Greer Kate, Walshe Nicola, Kitson Alison, Dillon Justin
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, London, UK.
UCL Open Environ. 2024 Jul 24;6:e1987. doi: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.1987. eCollection 2024.
The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report sets out sobering scenarios about the future for our young people and appeals for 'deep, rapid, and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions'. Although technological responses are essential to achieve these reductions, technocratic solutions alone will not solve the environmental emergency; a widespread societal transformation is needed. Education can play a profound role in this transformation as it is fundamental to building a society with knowledge, skills and motivation to tackle climate change so as to regenerate ecological and social systems. This commentary reflects on multiple dimensions of education's role, focusing particularly on schools and the important contribution that all subjects can make towards developing interdisciplinary, complex understandings of the environmental emergency and living more sustainably. Drawing from a recent nationwide survey of teachers in England carried out by the UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education, we highlight a troubling lack of engagement in formal professional development related to climate change and sustainability, even amongst a 'climate change engaged' cohort of teachers, and the imperative for comprehensive professional learning for teachers from across all subjects and year levels.
政府间气候变化专门委员会的最新报告为我们的年轻人描绘了关于未来的严峻情景，并呼吁“深度、迅速且持续地减少温室气体排放”。尽管技术应对措施对于实现这些减排至关重要，但仅靠技术官僚式的解决方案无法解决环境危机；我们需要广泛的社会变革。教育能够在这一变革中发挥深远作用，因为教育对于建设一个拥有知识、技能和动力来应对气候变化从而恢复生态和社会系统的社会至关重要。本评论文章思考了教育作用的多个维度，特别关注学校以及所有学科对于培养对环境危机的跨学科、复杂理解并实现更可持续生活所能做出的重要贡献。基于伦敦大学学院气候变化与可持续发展教育中心最近在英格兰开展的一项全国性教师调查，我们强调，即使在一批“关注气候变化”的教师中，参与与气候变化和可持续发展相关的正规专业发展的情况也令人担忧地匮乏，并且所有学科和各年级的教师都迫切需要进行全面的专业学习。
