Leadership from our President – Click here to read what NAEE’s President, Prof Justin Dillon, has to say about the DfE’s draft climate education strategy. This has been developed from an input he gave at NAEE’s AGM in November in response to the question: after 50 years of environmental education, what now? His response critiques the strategy and suggests ways in which NAEE can make a positive contribution to environmental education over the short to medium term.
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Commenting from The Edge – Click here to read the response from The Edge to the DfE’s draft climate education strategy. The Edge is a multi-disciplinary, campaigning built-environment think tank which is focused on the need for action in the face of climate change and global heating. It sees this issue as one in which collaboration and cross-professional working is an essential requirement.
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DfE Climate Education Working Group – The first meeting of the DfE’s working group to discuss action point one (climate education) of the DfE’s Draft Strategy for Sustainability and Climate Change Education took place on-line last Wednesday. Click here to read the thoughts about the meeting by Paul Vare who is a member of the group.
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Feedback to DfE – Click here to see the points made to DfE about its draft climate education strategy by our Chair of Trustees. Prominent amongst Bill Scott’s 14 points are that [i] the 5 action areas are not distinct and need to be taken together wherever possible; that [ii] the loss of and threats to biodiversity, habitat and species diversity are serious and need to be focused on in schools as much as climate change is; and that [iii] school leaders and governors need support to create the circumstances within which such teacher-support will result in the outcomes sought.
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Teaching Political Issues – Here’s a perspective on the DfE strategy from Laura Hughes at specialist education lawyers Browne Jacobson. Laura makes this point about schools’ responsibilities: “… the Government have taken the opportunity within the draft strategy to confirm that teaching about climate change is not a political issue and so schools do not need to present misinformation or unsubstantiated claims for balance. Accordingly schools do not need to give views of climate change deniers. However, where discussions about climate change transition into and touch upon issues such as social and economic reform, this should be handled in line with schools normal duties on political impartiality. Schools are also directed not to encourage pupils to join campaigning groups, or take part in protests. Crucially, schools are not instructed to actively discourage pupils from taking this path.”
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World Leading Schools – A draft report we’ve seen has pointed to Llanrhidian Primary School near Swansea and Den Groenne Friskolein Copenhagen as examples of world leading education for sustainability and climate change because of their “interdisciplinary, project based approaches”. Llanfhidian school is a pilot school for the Curriculum for Wales initiative. You can see a video about the new curriculum here.
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The Children’s University – Helen O’Donnell, CEO of the Children’s University, contributed to a roundtable discussion on Learning beyond classrooms – from forest schools to the city as a classroom, what can we all learn from the world beyond the classroom walls? that was organised by the FED. She shared examples of Children’s University practice in learning beyond the classroom in Wolverhampton, Sheffield and Hull that illustrate how such work can have life changing impact for those able to participate. To read the thinkpiece click here.
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She is the Future – Did you see the talk given by Vinishia Umashankar at COP26? Vinishia is a student, innovator, and entrepreneur from southern India who has patented a solar-powered steam iron. In 2020, Vinishia won the Children’s Climate Prize, a Swedish award for young innovators, and more recently, she was a finalist for the Earthshot Prize launched by the Duke of Cambridge. You can watch Vinishia’s COP26 input here.
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PISA Competence – Click here to watch an edited video of last month’s DERC seminar, Grounding PISA: A critique of the OECD measure of global competence, in which Dr Heela Goren discusses her research into the validity of the new PISA measure of global competence.
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Beyond PISA – The OECD is launching its report, Embedding Values and Attitudes in Curriculum: Shaping a Better Future, on Wednesday December 15th at 1500 GMT. OECS says that the report “highlights how clearly articulated and experienced values and attitudes can support students’ positive lifelong learning outcomes and promote a more equitable and just society, and offers strategies that can support effective design and implementation. Despite the variety of values espoused in national curricula, there is an emerging trend in prioritising values that enhance well-being and learning across different countries’ curricula.”. Registration details are here.
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Going Wild for Nature – 12 Days Wild is the Wildlife Trusts’ festive nature challenge, encouraging us all to do one wild thing a day during the 10 days over Christmas and the New Year. They say that our wild acts could be little things to help nature – like recycling your Christmas tree or feeding the birds – or ways to connect to the natural world, like walking off your Christmas dinner in the woods or admiring the beauty of a winter sunset. More detail here.
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A Helping Hand for Nature – A new Environment Act for England became law last month. The legislation sets binding targets to stop nature’s decline by 2030, and requires government to set out those that are particularly related to water, air, nature and waste. Natural England Chair Tony Juniper said: “This landmark Act will give us more of the tools and the momentum we need to really put nature on the road to recovery during this decade, enabling us to have more, better, bigger and connected areas of natural habitats, bringing a range of practical benefits and permitting more people to enjoy the wonders of the natural world, while improving wider environmental quality at the same time.”
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Climate Justice at Bath – Dr Joanne Wade OBE, Chief Strategic Advisor at the Association for Decentralised Energy gave a recent I-SEE seminar. Her title was: Energy sufficiency: defining a just transition to low carbon living. The webinar’s synopsis is: “Climate justice is one of the most important, recurring phrases that we have heard at COP26, from political leaders, activists and researchers. Energy access is one important element of this: it is clear that we will not succeed in tackling climate change unless we also deliver far more equitable access to affordable energy services. This seminar will explore how the concept of energy sufficiency can be useful in helping us to understand what we mean by energy justice. It will also demonstrate some of the practical steps we can take to deliver justice at the same time as transitioning to an environmentally sustainable energy system. Drawing on examples of action in a range of European countries, we can see that the changes to the way we live that are made imperative by the climate crisis can also be very positive, socially and economically. Although the primary focus is the energy transition here in Europe, the seminar will also briefly touch on how the principles of energy sufficiency can be applied in a wider context.”
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A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall – Richard Hodgkins, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Loughborough University writes in The Conversation about the problms of rainfall (as opposed to snowfall) in the Arctic. It begins: “Before the end of this century, most of the Arctic will for the first time receive more rain than snow across a whole year. That’s one of the key findings of a new study on precipitation in the Arctic which has major implications – not just for the polar region, but for the whole world. …”