What kind of Climate Change and Sustainability Education do we need in complex times?

Abstract:

Education is widely understood as a fundamental part of a just-response to global climate and ecological crises. School leaders have a critical role in creating the conditions through which teachers can achieve agency, including in the context of climate change and sustainability education (CCSE). England and Scotland have distinct policy environments in relation to school based CCSE, with Scotland having arguably a more comprehensive approach than England, where Learning for Sustainability (LfS) is integrated through teachers’ professional standards and the standards for headship. Through this seminar I will draw on empirical work with teachers, school leaders and teacher educators from across both England and Scotland to explore the ways in which school leadership can constraint or enhance teachers’ capacity to identify, move between and create interconnected spaces of agency which respond to the spatial and temporal complexities inherent in both education and environmental crises.

Professor Lizzie Rushton is Head of the Education Division, Faculty of Social Sciences. Her work in climate change and sustainability education includes working with teachers, teacher educators and school leaders in a range of contexts including England, Scotland, Brazil, Chile and Iraq. Recent projects include the development of the National Framework for Learning for Sustainability in Initial Teacher Education, on behalf of the Scottish Council of Deans of Education which will be published in spring 2025 and a new book, Education for Environmental Sustainability. An Integrated Approach to Teacher Education, published by Bloomsbury Academic.