Through our climate education report cards, we’ve had a number of candidates and supporters getting in touch who are unsure about how climate education can be integrated across every subject of the school curriculum. We’ve written this blog to help everyone understand the hows and whys of integrated climate education, and hope it can provide some useful ideas for students, educators and candidates alike.
We know that the climate and biodiversity crises, in our current education system, are woefully underrepresented, usually appearing simply as small bullet points on the geography and sciences specifications. As such, current climate education goes nowhere near far enough to allow all young people to prepare comprehensively for the effects these crises will have on our futures. An understanding and appreciation of the environment and the role we as humans play in it simply must be integrated throughout all subjects if we are to foster generations of thoughtful, considerate, and committed global citizens.
As well as this, the ways in which climate and biodiversity are taught in schools are often disappointingly dry, bland and fact-oriented, leaving little room for insightful and meaningful engagement with the issues through discussion or debate. Tragically, we know that this often puts students off studying the subjects any further for lack of interest and stimulating engagement with the subject, thus alienating a whole host of bright young minds who could have a real impact on the crises we face.
So, here are just some examples of the headlines on how we believe climate and an appreciation of the natural environment should be integrated into each and every school subject to give students the best possible preparation for our futures:
- Art and Design: Needs to be taught with a focus on the value of art as a vessel for interpretation of contemporary issues such as sustainability, incorporating research of a diverse range of artists and perspectives into the curriculum, and educating students on how to work sustainably by recognising the provenance of materials.
- Design Technology: Sustainability must be considered at all stages of the design process, with a particular focus on the need for a circular economy. Cooking and Textiles should take into account the environmental impacts of different foodstuffs and fabrics.
- English Language: Writing tasks should be authentic and meaningful, including, for example, letter-writing skills to decision-makers, and encouraging students to express their own feelings through spoken and written language.
- English Literature: Emphasis on the role of stories and poetry in providing a lens for critiquing society, with authors studied needing to represent a diversity of perspectives who address the root causes of inequality and ecological destruction. Reading literature which tells of certain experiences can help develop empathy, which underpins social and environmental justice.
- Geography: Removal of the labels ‘physical’ and ‘human’ geography, which serve to reinforce an artificial separation between human activity and the rest of the natural world, and the accelerating nature of climate change and biodiversity loss should be taught in a way that supports engaging discussion and articulation of emotional responses.
- History: An environmental perspective should be incorporated into all thematic studies of the past, for example indigenous perspectives on Europe’s colonial past and issues of land ownership; as well as the use of a historical lens to examine the roots of the climate crisis and social inequalities in our modern world.
- Languages: Language should be taught as one pathway towards developing an intercultural understanding and appreciation of different places, their ecosystems, history, and culture, alongside an acknowledgement of the importance of language in shaping our relationship with our environment.
- Mathematics: Mathematical concepts should be studied in relation to real-world, sustainability-related scenarios, with topics such as measuring, changing, and mapping allowing maths to be seen as a means of developing solutions to some of humanity’s problems, and of understanding and discovering more about the world we live in.
- Music: In a similar vein to art, music should be understood as a creative means for expression of values and feelings in relation to contemporary issues, allowing for individual interpretation of subjects such as climate change through this particular medium.
- PE: Students should be encouraged to recognise the importance of natural environments in recreational activities, and how our dependence upon nature ranges deep into the realms of sport. Sustainability in relation to sports and the equipment and practices that are used can be taught, allowing students to consider the environmental provenance of physical activities.
- PSHE: Teaching of PSHE should support students to reflect upon their values and feelings related to the environment and to develop their autonomy to make decisions and contribute to positive action both as an individual and member of the community
- Religious Studies: Incorporating an exploration of the spiritual and moral aspects of human-nature connectedness from the perspectives of not only institutional religions, but also indigenous religions, personal spiritualities and secular ethical positions.
- Science: Needs to be taught in a way that is less focused on fact-oriented learning of processes, but is more interconnected with the wider practical implications of scientific processes on other areas of the curriculum and students’ lives, including the effects on - and of - our actions, as well as allowing for informed and engaging discussion.
If you’d like to read about some of our proposed changes to subject curriculums in more detail, please head to our Tracked Changes page, where we have worked with educators and academics to come up with detailed revisions to the curriculums of all major subjects, in order to make climate a more integral part of young people’s education.
Ultimately, the climate crisis is one of the most interdisciplinary and intersectional issues of our time, and dealing with it will undoubtedly require action from every single cross-section of society. We therefore need to ensure that no matter what careers students want to go into, they feel able to adapt their industry to better deal with the effects of climate change, and change the ways in which they work to a system that fits more in harmony with the planet.
Only by educating young people will we develop a much-needed generation of passionate and informed young changemakers, who can truly make a difference in every single section of society.
