EAUC backs Teach the Future campaign

6th February 2020

EAUC has announced its support for the SOS-UK and UKSCN campaign ‘Teach the Future’ which calls for the whole education system to be repurposed around the climate emergency and ecological crisis.

Already active in this field, EAUC has added its voice to the call for an education revolution. Teach the Future is a youth-led campaign with 6 action points. It calls for:

• A government commissioned review into how the whole of the English formal education system is preparing students for the climate emergency and ecological crisis
• Inclusion of the climate emergency and ecological crisis in teacher training and a new professional teaching qualification
• An English Climate Emergency Education Act
• A national climate emergency youth voice grant fund
• A national Youth Climate Endowment Fund
• All new state-funded educational buildings should be net-zero from 2022; all existing state-funded educational buildings net-zero by 2030

Iain Patton, CEO at EAUC, said: “It is incredibly important that we listen to the youth voice – and they are clear that they want to learn more about the issues that will affect them in their future. It is remiss for the education sector not to make these provisions universally. While there are some institutions that do an excellent job of ensuring all of their students learn about sustainable development and the climate emergency, there are others that do very little. This must be regulated on, to ensure no young person is at a disadvantage when it comes to their future and their career.

“We know that businesses want employees to have sustainability skills and climate knowledge, we know that the Government’s pledge to reach net zero by 2050 means there will be a whole new avenue of low carbon opportunities, and we know that many of the current ways of living are simply not sustainable. We must review our education system, we must make changes, and we must put resource behind it.”

In other ESD news, EAUC board member, Professor Simon Kemp, and chair elect, Professor Jim Longhurst, are delighted to announce they will be chairing the update of the QAA – Advance HE Education for Sustainable Development Guidance for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).  This update will be published in June 2020 and will help HEIs to develop the curricula innovations that will be needed to tackle the climate and ecological emergency.