Winds of Change: Climate Change and the Curriculum

Climate change will have an increasing and potentially catastrophic impact on the lives of the current generation of learners. Just as human activity has contributed substantially to the current trends, so action on the international, national and personal levels can have a stabilising and positive impact to achieve necessary change.

The complex and controversial nature of this issue demands a fresh approach to the manner in which educational deals with major issues. It also offers an opportunity to use ‘joined-up thinking’ and ensure that learners are not presented with simplistic or sensationalist views which would encourage cynicism or a sense of powerlessness.

This seminar will address the need to provide learners with necessary information without provoking debilitating anxiety or distress. It will also demonstrate ways in which climate change can be used as a cross-curricular theme to develop responsible citizens, effective and successful learners with necessary attitudes, values and skills to create a sustainable future.

It will highlight and draw on the excellent work that many organisations and schools are already undertaking to address this issue, and will offer practical guidance on how to access and use a wide range of learning tools on the theme of climate change to engage and inspire young people.

Catherine Moeran
Catherine Moeran is Education Coordinator at Christian Aid in Scotland and leads their work with schools and teaching networks across Scotland.

Both the Lanarkshire Global Education Centre and Christian Aid are members of IDEAS - the network of over 40 organisations in Scotland that actively promote and support education for global citizenship (www.ideas-forum.org.uk).

John Dornan
John Dornan is the Education Coordinator of the Lanarkshire Global Education Centre and works with schools in West Central Scotland to develop the global dimension of the curriculum in both primary and secondary sectors.

As well as considerable teaching experience, he has worked in the field of education for global citizenship and sustainable development since 1986. His interests lie primarily in participatory methodologies and in human rights, social and environmental justice.