{"id":62942,"date":"2022-05-24T05:46:05","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T09:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=62942"},"modified":"2022-05-26T17:46:13","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T21:46:13","slug":"how-well-does-the-new-australian-curriculum-prepare-young-people-for-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-well-does-the-new-australian-curriculum-prepare-young-people-for-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"How well does the new Australian Curriculum prepare young people for climate change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nYou\u2019d be forgiven for not having heard about the long-awaited new\u00a0Australian Curriculum<\/a>, which was released with little fanfare in the midst of the election campaign. But this update to the national curriculum (9.0), for foundation to year 12 students, is hugely significant. It will guide the education of young Australians for the next six years, which could encompass a child\u2019s whole primary or secondary school education.<\/p>\n

Education fundamentally prepares children for life, so it should be expected to address the existential issues of our time. On our current trajectory, climate change will drastically affect children\u2019s\u00a0health<\/a>,\u00a0wealth<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0job futures<\/a>. Today\u2019s children face\u00a0up to seven times as many<\/a>\u00a0extreme weather events as people born in the 1960s experienced.<\/p>\n

If we are to tackle climate change and adapt to the impacts that are already unavoidable, then children need to be educated for a\u00a0changing future<\/a>. Until now, however, this subject matter has been\u00a0largely missing<\/a>\u00a0from the Australian Curriculum.<\/p>\n

We know\u00a0young people are overwhelmingly concerned<\/a>\u00a0about climate change.\u00a0Students<\/a>,\u00a0parents<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0academics<\/a>\u00a0have been calling for a greater focus on climate change in all areas of school learning.<\/p>\n

Our research project,\u00a0Curious Climate Schools,<\/a>\u00a0has involved 1,300 Tasmanian school students to date in student-led climate literacy learning. It shows current teaching leaves students with many unanswered questions about climate change. And, from our lightning analysis of the new curriculum, it seems it won\u2019t routinely deal with the\u00a0kinds of questions students are asking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Climate change as seen by students at Margate Primary School, Tasmania. www.curiousclimate.org.au\/schools\"\"<\/p>\n

Climate change content has increase<\/strong>d<\/h4>\n

The good news is that the new curriculum does pay more attention to climate change. The old curriculum had a total of four explicit references to \u201cclimate change\u201d. Whether it was covered in the classroom depended on the knowledge and beliefs of teachers.<\/p>\n

In the new curriculum we counted 32 references to climate change across diverse subject areas: civics and citizenship, geography, history, science, mathematics, technologies, and the arts. This means students have more opportunities to learn about climate change, and teachers have more direction on where and how to teach it.<\/p>\n

For example, in civics and citizenship, secondary school students can now learn about global citizenship by studying the campaigns of youth activists like Greta Thunberg and the work of Indigenous Australian climate campaigner Amelia Telford. They can also learn about global climate governance, including the United Nations\u00a0Sustainable Development Agenda<\/a>\u00a0and the UN\u00a0Framework Convention on Climate Change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Climate change is also used in innovative ways in the new curriculum. In maths, for example, it\u2019s presented as a context for teaching students how to use statistical evidence.<\/p>\n

However, our analysis of climate change in the new curriculum also reveals it is dominated by a science focus. We counted 21 references to climate change in\u00a0science and technology learning areas<\/a>, but only nine in\u00a0humanities and social science learning areas<\/a>\u00a0and two in the\u00a0arts learning area<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our work with students through Curious Climate Schools shows their wide-ranging questions about climate change encompass ethics, politics, their careers and their futures. Students are interested in climate science and projected impacts, but have more questions about the urgency of action and\u00a0what can be done<\/a>. This illustrates that learning about climate change must be suffused through all subject areas if students are to become climate literate.<\/p>\n

Many young people want to contribute their skills and knowledge to climate action in their future careers. We need to show them, through the curriculum, that in whatever subject area their interests lie \u2013 health, arts, law, engineering, ecology or many other fields \u2013 they will be able to use their talents to tackle the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\u201cAs students, we need to be given the knowledge, skills and resources necessary in order to build a resilient society that can deal with the impacts of the climate crisis.”<\/p>\n

???? @ScarlettOWest<\/a> in the Ecologist https:\/\/t.co\/TNxe3flKAz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Teach the Future (@_TeachtheFuture) November 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n