The climate crisis our planet is facing is of great concern for many young people. The education sector has an opportunity to play a vital role in the legacy of COP26.
This November, the UK Government will host the UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26. This year’s conference promises to be an historic moment, as the parties define the course of political action to address the climate and biodiversity crisis facing our planet.
This is of great concern for many young people which gives the education sector a unique opportunity to play an important role in the legacy of COP26.
We believe that biodiversity conservation should be a core theme across all curriculum subjects. We want to empower young people to make a difference in the world and ensure that their school curriculum supports this.
IgniteZoo
For the past 5 years we’ve been working with Ignite TSA to deliver the IgniteZoo project. We’ve been working alongside subject specialists, such as Hywel Roberts and Dr Debra Kidd, to deliver a series of professional development sessions to teachers from various schools.
We supports teachers and their schools to build their curriculum around a conservation theme. These have included topics such as sustainable palm oil or the devastating impacts of plastic in the ocean.
Jenny from Lostock Gralam C of E Primary School tells us more about their inspiring palm oil project:
The IgniteZoo project suggests that a conservation theme at the heart of a curriculum not only increases pupil’s engagement but leads to positive conservation behaviour change.
Love it for Longer
Our Love it for Longer takeover event gave a number of schools the opportunity to take over our public engagement programme and share their conservation messages. Students spoke with great passion about their ever-growing concerns and informed our visitors how they can make a difference for wildlife and the environment.
“The takeover event provides a unique opportunity for children in our schools to have their voices heard. Having acquired knowledge about significant conservation issues and solutions, they then had a platform to share that knowledge with members of the public. It’s wonderful to see students talking so passionately and articulately about many topics such as sustainable palm oil and illegal wildlife trade. There’s a real buzz around the event and our young people come away feeling empowered.”
Teacher from St Bernard’s RC Primary School
We want to empower the next generation of conservationists and hope that COP26 will mark a turning point in the fight against the climate and biodiversity crisis.