As I noted yesterday, I went to the Teach the Future parliamentary reception. I thought that this was a great success in terms of the event itself. It worked well with a really excellent student speech, I thought. I was less impressed by some of the politicians’ talks, but that could be my jaundiced perspective. There were a good few MPs there and many young people, and it was good to see them talking together. I never got the chance to talk to my MP because she was so busy talking with students, as she should have been.
The key issue is so what happens next. Teach the Future has a meeting with Gavin Williamson on March 9th at which they will put their case for a "government-commissioned and independent review into how the whole of the English formal education system is preparing students for the climate emergency and ecological crisis – in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies” (as well as the other issues they want to see happening).
It’s important to note in this that they are not asking for curriculum change itself, but for this review into the extent to which the curriculum is fit for the climate emergency and ecological crisis we face. This might make it easier for government / DfE to say ok and to be seen to take young people seriously (a political priority for them), even though DfE stonewalling seems equally possible – if not more likely given their track record.
I should like to see (and contribute to) such an enquiry, so fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, ere are some media coverage of the event:
- desmog.co.uk/2020/02/26/our-education-system-unfit-purpose-students-call-climate-education-reform
- theconversation.com/to-prepare-climate-strikers-for-the-future-we-need-to-rewrite-the-history-books-131857
- thestudentroom.co.uk/news/students-ask-parliament-to-teach-climate-change-issues-in-schools
- wonkette.com/uk-teens-tired-of-waiting-for-climate-education-so-they-drafted-a-law-to-require-it
- englishforums.com/news/educated-people-harms-the-environment
- theecologist.org/2020/feb/27/students-take-climate-education-own-hands
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