Sue James, from Teach the Future's Adult Advisory Board, shares an essay on the impacts of the education system failing to inform us of the climate and nature crisis, and our role within it.
University College London’s Faculty of Education recently carried out a survey of students in England on climate change and sustainability education with a particular focus on years 7-9 (11-14 year olds). The results present a shocking indictment of our education system in that the first nine responses to ‘climate change’ were sad, anxious, guilty, angry, ashamed, afraid, helpless, powerless despair followed by uninterested with a minority optimistic, empowered, brave and happy.
Isn’t one of the purposes of education to inform and so empower and “prepare young people to face the challenges of their time"? Would an indication of success be if those numbers were reversed and the majority of students felt optimistic, empowered, brave and happy? So why isn’t this happening? Where is the enthusiastic, empowering teaching that, of course, explains where we are in terms of climate change and biodiversity loss, but also shows what each of us can do individually and collectively? Knowledgeable and empowered students can then lead by example to the benefit of their wider community.
Teach the Future also carried out a TeacherTapp survey and found that geography teachers are teaching about the “positive benefits of climate change”. These included new crops, new shipping routes (as a result of the Arctic ice melting?), new tourist destinations (more carbon for travel?), more resources such as melting ice in Siberia making oil available (but we must not take any more fossil fuels out of the ground, we cannot afford to release the methane if the permafrost melts and the melting will also release mercury), fewer deaths in the UK with milder winters (but more deaths from increased summer heat). For a start there appears to be no mention of the impacts on other parts of the globe if temperatures rise to make these things possible!
Is this not all a form of duping?
When I was at school, I can remember learning with despair about the Charge of the Light Brigade and what a foolhardy, misdirected, criminal affair it was – but there was nothing I could do about it one hundred plus years later. How much better to focus on critical issues for which positive action can be taken.
While we cannot ignore the notion of climate or eco-anxiety – and it is reasonable for any thinking being to feel this – we should not make it an excuse to try to bury the issues and, taking a cynical view, have an excuse to continue business as usual which means the threats rapidly worsen – so teachers, educationalists, parents and grand-parents and the Department of Education need to step forward and focus on empowering our young people, leading by example ourselves and transitioning to the sustainable future that could be.
Otherwise we are all very guilty of being irresponsible and letting our young down.