Following the ambition of embedding climate change and environmental education in secondary school education and in teacher training, the project sought to achieve the following: - To assess the situation (curriculum) and needs (approaches and resources) in schools looking to integrate climate education in their teaching - To provide teachers with access to quality online climate information resources and training enabling them to effectively teach about climate education to their students. -To stimulate students’ and teachers’ engagement in climate issues, using scientific data and innovative educational approaches. -To promote interdisciplinary learning and digital skills among young people, raising their interest in science and technology, stimulating their active citizenship in local areas and thereby encouraging responsibility for their actions and behavioural change.
We applied for the project because surveys showed youngsters were deeply concerned about the climate crisis. Pupils were on strike from school because they wanted action to be taken by policy makers. They were also worried because they remained uneducated about the climate emergency and related ecological crisis.. We applied because we wanted to share our expertise in this field as a partnership, especially as the European Commission had established the “Education for Climate Coalition” as a flagship initiative of the European Education Area. We also wanted to bring our expertise in the use of digital date to create a climate data dashboard providing access to scientific data and climate information sources. Teachers also need training so they can support pupils to work with high quality scientific data and reliable information sources.