Introduction by Alexei Du Bois

  • Metaphor of ‘archipelago’ continues to resonate in teaching practices on climate change.

  • Complexity of climate change and environmental issues demands different actors and systems coming together to form a whole.

Prompt 1: Zineb Mouhyi

What was the role of education in the past, and what is it now, in relation to the climate crisis?

Why we urgently need a new vision :

  • Social factors including polarisation and inequalities are all direct results of how we formulated education in the past.

    • Would we be able to continue destroying our planet if we had had an education that taught us to care?

    • Logic that shapes our education system is exploitative for humans as well as the environment.

    • In the face of educational institutions, students are seen as commodities.

  • Respect, kindness and compassion

    • Needed from within as well as in how we deal with others and our environment.

    • Reconnection with nature is necessary and possible through a shift in our education system.

  • Fundamental questions include what kind of society we want to live in and what kind of people we want to cultivate through education.

    • How do we construct an education to unleash and actualise this humanitarian vision?

  • Everyone deserves space for creativity and the ability to engage in reflective thinking.

  • Urgent change required: radical planetary change in the next few decades means we need preparation.

How do we go about constructing this vision?

  • Through youth-led adult-supported change

  • Strong connection between youth climate movement and education activism must be actively encouraged.

  • Youth climate movement (lawsuits, school strikes etc.) have shown how capable the young are at defending their rights

  • This insight and momentum must be supported and encouraged.

  • We need to supersede logic of competition and exploitation that our current education system is based on.

    • Disruption of COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique window of opportunity to create new narratives and visions for ourselves.

  • Collaboration at core of this project.

Prompt 2: Melanie Harwood

  • Co-founder of EduCCate global

    • Climate change teacher course- very successful but teachers demand more.

  • Teachers are expected to resort to educational methods belonging to bygone eras. If they wish to be relevant they are dismissed by the institutions in which they work in.

  • Students have transcended the limitations of learning by rote and go directly to each other for education and experience.

    • “The means are justified by the obvious”

  • The rapidly evolving and changing landscape of society means that many teachers are not even aware of the subject they should be teaching.

    • How many teachers know more about AI than their students?

    • Our greatest tool is one we have yet to fully mobilise: teachers.

    • How do we approach these issues of teacher agency?

  • Inspector Morse and the value of being ‘street smart’ (intuition and perception)

  • We are stuck at an impasse if we are not able to ignite and maintain collaboration across all fields.

    • Emphasis on the power of cross-organisation and cross-institution collaboration.

Small group discussion

In what ways is education currently contributing to or worsening the climate crisis?

  • Too much focus on assignments and grades

    • Fallacy that a good diploma will necessarily lead to a good job, and a “good life”.

  • Rigidity of education system/politics and resistance to change

  • Fixed mindset of teachers. Often presented as all-knowing 'fact-givers'.

    • e.g. no space given for discussing current, overwhelming experiences taking place.

  • Climate change has become a complicated topic and is no longer as actionable as was once presented.

    • Linked to worsening mental health: young people are being presented with an image of a dire future with little indication of how to think and approach it.

What qualities and competencies do we need to foster in young people in order to equip them to deal with the challenges the climate crisis will pose in their lifetimes?

  • Ability to collaborate- turning theory to practice.

  • Finding connection with the natural world (and with each other).

  • Sense of responsibility: understanding how we are part of a system: all actions have consequences around the world

  • Respect: we need space for understanding ourselves, building respect for ourselves as well as our surroundings.

  • Propensity for question (and even disruption) within schools must be encouraged.

    • Includes understanding how knowledge is produced and disseminated.

How do we break down the barriers to entry in schools/education systems worldwide?

  • Negotiating and collaborating is difficult and demands a lot of energy: building a framework to integrate these efforts is necessary.

    • Building in a logic and philosophy of care to ourselves and to those around us.

  • Provide a love and respect for the environment beyond climate change. Relationship with nature needs to be reestablished.

  • Collaboration

    • Connecting students to one another.

    • Collaboration between and within all levels (e.g. students, teachers, parents, administration).

  • Displace the logic of competition and exploitation by moving away from traditional assessment and examination (both in structure and lexic).

    • Encouraging leadership at all levels of education and schooling (especially among students).

How might we start linking the climate activism movement to the nascent education activism movement?

  • Teach the Future.

  • Support and encouragement on all sides.

Reminder that initiatives, resources and inspirations that are discussed are available on the

Hawkwood Circle Padlet: https://padlet.com/ajew3/klq8pxj5ph7qeibq