The youth march for climate justice through Glasgow last Friday, culminating in rousing speeches in George Square from inspiring young activists including Vanessa Nakate and Greta Thunberg, was something to behold.
The march itself was a cavalcade of youthful energy fuelled by optimism that all this activism might just achieve something. The rally it led to, however, was different: young people from all around the world were united in seething anger at political leaders’ inaction on climate change.
But once the excitement of momentous days like this passes, how do schools channel pupils’ fury about climate change and their determination to do something about it? And might they even have to fire up pupils in the first place, given that the catastrophic effects of a changing climate can be overwhelming rather than energising?
Those were the very questions up for discussion at an event last Friday, a shortish walk from where marchers were gathering at Kelvingrove Park. For one day, The New York Times Climate Hub - run in parallel to the COP26 climate summit - was focused on education, and one session asked what schools and heads could do to help students. It was a session driven by hope, while never underplaying the scale of the emergency.
Robin Macpherson, head of Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen, said it was “really exciting” to be working in schools at a time when pupils’ views on issues such as climate change are being listened to in a way that wasn’t always the case. Jane Lunnon, head of Alleyn’s School in London, was similarly upbeat: she was hugely encouraged by what she saw as the “joy, fun and hope” among young people at COP26.
The session was entitled “Headteachers’ tactics: how schools can prepare students for a changing climate”, and there was consensus that education on climate change could no longer take place in silos. Schools should approach everything they do with a “sustainability lens”, said Lunnon. Similarly, Therese Andrews, director of curriculum innovation at Thomas’s Battersea Senior School in London, said that climate education should permeate throughout a school, not be left to geography and science lessons.
There is a balance to be achieved, however: messages about climate change are so relentless that students can become fatigued. Macpherson has found that enthusiasm for climate issues can wane badly between the age of 12 and 15.
How do you counteract that? One answer was that teachers find the thing that will speak to each student: the huge political and existential issue of climate change might not connect with a student, but perhaps a more focused drama or maths project will.
For Macpherson, more critical thinking is required in climate education, so students feel more empowered to take action. As he put it: “Critical thinking is the Trojan horse for sustainability education.”
An up-to-date understanding of climate change must be baked into curriculum and assessment, but there’s work to do. It was only in July that the Scottish Qualifications Authority removed references to “positive effects” of climate change from National 5 geography course notes, nearly two years after Tes Scotland highlighted such issues.
And last week Iain Aitken, president of the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers, wrote for Tes Scotland about the need for the senior secondary geography curriculum to be modernised, especially at National 5 level.
“Despite climate change being the biggest single threat to our planet, it is, bizarrely, not a mandatory component of either the N5 or Higher course,” he wrote.
Teachers can do a huge amount to help pupils respond to the climate emergency - but let’s first make sure that the resources and courses at their disposal are up to scratch.
Henry Hepburn is news editor for Tes Scotland
This article originally appeared in the 12 November 2021 issue under the headline “Schools can spread Greta’s passion for change - but they need help”
