Cleaner and Greener – The government has published the UK’s Third Climate Change Risk Assessment. The report notes the unprecedented challenge of ensuring the UK is resilient to climate change and sets out the work underway to meet that challenge. Ahead of detailed plans being produced by the DfE, the Minister for the School System, Baroness Barran said: “Building a more sustainable future is vital and education has a role to play. We want our nurseries, schools, colleges and universities to be cleaner and greener. As part of our Schools Rebuilding Programme, all new buildings have to be net-zero in operation and we’re taking action to understand the risks and adapt our school estate to cope with climate change, water scarcity, along with heat and flood risks. We’re also providing educational opportunities for young people to learn about the impacts of climate change, including how to adapt and tackle the issues we face.”
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Government Responds to the EAC – Meanwhile, the government has rejected calls to expand environmental education in its response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s recommended that environmental sustainability be embedded across the whole curriculum in order to prepare young people for green jobs in the future. The government rejected the recommendation, saying: “Topics related to climate change and the environment are already included within the citizenship, science and geography National Curricula”. Calling the response disappointing, EAC chair, Philip Dunne MP, said “The national curriculum is not embedding environmental sustainability nor even restoring the teaching of nature into schools as we [the EAC] had recommended.” There’s more detail here in the Big Issue.
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SOS-UK Research – Working with TeacherTapp and NAEE, SOS-UK surveyed 4,690 secondary school teachers in England to find out their experiences of embedding climate change and the ecological crisis into their work with students. The purpose of the research was to better understand the extent to which these topics are being integrated into lessons, and what we might need to do to routinely make it happen in every school. To explore the research data, SOS-UK is hosting a webinar on Thursday January 27th [1200 to 1330]. This event is for the 155 organisations that supports its campaign, its Adult Advisory Board, educationalists, teaching practitioners and colleagues from the DfE. You can register here.
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Six go to the Lords – Six schools have been selected to work with the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Select Committee, scrutinising government policies. The schools are: Birkenhead Sixth Form College, Stockton Riverside College, Grove Academy, Dundee, Ysgol Cwm Brombil, Port Talbot, Ulidia Integrated College, Carrickfergus, and St Catherine’s College, Eastbourne. Details here.
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Green Transition – The European Commission is calling for environmental sustainability to be “at the core” of education and training systems across the EU. Its proposal for a Council recommendation on learning for environmental sustainability aims to support member states, schools, higher education institutions, non-governmental organisations and all education providers in equipping learners with the understanding and skills on sustainability, climate change and the environment. It is calling on member states to provide learners of all ages access to “high quality and inclusive” education and training on climate change, biodiversity and sustainability and establish learning for environmental sustainability as a priority area in education and training policies and programmes to support and enable the sector to contribute to the green transition.
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The UK’s 32,163 Schools – The British Education Suppliers Association, BESA, has collated basic data relating to schools within the UK into a guide.
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What do you know of England? – How much do you know about land use across England’s 13 million hectares? For example: [1] how much of this is agricultural land? [2] how much is used for crops? [3] how much is permanent grassland? [4] how much is being used for growing fruit and veg? [5] how much do outdoor pigs take up? Answers * below.
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Journals on Line – NAEE has been publishing a teachers’ journal since 1971. One of our 50-year anniversary projects was to put all back numbers on-line and that has now been completed. Go to our journal page and scrool down to the bottom to freely access our recent publications and all the back issues.
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Systems – Our colleagues at NAAEE have published a feature on systems thinking for environmental enlightenment. It describes systems thinking as a powerful tool that can help us understand and teach about environmental issues. We are encouraged to look at the dart science blog to see systems thinking in diverse contexts via a short video and two articles (one for educators and the other for students and the public).
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Diversity – The Diverse Sustainability Initiative is a collaborative programme of work that aims to transform diversity within the sustainability profession and wider environment sector. The overall goal is to build a profession and sector that, over time, is reflective of modern Britain by using education, connection and transparency.
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Greening Australia – There’s a dilemma down under as supporters of the greater bilby oppose plans for green hydrogen development on one of this rare marsupial’s best habitats. Keith Bradby, chief executive of Gondwana Link, is quoted in the Times: “We love our bilbies. They are cute as heck, but they are also a species that has managed to hang on and we are barracking for them. To wave the climate crisis flag to justify another land grab is a bit cynical. If these projects go ahead in areas where species are hanging on by their claw-nails they pose a real threat.”
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Diving Deeply Again – The Our Shared World coalition is running a “deep dive” into the UK Environment Bill on February 3rd 5-6pm. Details here.
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Teach In – SOS_UK has announced that its fifth annual SDG Teach-In will take place between Monday 21st February and Friday 4thMarch. The annual global campaign is delivered by SOS-UK (Teach the Future’s host organisation) and calls on educators to pledge to include the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development, otherwise known as the SDGs, in their teaching and learning throughout the two weeks, whether through case studies, debate, discussion, groups and more. SOS-UK is inviting all educators across the world to pledge to incorporate the SDGs in their teaching, learning and assessment throughout the Teach In, and share with their colleagues.
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The Pedagogy of Chocolate – This is the title of a forthcoming (March 1st 1230 to 1330) DERC seminar by Dr Bob Manteaw (University of Ghana) who explores the use of chocolate as a teaching and learning resource in global learning and sustainability education. This is part of the Fairtrade Foundation’s Choose the World you Want festival. Click here to find out more and register.
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* Quiz Answers – Of England’s 13 million hectares, 9.4 million is agricultural land. 3.9 million is used for crops. 3.6 million is permanent grassland. 119,000 is being used for growing fruit and veg, and outdoor pigs take up 12,000 hectares. Source Defra (June 2021).