-cultural

environment. It is noteworthy that the basic groups of

positions (professions) include sociologist in urban

planning, ecologist in urban planning, economist in

urban planning (per Unified Qualification Reference

Book). The latter fact proves the transition to

developing territories as socio-ecological and

economic systems.

Fourthly, environmental surveying is of particular

importance for the creation and subsequent operation

of a construction object. The Ministry of Labour of

the Russian Federation has prepared a Draft Order

"On Approval of the Professional Standard

"Environmental Engineer in Surveying for Design,

Construction, Repair and Reconstruction" (dated

September 13, 2018). This standard will appear for

the first time. According to this project, the main

types of professional activity are organization and

management of a certain type of work (college degree

- bachelor) and organization and technical

management of engineering and environmental

surveying in general (college degree – master). In the

first case, the management aspect is related to

performing the following job functions: planning

engineering and environmental works; management

of field and office engineering and environmental

works; organization of environmental monitoring;

preparing reports on surveying performed. In the

second case, they are planning engineering and

environmental surveys; organizing engineering and

environmental surveys; improving the efficiency of

engineering and environmental surveys.

Fifthly, we note that in such a professional

standard as "Specialist in Planning and Economic

Support of Construction Operations" (Order of the

Ministry of Labour of the Russian Federation No.

504н dated July 18, 2019), the environmental

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component in the competencies is not indicated.

Environmental issues in the production activities of

industrial enterprises have until recently been solved

by environmental safety specialists. Taking into

account the peculiarity of construction and its

importance for forming a comfortable and safe

environment for human life, one can say that training

construction specialists to solve organizational and

managerial tasks, proceeding from social,

environmental and economic aspects of the activity,

is very relevant and in demand.

When designing educational programs, the

environmental component can be included in the

learning system as super professional, universal

knowledge, skills and soft skills, which are necessary

for any specialist.

The authors of the Atlas of New Professions

(Atlas of New Professions 3.0, 2020) focus on the

need to possess super professional skills to become a

successful specialist. According to the authors,

possessing super professional skills will ensure

specialists' being mobile and in demand. The

following super professional skills are identified:

working with people; focus on customer;

multilingualism and multiculturalism; project

management; intersectoral communication; working

in conditions of uncertainty; systems thinking;

programming, robotics and artificial intelligence;

lean manufacturing; skills of artistic creativity;

environmental thinking.

It should be noted that some professions, the skills

of which are already being implemented to some

extent today, have been referred by the authors of the

Atlas to the category of new professions in

construction. These are such professions as

construction technology upgrade specialist; 3D

printing engineer in construction; industrial zone

redevelopment specialist; specialist in the

development of new building materials, structures

and BIM manager designer. New professions can be

formed in various professional spheres.

In Figure 1, based on the Atlas data, we have

identified new professions in construction, ecology

and management that are directly related to solving

the problems of sustainable development through

urban planning. Environmental thinking becomes an

integral characteristic of future specialist. Today,

analysis and evaluation of environmental aspects of

construction are functional responsibilities of certain

specialists in the enterprise, who, as a rule, combine

these functions with solving main production or

organizational and managerial tasks.

Taking into account the current trends in

developing "green" construction, we can confidently

say that the profession of "environmental analyst in

construction" is the nearest prospect. Even today,

society needs information about the impact of

constructed objects on environmental systems, how to

prevent the construction negative impact on the

environment, and ways of waste disposal. The

environmental analyst's work will be professionally

connected with the activity of the zero energy house

architect and the urban object lifecycle manager.

Figure 1: New professions in construction for sustainable

development.

Issues of eco-oriented development of production

systems are interdisciplinary. This is clearly seen in

the development of the environmental specialist's

profession. Although all the professions listed above

are related to ecology, they are, among other things,

based on knowledge and skills in construction,

architecture and management. Thus, the model of

further development of specialist training is based on

integrating professional competencies prescribed in

educational standards (hard skills) and "soft"

competencies (soft skills), formed by the designers of

educational programs, taking into account the current

needs of potential employers and promising areas of

professional development. Adding green initiatives to

educational programs is achieved on soft skills

developed, their development will allow finding

Construction

Environmental Analyst in Construction

Zero Energy House Architect

Accessible Environment Designer

Foreman-Watcher

Specialist in Old Structure

Renovation/Reinforcement

Smart House Infrastructure Designer

Urban Object Lifecycle Manager

Management

Sustainable Development Consultant

Environmental Auditor

Ecolo

Environmental Consultant

Urban Environment Specialist

Park Environment Specialist

Ecosystem Restoration Architect

Ecosystem Service Auditor

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681

solutions to environmental problems requiring

knowledge and skills from various fields of science.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Professional training of students for advancing green

construction should equip the future specialist with

knowledge and skills in engineering, which ensures

an improvement of construction business efficiency

based on technology development for implementing

organizational and economic tasks of construction at

all stages, steps and processes of the construction

product lifecycle.

An analysis of the demand for graduates in

Construction (Lidiia Shershova, Irina Nuzhina, and

Evgeny Kurochkin, 2018) showed that employers

preferably focus on innovative educational programs.

Innovative engineering is the most important

component of the development of the modern

construction business (Kaverzina, Cherutova and

Nuzhina, 2020).

Of course, the content of engineering will vary

depending on the application and will require some

specialization of employees. In our opinion, in

"Construction" it is advisable to form an educational

program of specialist professional training for green

construction "Eco-engineering in construction and

design". The methodological basis for designing the

architecture of such a program is a paradigm based on

the greening of knowledge, skills and abilities (green

education), taking into account the interdisciplinarity

of the professional tasks to be solved. Greening of

universal competencies is developing super

professional knowledge and skills that will allow any

specialist to consciously apply the principles of the

ecosystem approach in implementing professional

tasks and achieving personal growth. The analysis of

universal competencies of the educational standard in

"Construction" allows identifying such components

of super professional skills as communication

capacity, including multilingualism and

multiculturalism; systems and critical thinking;

project management, work within a team, assessing

the potential and realizing personal priorities. For

greening skills, it is necessary to supplement this list

with the following competencies:

 Methodology of the ecosystem approach in

regulating construction activities, the concept

of sustainable development;

 Identifying and analyzing the social,

environmental and economic aspects of

construction;

 Research skills for greening the needs of

construction products;

 Principles and skills of applying lean

manufacturing tools.

Greening of general professional competencies is

developing competencies by integrating the

environmental component into the existing list of

recommended indicators. The most important ones

include:

 Solving professional tasks by ecosystem

approach;

 Analyzing trends in the technical and

technological development of construction,

taking into account the environmental factor;

 Searching and using scientific and technical

information in green construction;

 Knowing and applying laws and regulations in

environmental and economic aspects of

construction;

 Selecting and applying mandatory and

voluntary laws and regulations in green

construction in preparing project

documentation, organizing design, survey and

construction works, managing a construction

organization.

When forming professional competencies for the

program profile, we take into account the type of

tasks to be solved. So, for the organizational and

managerial type of tasks under the program "Eco-

engineering in construction and design", the

following knowledge and skills are required:

 Knowledge of the status and directions of

forming an environment of environmental-

oriented institutional regulation of construction

activities;

 Analysis of the activities of the construction

enterprises, taking into account the ecological

and economic aspects, resource and

environmental intensity of the products of the

construction enterprises;

 Development of the organization's strategy,

taking into account the development of tools

for social and environmental responsibility of

the construction business;

 The organization's business process

reengineering using the technology of 'lean

manufacturing';

 Taking organizational and economic measures

that provide green investment and construction,

taking into account all stages and steps of the

construction product lifecycle;

 Preparation of public environmental reports.

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682

5 CONCLUSION

When designing educational programs, the

requirements for knowledge and skills formulated in

professional standards are taken into account. The

question is what professional standards should be

based on when an educational program designed? As

shown above, not all professional standards have an

environmental component. It can be assumed that

with new professions introduced, new standards will

also appear. Since green construction specialists are

already in demand today, it is necessary to review the

existing standards (for example, the standards

"Specialist in Planning and Economic Support of

Construction Operations" and "Head of a

Construction Organization") and make appropriate

adjustments.

Thus, greening the knowledge and competencies

formulated in these standards is achieved by adjusting

them through integrating and completing socio-

ecological and economic aspects.

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