Working towards the Sustainable Development Goals requires behavioural changes at various levels throughout global systems. Training and capacity-building are powerful ways that we can change behaviours, which is why it is important that learning design integrates behavioural science (BeSci) principles and knowledge.

What is BeSci?

As stated by the UN 2.0 initiative, nurturing behavioural science is about fostering our knowledge of how people act and make decisions – to create better choices and positive change that work with, not against, the grain of human nature.

Behavioural science involves influencing individual or collective behaviours in order to achieve a desired outcome or goal, such as addressing individual beliefs, attitudes, and habits, as well as broader social norms and cultural influences that may impact behaviour.

Why BeSci?

Integrating Behavioural Science into learning design ensures that learning programmes are grounded in an understanding of how people actually think, behave and change over time.

Learning designers and organizations often neglect to integrate BeSci into the design of learning interventions, focusing too much on content, style, format and how a course ‘looks’ rather than focusing on what behaviours need to be targeted and how resulting in disengaged learners and ineffective training outcomes. 

Any one-size-fits-all approach to learning ignores individual differences in how people absorb information, learners may struggle to apply what they have learned which can hinder the ability of learners to transfer their new skills into real-world situations. 

Training programmes that don’t consider behaviour-change frameworks, such as habit formation, learner motivation, personalised learning approaches, or the impact of social and environmental influence, can result in knowledge acquisition but without the necessary sustained change in actual behaviours.

According to one of the biggest-ever research studies on behaviour change, training projects that merely focus on content and knowledge, fail to achieve long-term change. It is recommended instead, to shift the focus towards understanding behaviours and designing contexts in which habits can be learned and formed, to achieve sustainable positive change.

How We Integrate BeSci

By leveraging BeSci principles, training can be tailored to meet the psychological needs of learners, enhancing engagement, retention and application. This not only makes training more effective but also helps learners apply what they have learned in practical, real-world contexts, leading to meaningful behaviour change.

Ultimately, integrating Behavioural Science into learning design leads to more engaged learners, improved outcomes, and a higher impact and sustainability of interventions.

If you would like to learn more about how we integrate BeSci into learning design, consider joining our Learning Solutions Masterclass which includes a dedicated session on ‘Strategic Learning Design’ where we will share how we integrate BeSci perspectives into the early phases of project conceptualisation and design and our Training of Trainers course will help you to integrate BeSci throughout the training cycle.