LEARNING TO LEARN
status quo in education and clearly articulate the role education can play in environmental sustainability . It is important to involve those who participate in the educational process – teachers , young people and teacher educators – keeping in mind the environmental conditions of the near future . The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ( UN , 89 quoted in Dunlop et al 2022 ) protects young people ’ s rights to express views on matters affecting them , but these tend to go unheard , and young people have few opportunities to be involved in environmental decision making impacting them ( Thew et al ., 2020 quoted in Dunlop et al 2022 ), although they are at the forefront of calls for action on climate change and environmental justice ( Teach the Future , n . d .; Thunberg , 2019 quoted in Dunlop et al 2022 ) ). On participation in decision-making . The BERA research identified seven priorities for change to achieve education for environmental sustainability at different levels : classroom , school , community and policy :
• Provide students with the space and time to learn about climate change and environmental sustainability that is not linked to assessment .
• Encourage students to research and take action on sustainability .
• Resource teachers of all subjects to engage in sustainability-focused professional development to develop confidence .
• Use more sustainable resources and practices in the classroom .
• Identify ways to feature sustainability in schoollevel decision-making bodies and policies such as considering environmental sustainability in all purchasing decisions , making the sustainable choice the convenient choice in school ; greening the school environment ; placing student voice and agency at the core of school sustainability action .
• Create a no-cost , external , accredited award . Develop a community sustainability network and curriculum for groups and parents involved in education ; Value schools as local hubs for sustainability ; Start young and keep going !
• Initiate a co-ordinated review , involving teachers and students , of secondary school curricula across the UK ; Identify ways that sustainability can feature in existing accountability regimes and policies ; Enlist the endorsement of respected public figures ( politicians , social media influencers ).
• Create educational policies which focus on valuing collective , equitable action and positive problem solving .
Use of charities e . g . The Ministry of Eco Education
The Ministry of Eco Education is a charity funded by Dale Vince , the founder of Ecotricity , a green energy provider . It has pulled together the best free sustainability resources and created a series of lessons . The lessons are framed around big questions , the kind people are exploring in wider society , and helps teachers to understand how they can embed sustainability across their subject . They also have a five step whole school journey which curates the wealth of opportunities from third party organisations . In addition , they provide staff training which introduces the fundamental ideas associated with the climate and nature crisis , whilst supporting teachers to explore how to embed sustainability within their subject area .
Use of campaigns e . g . Teach the Future
Teach the Future is an inclusive , well organised and persistent campaign by secondary and tertiary education students to greatly improve education on the climate emergency and ecological crisis in the UK . Following the publication of the Department for Education ’ s ( DfE ) Sustainability and Climate Change strategy in April 2022 , Teach the Future have made the following requests :
1 . Review and revision of DfE ’ s Sustainability and Climate Change strategy to include measurable targets and provision of sufficient funding to deliver it .
( The final version of the DfE ’ s Sustainability and Climate Change strategy , whilst having some good ideas , has very few measurable targets and
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