News and Updates

The UKSCN has issued an open letter to government and educational institutions.  I've set it out in full, below, and will comment on it tomorrow.  I'll just say, for now, that it makes a bit of a contrast with their...

One of my granddaughters is striking tomorrow – but with permission which some say hardly counts, but read on as there is curriculum intent here.  This is the letter her parents received: Dear Parent/carer(s) School Strike for Climate Change Trip...

Congratulations to the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom for winning the 2019 Dullest Conference Byline award (international).  There was tough competition for this annual award, but CLOtC's entry for their November 7th 2019 conference in Blackpool: Beyond the Classroom was the...

I heard my first cuckoo last weekend – calling over the fields.  Always a welcome event, even though the birds have well-evolved habits that (in humans) would be condemned as anti-social and have ASBOs in place. I was surprised to...

In last week's THE Joanna Kidman of the Victoria University of Wellington [ @JoannaKidman ] says that we need to talk about climate change.  The "we" being frequent flying academics like I used to be.  She begins: I arrived in Toronto during last...

A noteworthy letter in The Times from some of the Green Great 'n' Good about what to do as a priority over climate change.  The authors were: Shaun Spiers, executive director, Green Alliance; Mike Clarke, chief executive, RSPB; Beccy Speight,...

If you're an optimistic, glass-half-full sort of person, you might be tempted to think that this is an unusually bright time for environmental education in England despite the gloom of two recent reports from King's College London, and the fact that...

I see that the petition by the 4 students from Cheney School in Oxford has got to over 71,000 signatures.  What an achievement. If you were headteacher of that school what would you think?  Would you be rather proud?  Mildly...

A breathless email last week from EAUC: "We are calling for all post-16 education institutions and support bodies in the UK and Ireland to declare a Climate Emergency and to commit to the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendation to adopt as...

I hear that the following propositions are taken as read in green educational reform circles these days: "The education system needs to be reformed to address the ecological crisis"   "The education system needs to be reformed to address climate change"...