| Unit name | Climate Change and Education |
|---|---|
| Unit code | EDUCM0090 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Keri Facer |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Education |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
We live in a time that is increasingly concerned with the complex issue of climate change. People around the world are already facing localised impacts of global climate change in the form of extreme weather and impacts on health and infrastructure. At the same time, ecologies that sustain life – including human life – are increasingly under threat from human behaviour. Students are demanding that their schools and universities teach them how to respond to the challenge of climate change and ecological crisis – they are looking for tools to deal with eco-anxiety as well as pathways to understand how they can act to influence and create pathways to sustainable futures. In the wider community, public education – from social media to museums and to arts based activism – is playing an increasingly important role in raising climate issues and stimulating social transformation. This unit helps those concerned with education – whether in schools, universities, or cultural or NGO settings - to think through the many different roles and risks of education in a warming and ecologically vulnerable world. It builds your emotional resilience, critical analytic skills and creative ability to work with others.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This unit is the foundational unit for the Education and Climate Change Pathway. It also provides a useful introduction to climate change and education for students on other pathways.
This unit aims to: · Provide students with conceptual frameworks for critically and systematically understanding the diverse causes and consequences of climate change and ecological degradation.
· Support students to critically examine the role of schools, universities and informal learning in addressing the causes and consequences of a warming climate.
· Develop collaboration skills, critical thinking and emotional resilience to enable creative collective responses to ecological and climate challenges.
Overview of Content
1. We begin by introducing you to scientific, social and cultural accounts of climate change and ecological degradation – and discuss the different ideas about what the causes and responses to these problems might be.
2. We look at the bigger picture of how education and learning might play a role in achieving or preventing transformation to more sustainable ways of life – we think through the problems of current educational approaches and consider how these might be addressed.
3. We ask how climate issues intersect with particular traditions of thought. And we explore the calls for engaging with emotions, and bodies and recognising interdependence and more-than-human awareness for addressing climate change.
4. We explore how leading practitioners in universities, schools, arts and activism settings are developing new approaches to climate change and education.
5. We work together in groups to explore and imagine transformative educational practices – and how to engage a wider audience in these discussions. Specifically, we work together to co-create a ‘climate fair’ that engages students and staff in the rest of the School of Education community.
6. We reflect together on what we have learned during the unit, thinking about next steps and what we might do differently as we move into the next stages of our career, studies and life.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
By the end of this unit you will:
have a robust set of tools to analyse what is causing climate change,
have a better understanding of your own feelings and agency in relation to climate change,
have encountered both inspiring examples of climate education and become aware of its limitations and risks,
have built your capacity to learn and collaborate with others in responding to climate change.
Learning Outcomes
1. Describe an in-depth understanding of the diverse causes and consequences of climate change and ecological degradation.
2. Critically analyse the role of education, schools and informal education in responding to the complexities of social, political, emotional and environmental issues related to climate change
3. Critically reflect upon their personal, emotional and collaboration skills in working with others to address climate challenges through educational practices.
Classes will involve a combination of lectures, class discussion, case studies, debates, critical analysis of key readings and group presentations.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
There will be ongoing opportunities for formative assessments through in-class presentations, group discussions, debate and critical analysis of key readings. All students will be asked to write a 500-word blog analysing a key concept in climate science and ecological emergencies, explaining why it is important to understand this idea for educational policy or practice – this will provide an opportunity for feedback on academic writing, working with critical literature, and conceptual understanding. Group tutorials will also be offered for assessment support prior to the group presentation.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
A 1000-word critical reflection analysing an example of climate education, analysing the underpinning assumptions about the causes and consequences of climate change, and discussing its strengths and weaknesses (50%) ILOs 1 & 2
Group Project and Presentation. The students will work together in small groups to co-create a public-facing activity to engage staff and students in the debate on the role of education in climate action. This is followed by an unassessed group presentations in the final week in which each group will reflect on and discuss the group activity. Students will write a 3000 word reflective essay on the design of their initiative and on the interpersonal and collaboration skills required to do so. (ILO’s 1-3)
When assessment does not go to plan
When a student fails the unit and is eligible to resubmit, failed components will be reassessed on a like-for-like basis. Students will resubmit a revised version of the original work.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. EDUCM0090).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
