{"id":7663,"date":"2020-04-06T07:21:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T07:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=7663"},"modified":"2020-04-06T17:00:54","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T17:00:54","slug":"anxiety-in-schools-environmental-concerns-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2020\/04\/06\/anxiety-in-schools-environmental-concerns-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Anxiety in Schools (Environmental Concerns) bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A backbench MP has proposed an Anxiety in Schools (Environmental Concerns) bill which\u00a0includes guidance for schools on how to reduce their students' anxiety about the environment. \u00a0This is in response to surveys (and anecdotal evidence) which indicate that, to one extent or another, eco-anxiety is affecting well over a third of young people.<\/p>\n<p>No doubt the DfE will resist this with its usual patrician indifference. \u00a0But it really should take it seriously as too many youngsters seem to think that the planet is doomed. \u00a0This mood is exacerbated by\u00a0Greta Thunberg's limited range of responses to the issues, and she is soon to have her own BBC programmes to advance her theories. \u00a0Heaven help us.<\/p>\n<p>It seems clear that most schools have not responded well to the challenge they face from their student activists who are calling (they used to be on the streets every month) for actions. \u00a0Too many schools are hiding behind what DfE ministers say about how\u00a0the national curriculum covers the climate and ecological issues. \u00a0The Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP must be tired of writing the same old response about how well this is done. \u00a0I have my own collection of his efforts, and I've tried selling these gems on ebay but there are no takers.<\/p>\n<p>Overt advice to schools is overdue. \u00a0This could have five overlapping elements: advice about ...<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 reforming the curriculum (formal, informal and hidden)<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 running the school in a more sustainable way<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 confronting and combatting student anxiety<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 helping teachers deal with students' questions<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 giving practical advice to students about taking action themselves at home and abroad.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>There is no shortage of groups out here who know what might sensibly be encouraged. \u00a0They lack co-ordination, of course, but that's not the point. \u00a0Crucially, they lack the leadership of the only organisation that really matters in education policy: the DfE. \u00a0If it ever gets round to speaking sense, schools will listen, and students might just be encouraged rather than despairing.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A backbench MP has proposed an Anxiety in Schools (Environmental Concerns) bill which\u00a0includes guidance for schools on how to reduce their students' anxiety about the environment. \u00a0This is in response to surveys (and anecdotal evidence) which indicate that, to one...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}