Climate Change & Sustainability: curriculum, careers, culture, community & CPD – An invitation from the FED to join a free online breakfast seminar (it begins at 0900), held on March 14th in partnership with Hays Education,. It will be showcasing the FED’s Climate Change and Sustainability Toolkit. Speakers include Emma Knights OBE, NAEE Chair of Trustees Dr Paul Vare, Cemil Cihan Ozalevli, Claire Pritchard and Nicholas Mort. You can register your interest to attend here.
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London Student Sustainability – Registrations for this year’s London Student Sustainability Conference [Wednesday 21st February from 10:00 to 18:00] are now open . In collaboration with 10 London based Universities, the conference showcases student academic work and extra-curricular projects which support the Global Goals and inspires positive impact in the world. There will also be presenters from the Student Sustainability Research Conference, delivered by the University of Leeds. Registration for the event is free and open to students, staff and the general public – so please do share.
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SDGs – The 7th annual international SDG Teach In is back, and will run throughout March 2024.
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Shared Outcomes – The UKNC for UNESCO and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have been awarded £1.8million from the Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund for the development of “cross-cutting solutions to the impacts of climate change, and to develop shareable tools and models for natural and heritage sites worldwide”.
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Youth Panel – Butterfly Conservation is setting up a Youth Panel. This is an opportunity to learn from young volunteers. If you’re interested in joining or want to find out more about the opportunities and training on offer, click here.
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ITTECF – From September 2025, the DfE will be replacing the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework (CCF) and the Early Career Framework (ECF) with a combined initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF). This is being done in order to reduce unnecessary repetition, and is one of the changes and improvements announced by the DfE following its review of the ECF and CCF. Other changes include the development of enhanced subject-specific materials by training providers, increased content for trainees on how to support pupils with SEND, and changes to reduce the workload for mentors.
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Student Pressure – BBC News reports – Pupil power secures green heating for Devon college – that Petroc College is to get a new heating system following pressure from students to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
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Green Schools Revolution – SOS-UK reports that its Green Schools Revolution programme has now been running for a year. Each of the 3 key strands has made progress towards helping schools implement key parts of the DfE’s Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy.
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Green Muscle Memory – EarthDay asks: Can Climate Education Save Our Planet? Amongst other things, it is calling on schools to teach green muscle memory. This is the term for when behaviours that move us towards net-zero carbon occur with little or no conscious effort. We know that individuals are not responsible for, nor will single-handedly solve, the climate crisis. However, these actions add up over time and have network effects that influence friends, family, and neighbours.
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Helping Young People – Climate Action has a 5-Step Guide to Addressing Climate Change with Kids.
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UNESO UK – The Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage project will bring public and private bodies and their data together within three pilot UK UNESCO heritage sites to develop and test models of improved joint working. There will also be new approaches and data tools to share and analyse geodata effectively.
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Peak Child – Have we passed what Hans Rosling termed peak child? Our World in Data has the figures that suggest we have.
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Intangibility –The UK Government has confirmed its intention to ratify the 2003 UNESCO Convention for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which seeks to protect the crafts, practices, and traditions which are recognised as being an essential part of national life and providing a sense of identity to communities across the UK. A public consultation is now open to seek the public’s views on the UK Government’s proposed approach to implementing the Convention across the UK to safeguard valued traditions. The consultation includes the approach to how people will be able to nominate traditions, how they will be adjudicated, and any criteria that the nominated practices will need to meet before they are considered. More detail here.
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Solid State EV Batteries – In a recent article, Reuters explores solid state batteries and wonders if they might hold the promise of more energy storage, longer driving ranges and faster charging for the next-generation of electric vehicles. If this works out, might it be enough to speed up the slow sales of EVs?