Climate Emergency and the Curriculum

The climate emergency is our greatest existential threat. 

Young people need to be equipped with the knowledge to be able to understand what needs to be done, and how to work towards entering the sort of industries that are going to make a difference to work toward solutions.

Climate change is already in the curriculum in some subjects more than others, but it is important that it is not just seen as a topic that is left to science, particularly geography. 

This TES article talks about the need for further work, but also refers to the way that teachers often take the curriculum further than is obvious from the actual wording of any curriculum or specification documentation, and also the fact that the inclusion of a word in a document doesn't mean that teachers treat it the same. It is also good to see reference to climate change as a safeguarding issue.

Alan Kinder contributes to the article with some thoughts on the extent to which geography curriculum documents already refer to the climate emergency, and finishes by asking:

"What are the political choices, personal political choices that we have, and who's doing what about what? And what's the responsibility for the government, corporations, individuals, etc. [The curriculum] is much lighter on those elements." 

The report also references the work of Dr. Elizabeth Rushton, one of the team that developed BERA's Manifesto for Environmental Sustainability.

There is a call for schools in this document to:

• Identify ways of featuring sustainability and sustainable practices in school-level policies and contracts.
• Create time and space for students to learn about climate change and environmental sustainability – without linking to assessment.
• Place student voice and agency at the core of school sustainability work.
• Make sustainability convenient in the school grounds, cafeterias and classrooms.
• Appoint a school sustainability lead and ensure that sustainability is considered in decisions made by school leadership teams, committees and governing bodies.
• Enable teachers to participate in professional development – this requires time and resources.
• Promote healthy diets and healthy environments to tackle eco-anxiety.

There is plenty of work to do here, particularly in those key stages before students make their subject choices for external examinations, which can influence opportunity to obtain particular jobs and career and education pathways.

My proposed 'Curriculum Vitae' which I referred to in a recent post on my forthcoming IGU Session in Paris in July 2022 will have a strong connection to the climate emergency.

More to come on that in 2022....