Opinion: Climate change education missing in New Zealand curriculum
Education is one of the most powerful tools that we have to tackle climate change, argued Irina Bovoka, Director-General of UNESCO, when she spoke at the United Nations (UN) climate talks in Marrakech last week. Her words mark current efforts by the UN to broaden access to climate change education globally, particularly in school curricula. Sadly, New Zealand is lacking curriculum integration of climate change learning, calling into question our self-proclaimed status as a world leader in the education sector. Education is of vital importance for imparting understanding of climate change and its effects, empowering communities to mobilise for positive change, fostering global citizenship identities, and including people in decisions and issues that directly affect them. READ MORE: * Climate change: 'I fear Kiribati will be gone forever' * Editorial: Match the talk with action on climate change * Adapt or die: Climate change puts pressure on NZ's paua * Climate change 'most serious' environmental issue for NZ: report Societies that are critically aware of the impacts of climate change can better act to safeguard their futures in partnership with governments, organisations, and the private sector, through mitigation efforts, adaptation plans, and shaping mindsets and behaviours. In order to ensure the best action plan for delivering climate change education to citizens, governments must partner with institutions such as universities, schools, churches, and NGOs. These institutions are at the frontline of engagement with communities, and so they are best placed to connect with society. They operate as spaces of learning and critical thought, so making education accessible to the public is already a natural component of their practice. Schools are some of the most influential learning spaces in society; nearly every citizen in New Zealand will spend their formative years within a formal schooling system. Childhood and adolescence are marked by rapid cognitive development, construction of complex worldviews, and maturation of identities. Schools are where students learn about society and the world, gain the skills to navigate and engage with them, and begin to place themselves within these broad collectives. They are the most engaging spaces for citizens to explore climate change and broader ideas about global responsibility and consequences. In New Zealand, our curriculum not only involves subject areas, but also conveys values, key competencies, and principles that underpin how students learn about and engage with the world, both inside and outside of the classroom. The curriculum should reflect the collective ethos and values of the nation that delivers it. What is imparted to students through curriculum guidance will play a major part in shaping how each generation perceives the world and their place in it. Disappointingly, our curriculum contains very little reference to climate change, either as a guiding principle or as a key learning area. Climate change is the most defining issue of our time; its impacts will drastically alter how the world works, and will not leave any community untouched. Yet, the curriculum only contains passing references to the importance of ecological sustainability and global citizenship as cornerstone values of the learning process, with no guidance on enshrining these values within the context of a rapidly shifting climate. Teaching about the environment is primarily limited to educational objectives within key learning areas, reducing it to a single science or social sciences topic in most schools. We could stand to learn from nations such as India, who have had mandatory environmental education in schools since 1991, and Grenada, who have partnered with UNESCO to develop a nationwide classroom toolkit for climate change learning. It is imperative that the Ministry of Education updates the New Zealand Curriculum to incorporate climate change education as a holistic principle that underpins all learning. Climate awareness, collective global responsibility, and ecological respect as underpinning values are as crucial to students' development as existing values, such as embracing diversity, integrity, and self-respect. Many schools in Aotearoa are weaving comprehensive climate change education into their learning experiences despite the lack of curriculum guidance, but this is not enough to ensure that we are doing current and future generations justice. The Ministry must show leadership in this area and establish climate change education as a core component of the guiding principles of the New Zealand curriculum, so that all citizens, and future peoples, will benefit from it. Matthew Schep holds a Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) from the University of Otago. He attended the 2016 UN climate talks in Morocco as a member of the Aotearoa Youth Leadership Institute delegation. Stuff Nation