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0:00
>> Paul: Hello, welcome to our latest episode
0:02
of the Brighter Thinking Pod from the International
0:05
Education group of Cambridge University Press and
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Assessment. I'm your host for this episode.
0:11
My name is Paul Ellis and I'm head of thought
0:13
leadership at Cambridge. We created our
0:16
brighter thinking pod to support teachers and
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school leaders around the world. Each episode
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brings you helpful advice and interesting
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conversation from authors, teachers and
0:28
academics. Today we're going to be talking
0:31
about climate change education and
0:34
moreover, the key role that education
0:36
plays in tackling the climate crisis.
0:39
Before we begin, remember, all the links
0:42
and info that we discussed today are available in
0:45
the show notes. And if you want to get your
0:48
voice heard on the show, you can get in touch on
0:51
x, formerly known as Twitter, or Instagram, at,
0:54
Cambridge Int. At the end of January 2024,
1:13
we, at Cambridge published an introduction paper
1:16
to outline our approach to climate change
1:18
education. In the paper, we have set out our
1:21
plan to build a community that
1:24
empowers learners to address the challenges
1:27
of the climate crisis. Here to talk
1:29
about the key points, I am joined by our special
1:32
guest for this episode, Christine Ozden.
1:35
Christine is the Global Director, for Climate
1:38
Education at Cambridge University Press and
1:40
Assessment and is focused on the climate related
1:43
contexts, challenges and opportunities for
1:46
all. Of us working and studying within the world of
1:49
education. She believes in the importance of
1:51
international collaboration, building great
1:54
partnerships and the need for sustainability
1:57
in all our actions and interactions.
1:59
Welcome, Christine. >> Christine: Hi Paul.
2:02
>> Paul: Great. Well, let's get into today's topic straight away.
2:04
>> Paul: So, first question for you, Christine, is. Why
2:07
is education a key part of tackling
2:10
climate change? >> Christine: I think there are a number of things to highlight here
2:14
about the importance of education. First of all,
2:17
knowledge to make sense of the root causes
2:20
of climate change is really, really important.
2:23
We also need to be able to address
2:25
the issues of climate change and
2:28
the consequences and think about how we can
2:31
find solutions. I think education
2:34
shifts attitudes. It absolutely does. And it changes
2:37
behaviors towards more sustainable lifestyles
2:40
potentially. I think it's also really important when
2:43
we think that we need to build a workforce that is ready and
2:46
able to work in a low carbon or
2:49
a no carbon world going forward.
2:51
plus we need to also help our learners
2:54
understand the unequal nature of the
2:57
climate crisis, that the climate
3:00
crisis doesn't affect all of us the same
3:03
that more vulnerable communities and groups are
3:05
disproportionately affected. So
3:08
there really is something here around protecting
3:11
livelihoods and ultimately in
3:13
disaster related contexts, the
3:16
ability for education to save lives, and
3:19
then looking at it very differently, that
3:22
education also helps us distinguish
3:25
information and truth from
3:27
misinformation. >> Paul: Absolutely. Thank you.
3:30
>> Paul: When we're talking about education here, can have quite a wide
3:33
scope. So are we talking about all levels of
3:36
education, all the way from, say, early years education
3:38
through to higher education? >> Christine: Yeah, absolutely. I, think we can consider
3:42
education in this context right from the
3:45
start of, formal and indeed informal schooling,
3:48
right the way through our education stages.
3:51
>> Paul: M great. So it's to do with the curriculum, it's
3:54
to do with the support that we give to teachers and school
3:57
leaders. It's to do with the assessment as well.
4:00
And so I'm just wondering here, how do we measure the
4:02
impact of using education as in a
4:05
sense, a tool to help tackle climate change?
4:08
>> Christine: So I think the ultimate measure of
4:10
impact is actually action,
4:13
whether we can take that knowledge and
4:15
understanding and skills and then
4:18
turn that into action, into
4:21
agency and empower that action.
4:23
>> Paul: Great. This leads us into this introduction
4:26
paper to climate change education emphasizes that high
4:29
quality education matters. And high quality, of course, can
4:31
they lead into great high quality action as well. So can you expand
4:34
a bit more on what we mean by high quality education and why it
4:37
matters? >> Christine: Yeah, so I think we can think about,
4:41
the high quality words and what it
4:44
means from at least a couple of, angles. I
4:47
think for a start, it refers to the
4:49
integrity of knowledge. and
4:52
often that is rooted, and the science
4:55
is rooted in subjects such as science and
4:58
geography. so there's the integrity of the science, but we've also
5:01
got to understand that while a lot of science is
5:04
uncontested, we absolutely know for
5:07
a fact what is true. Science is
5:10
also emerging. It's also dynamic.
5:12
So how do we enable students and our learners
5:15
to really engage with that? and also
5:18
it's about not being overly
5:20
simplistic. For example, we can't say, well,
5:23
carbon is bad. so there are more nuances.
5:26
I think also that high quality refers to our
5:28
approach. so we are really in, in the paper
5:31
that we published, we are really talking about a multidisciplinary approach. We're talking about
5:36
a holistic approach, and we're really talking about
5:39
the importance of pedagogy, how we
5:41
deliver, that education. And really important
5:44
in that high quality context, is the critical
5:47
nature of evaluative skills, and also
5:50
that the global and the local aspect of this, and
5:53
maybe we'll come back to that later, Paul. >> Paul: Would you agree that it's not just the knowledge, it's also the skills that schools need to think about
5:58
here? So it's not just the facts of climate change education, it's
6:01
trying to help people. Again, to use that word, action, how they take
6:04
action and what they do in terms of high quality education,
6:07
how can we make sure that high quality education
6:09
includes not just the knowledge but also the skills?
6:12
>> Christine: Yeah, I think the skills is an absolutely crucial part
6:15
of this in terms of the action that will deliver the
6:18
solutions to the climate crisis. We're looking for
6:20
creative problem solving, we're looking for really great
6:23
collaboration, really great communication.
6:26
And those evaluative skills, as well, are
6:29
fundamental. >> Paul: Excellent. >> Paul: So, I mean, you mentioned in your previous answer there to do with
6:33
science and geography. Some people might consider
6:36
there's a tendency that this will rest on the shoulders of
6:39
science and geography teachers. So how can we
6:42
make sure that climate change education isn't just about
6:44
the science department and geography department in a school?
6:47
>> Christine: Yeah, well, absolutely, we should acknowledge the importance of
6:50
science and geography at the same time. This
6:53
is a multidisciplinary endeavor.
6:56
so really acknowledging the opportunities that we
6:59
have in other parts of the curriculum and
7:02
the school, to work on or to consider
7:05
climate change, what are the different lenses we can
7:08
apply? And if I think about subjects,
7:10
let's think about mathematics, data
7:13
literacy. There's a wonderful opportunity
7:16
to bring in climate change context, maybe
7:19
thinking about ocean temperatures and ocean
7:21
flows. What about business and responsible
7:24
business? we can consider supply chains,
7:26
greenwashing, is a fascinating topic,
7:29
for young people, responsible consumption,
7:32
economics, economic models, the
7:34
circular economy, psychology, social
7:37
norms and behavior. Music, I think music and art
7:40
are fascinating because if we consider how
7:43
nature has inspired great artists,
7:46
and great musicians, and the works that we
7:49
study, media and art, I think are fantastic in terms
7:52
of representation and communication.
7:55
And also if we think about context, we
7:57
have so many opportunities, to consider context
8:00
through case studies and texts,
8:03
potentially. and then that was really an emphasis on
8:06
subjects. But Paul, you talked about skills
8:08
earlier. again, skills work gives us an
8:11
opportunity to really be creative, look at
8:14
collaboration, communication and that problem
8:16
solving. and maybe one other thing that I'd mention here is
8:19
cocurricular activity as well. The opportunities
8:22
that we have through, clubs, project
8:25
based activity, whole school activity
8:28
to consider climate change as well.
8:30
>> Paul: That all sounds very good. The multidisciplinary approach allows
8:33
everybody to have a stake in the game, as it
8:36
were, to want to be part of this and to
8:39
use that knowledge they have in their individual areas and
8:42
the skills that they try to encourage their individuals as well. So
8:44
you imagine science, there might be experiments going
8:47
on in, languages, which is our own
8:50
subject. There'll be other ways of thinking how do you communicate about these
8:52
things? I'm just thinking as well, there might be ways you can get
8:55
different perspectives from different people in certain subject
8:58
areas too. >> Christine: Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think this really
9:02
is a whole school endeavor right
9:05
across the curriculum and right across all
9:07
stages of the school as well as
9:10
you've really illustrated there.
9:12
>> Paul: I was wondering, there's a danger for teachers
9:15
to think, oh, this is just yet another thing that we've got to
9:18
cover in our busy curriculum. So what would you say in response to
9:21
that? >> Christine: Yeah, I think it is a risk. I think there's a risk
9:24
that it is, bolted on. It's an
9:27
additional thing, for teachers to do.
9:29
teachers are incredibly busy already. and
9:32
if we're asking teachers just to add this in,
9:35
well, what do you leave out? and there's a
9:38
risk that then is this a fad? Is this something, is this this
9:41
year's thing? and I think that's why at
9:43
Cambridge we are very committed to building on
9:46
our existing work to make sure that we integrate
9:49
this throughout our curriculum and
9:52
our activities, so that we're supporting teachers as
9:55
much as possible with the implementation of
9:57
climate change education in their particular, ah,
10:00
settings. >> Paul: Absolutely. So climate change affects us all, but. Is
10:04
there a dangerous way of taking a global approach and ignoring
10:07
local issues? I suppose here also, I'm taking you back to
10:10
that word action again, that students want to
10:13
take action. They want to have what we might call agency in
10:16
this area. So what can we do to
10:19
make sure that people feel they can do something, that they
10:22
can look locally and not just globally?
10:25
>> Christine: Well, personally, I think that local action is
10:28
the key. I mean, of course this is a global
10:30
issue and it does need global
10:33
consensus, in terms of driving that action.
10:36
But every locality will experience
10:39
the impacts and the consequences
10:42
of climate change differently. Every
10:45
locality will potentially have
10:47
different or slightly different solutions and whatever we
10:52
do in terms of action, we need to consider our
10:55
locality. And that might be within our school
10:58
or within our wider school community or our town
11:01
or city, and then ultimately country. So I
11:04
think that local issues and action
11:07
are the real drivers of change and the measure of
11:10
success on a global level. >> Paul: It's much easier then for students to think, oh, I did that,
11:15
I made that change locally. >> Christine: Absolutely. And I think also you asked
11:19
about high, quality education a little bit
11:22
earlier. And again, I think that focus
11:25
on the local action and
11:27
solution and situation. Again, I think that's all
11:30
very much part of what high quality education means in
11:33
this context and making this as relevant as
11:36
possible to learners. >> Paul: Okay, now, we talk in the paper
11:41
about trying to get a community to take an
11:43
interest in this and to try to help with the action that we'd like
11:46
people to take as well. So what type of community
11:49
does Cambridge have access to already? And who else would
11:52
we want to join the climate change education?
11:55
>> Christine: So I think we can think about the Cambridge
11:58
community, from different angles. I mean, certainly, at
12:01
Cambridge we have access to the or we are part
12:03
of the university community, and have access
12:06
to the research and the expertise
12:09
there. In terms of Cambridge schools around the
12:11
world, we've got access, to
12:14
tens of thousands of schools right around the
12:17
world, and also governments, and national agencies that we
12:20
work together with in terms of education
12:23
policy and practice. But I
12:25
think there's something really important about the community
12:28
here in terms of learning from each other,
12:31
and it not being sort of a one way
12:34
broadcast of ideas and experience
12:37
and expertise. We really can learn from each
12:40
other and we really need to recognise the
12:43
work that's going on right across our
12:45
communities. >> Paul: So we've talked there about the communities that
12:48
Cambridge already has access to. I'm wondering who else we would want
12:52
to join the climate change education community?
12:54
>> Christine: Well, who wouldn't we want to join? I
12:57
mean, this is really about building an inclusive
13:00
and an accessible community and
13:03
we want all schools to feel that
13:06
they have something to give and something to gain from
13:09
being part of the Cambridge climate community. And if
13:12
listeners and their school want to join our community
13:14
and let us know what they're doing around climate change
13:17
education, you can find a link at the end of that
13:20
introductory paper which takes you through
13:23
to a survey and access to the community.
13:25
>> Paul: Wonderful. Well, thank you, Christine. That's all
13:28
we have time for today in this climate change education
13:30
episode. Thank you for being our guest and for sharing your thoughts.
13:33
In our show notes, you can find the links that we've discussed
13:36
in this episode, and you can discover more about Cambridge's
13:39
approach to climate change education on our
13:42
website, which is www.
13:44
cambridgeinternational.org. >> Paul: Don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about us
13:49
and rate our show wherever you are listening. And as a
13:52
reminder, you can follow us on x and instagram at
13:55
CambridgeINT. So thank you for listening and we. Hope
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