Pearson, the world’s learning company, published its 2018 Sustainability Report, demonstrating ongoing progress in integrating social and environmental issues across the business and advancing equity in education.
A key element of Pearson’s business strategy is to help improve employability prospects through providing products and services that drive better learning outcomes. As sustainability is increasingly integrated into Pearson’s core business, employability for underserved groups and supporting sustainability skills are becoming areas of focus.
An example of this in practice in 2018 is our work with 225 US institutions, including community colleges, who used Pearson’s GED College Ready score level to help their students progress to the next level of their education, sometimes without placement tests or developmental courses. This is significant because it reduces barriers for students without a high school diploma to gain access to the next level of education, saves time by demonstrating mastery of certain topics, and improves their future employability prospects.
"Our sustainability work is making an impact on the learners who need education the most,” said Deirdre Latour, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Pearson. “From our innovations to reach underserved groups and our qualifications preparing learners for jobs, we are working hard to help change lives."
Other select 2018 highlights from across the business include:
Continuing our Save the Children partnership providing education to children who need it the most: Our recent focus has been on creating digital tools to enable learning to continue in a humanitarian crisis. 28,000 users have downloaded our math app, designed in collaboration with refugee children.
Extending our BTEC qualifications – used by millions of learners in the UK – to underserved communities in Africa through our partnership with CAMFED: We awarded 1,800+ BTEC qualifications to young women in Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
Selected nine new ventures as part of Tomorrow’s Markets Incubator, Pearson’s innovation and social impact programme that empowers our own people within Pearson to innovate and help meet the need for access to education in underserved communities.
We also made progress across a range of sustainability metrics including publishing our first human rights statement; training 5,000 employees on our editorial policy for inclusive and appropriate content; continuing our work to significantly reduce our energy consumption; continuing to invest in local communities – with £5.7m going to good causes; and continuing to support mental health and resilience for our employees through Pearson WELL.
Through this work Pearson continued to make progress against its 2020 Sustainability Plan which is designed to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), with a focus on:
Reaching more learners by removing barriers to education.
Shaping the future of learning by building skills that foster employability and inclusive economic growth.
Being a trusted partner to learners, educators, suppliers, and communities by operating responsibly, creating value for society, and protecting the environment.
The report, which covers 1 January – 31 December 2018, is in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards. Pearson is a founding signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, and this report also represents its Communication on Progress and outlines its contributions to the UN SDGs.
To read Pearson’s full 2018 Sustainability Report and learn about its 2020 Sustainability Plan, visit https://www.pearson.com/sustainability.