As educators we must ask ourselves 'how does our curriculum prepare young people for the climate emergency?'
A climate curriculum is not something taught by the Science teacher or the Geography teacher; it needs to be taught by all educators and, at its center, needs to be an awareness of climate justice. Knowing about climate change science is a start but it is not teaching the skills FOR climate action and justice. Teach the Future, new IDEAS members, are a group of passionate young people who are campaigning for changes to Scottish curriculum content calling for a broad climate education in the UK, while recognizing the extra resources required to achieve this.
There is increasing momentum globally for questioning established education approaches in terms of whether they can equip future generations to cope with the multiple crises we face.
Recently published by the IDEAS network, Exploring Climate Justice a human rights-based approach provides an accessible resource for teachers to begin these conversations with the children and young people they work with. It “doesn’t tell young people what to think and do about the Climate Emergency”, but provides stimuli for critical thinking, debate and discussion to inform taking action.
There is increasing momentum globally for questioning established education approaches in terms of whether they can equip future generations to cope with the multiple crises we face. Climate change is not a 'green' issue and teaching the science and data - the Greenhouse Effect, climate science, the ecological crisis or biodiversity loss – is not enough. Climate justice links human rights and development to achieve a human-centred approach, sharing the burdens of climate change and its impacts equitably. It is important that teachers recognise that they can explore climate justice without a deep knowledge of climate science.
Climate justice links human rights and development to achieve a human-centred approach, sharing the burdens of climate change and its impacts equitably.
It is written primarily for teachers, but the activities are participatory and can be adapted for any setting. Critically it draws connections between lived experiences of young people in Scotland and Somaliland as understanding how we are connected to others is at the heart of Global Citizenship Education. We know that climate change is already negatively affecting young people and will be felt the most by those who are already vulnerable because of geography, poverty, gender, age, indigenous or minority status and disability.
Young people experience real fear about climate change as they understand that there are no quick fixes and that there is no master plan for the future. Taking a Global Citizenship approach to these issues offers a framework and methodology to enable teachers to promote hope, and a sense of agency, counteracting eco-anxiety.
The time is right to listen to our young people who have been vocal in their calls across the world for action to be taken on the climate crisis.
If Scottish education wants to create 'active shapers of the world', we must listen to want they want from their education and find pathways for young people to participate more fully in society and contribute towards solving social and environmental issues.
