Who Drew the Sky? – Professor Andy Stables died last week. He contributed much to UK environmental education research in the early 2000s, bringing expertise in literature and philosophy. He only wrote one article for our journal. This restated the case for a liberal education using the idea of literacy, and set out 7 pragmatic principles associated with this. It is reproduced here from Vol 68 (2001). Who drew the sky? Is the title of another of Andy’s papers. In writing this he was inspired by jet contrails in a clear blue sky. Citation: Stables, AWG (2001) Who Drew The Sky? Conflicting assumptions in environmental education Educational Philosophy and Theory 33(2) 250-254
.
SOS-UK Research – As we’ve already noted, SOS-UK, working with TeacherTapp and NAEE, surveyed 4,690 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. The research summaries were discussed in a webinar last Thursday and has been published here. This is what our Chair made of it all.
.
Education Bill – SOS_UK is sponsoring a Bill in Parliament to change the 2002 Education Act. The core of the Bill is to change section 78(1) (general requirements in relation to curriculum) by inserting the following before para (a): educates pupils at the school on the climate and ecological emergency, climate justice, nature, sustainability, the need to cut carbon emissions to net zero as soon as is practicably possible, and associated scientific and technical knowledge and skills …”. The full text is here. As many have already noted, the fact that this has no chance of success is beside the point, as the Bill puts down an important marker for future development, perhaps by the DfE.
.
Give us the Tools – The Guardian had a feature on the Education Bill last week ahead of its consideration in Parliament. Its message was that “Britain’s children are being failed by schools when it comes to learning about the climate crisis, with the subject often wholly missing from the curriculum, sidelined, or mistaught.” Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP who brought forward the bill, is quoted as saying: “The education system should be helping young people to get informed on the impacts of climate change – it’s their lives that will be affected. It’s also part of how we will reach net zero – give young people the tools to be part of the solution.”
.
Real Research – Physicist Martin Archer at Imperial College and science educator Jennifer DeWitt at University College developed projects in which students in secondary schools in London could be part of real research teams for periods of around six months. Evaluation of these projects shows that students’ knowledge, skills and confidence all grew. The projects were brought together under IRIS – the Institute for Research in Schools. Another example is students at Stirling High School who worked with the British Antarctic Survey to study the behaviour of penguins via satellite images.
.
Small is Beautiful – Matt Carmichael is a secondary school teacher from Leeds. He won the competition Education As If People and Planet Matter, launched by the Resurgence & Ecologist magazine to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Schumacher College. You can read his essay: The Wasp Lesson here.
.
Green Leaders – Groundwork’s Green Leaders programme supports young people aged 16 – 20 to become advocates for green spaces in their community while gaining skills to set up new local projects and campaigns. If you are in Manchester, London, Northamptonshire or the West Midlands, this is an opportunity to take part in training, learn about community action, and meet other young people who are passionate about the environment. Pleasde apply by 13th February.
.
Active Hope – Friends of the Earth remind us of their Key Stage 3 teaching resources comprising a cross-curricula set of lesson plans looking at climate change through a lens of climate justice and active hope. Each lesson is matched with objectives in the English and Northern Irish National Curriculum and they’re designed to be used either as a set or as individual lessons. The resources respond to the issue of eco-anxiety, providing activities and exercises to support pupils and teachers to navigate these difficult issues.
.
Connecting the Dots – In a new report, the UN is now talking about three threats to the ability of the biosphere to support life: climate change, plastic pollution, and biodiversity loss. It seems sensible for educators to consider differentiating between these when talking about the issues we face.
.
A Circular Plastic Economy – The Ellen MacArthur Foundation reports that, in a pre-UNEA statement, over 70 leading businesses and financial institutions have called for a legally binding UN treaty on plastic pollution. The statement including explicit recognition of the need to reduce virgin plastic production and use, and is an indictment on the severity of our current plastic crisis, which needs global efforts to tackle the problem throughout its lifecycle. This is in line with the Foundation’s vision for a circular economy for plastics, and comes just before UNEA 5.2 where member states will have a crucial opportunity to negotiate a treaty.
.
Remembering Jenny Clack – Have you been keeping an eye on the JAC project (run by the British Trust for Ornithology)? This tracks the migration of a cuckoo from Llangollen to the Congo (and back). Here are details on how to support the project, or you can contactcuckoos@bto.org
.
Knobby Newt / Big-headed Frog – A report from WWF says that 224 new species have been found along the Mekong river. However, the report cautions that “Many species go extinct before they are even discovered, driven by habitat destruction, diseases spread by human activities, predation and competition brought by invasive species, and the devastating impacts of illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade.”
.
Living Sustainability – Submit your proposals by 11th Feb for presentations on any aspect of environmental education, sustainability, the implementation of the SDGs within the higher education sector, and/or related fields, for the upcoming Living Sustainability in Higher Education: Connecting People, Places and Learning conference at UCL (13th May). Find out more here.
.
XPolli:Nation – Learning through Landscapes is running a digital teacher meeting on the XPolli:Nation project to come together and compare their experiences of making and using pollinator habitats in their school grounds. There will be the opportunity to meet and talk to other teachers about their experiences, hear from a scientist working in the field of biodiversity and in particular pollinator conservation, and ain access to further resources and information to support your practice. It’s on February 16th; details here.