The Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) recognises Lucy Crehan’s publication, “A Foundation for the Future: Developing Capabilities Through a Knowledge-Rich Curriculum in Northern Ireland“, as an important initial step towards improving climate education in Northern Ireland.
The RMetS values the report’s inclusion of ‘purpose-led and knowledge-rich’ climate and environmental education.
The RMetS believes that all students should leave school with a foundational level of climate literacy, enabling them to interpret messages from the media and politicians, make informed choices about their roles and responsibilities in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and be prepared for future green careers.
The Crehan report supports this vision by promoting climate literacy through the school curriculum. The horizontally coherent curriculum would allow students to make ‘rich and meaningful connections’ between different aspects of climate education. It highlights the aim to develop individuals as “contributor[s] to the environment” through “deliberate, connected” environmental learning.
We also affirm the report’s insight that “young people need more than information about climate change; they need the skills, attitudes and confidence to respond to it.” Climate literacy must go beyond scientific knowledge – it should be solution-oriented and empower individuals to act as both local and global citizens.
As the report states, “climate change is no longer a distant risk to be discussed in theory,” and it is encouraging to see climate education being intentionally integrated across the curriculum to equip young people for the challenges ahead.
We look forward to seeing how the ideas on climate and environment education are implemented in practice and how educators and learners will be supported in building a more sustainable and informed future.
The RMetS would be delighted to contribute to the development and review of a curriculum that support this vision.
Through our ongoing work in assessing the climate literacy of school leavers in Northern Ireland, training tomorrow’s geography teachers, evaluating the quality of classroom and assessment materials as well as, probably most crucially, publishing an ideal Curriculum for Climate Literacy the RMetS is best placed to support the development of climate education in Northern Ireland that is high quality, relevant and accessible for all learners.