Teach the Future

Teach the Future is the UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN) and Students Organising for Sustainability - UK (SOS-UK) joint campaign to rapidly repurpose the English education system around the climate crisis and ecological emergency to better prepare young people to mitigate and face the consequences of it.[1]

Teach the Future
Formation12th October 2019
TypeYouth Campaign
Purpose/focusClimate Crisis Education, English Education System Reform & Youth Voice
LocationUnited Kingdom
Parent organizationUK Student Climate Network & SOS-UK
WebsiteHttps://teachthefuture.uk

Aims

Teach the Future runs under 6 main asks of the government[2]

  1. A government commissioned review into how the climate crisis is currently taught in schools
  2. The inclusion of climate education in teaching standards and qualifications
  3. The enactment of an English Climate Emergency Education Act[3][4]
  4. The establishment of a national climate emergency youth voice grant
  5. The establishment of a national Youth Climate Endowment Fund
  6. For all:
    • new state-funded educational buildings to be built carbon net-zero by 2020
    • existing state-funded educational buildings to be converted to a carbon net-zero grid by 2030

Progress

Teach the Future originated as the 2nd demand of the UK Student Climate Network - from which it takes its name. It evolved into a separate campaign group which launched on the 12th November 2019[5] however it is still supported by UKSCN's School Group Developmental working group and the wider volunteer base.[6][7]

Teach the Future has garnered support for their English Climate Emergency Education Act through running a parliamentary reception;[8] Nadia Whittome is the campaign parliamentary sponsor[9] and helped them run the aforementioned event to unveil their legislation to the government.

The campaign's work being supported by multiple influential organisations - included the RSPB, British Youth Council,[10] Global Action Plan,[11] National Union of Students[12] and Friends of the Earth.[13]

It has been featured in many articles by national media sources such as The Guardian,[3] BBC Breakfast,[14] DeSmog Blog,[15] the Thomas Reuters Foundation[16] and BBC Radio 5 Live.

References

  1. "Who we are". Teach the Future. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  2. "Asks". Teach the Future. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Tickle, Louise (2020-02-11). "Pupils draft their own climate bill as anxiety grows over lack of guidance for schools" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/11/pupils-draft-climate-bill-anxiety-lack-guidance-schools. Retrieved 2020-04-14. 
  4. "Teach the Future unveils Climate Emergency Education Bill @ Sustainability". sustainability.unioncloud.org. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  5. Brindle (UKSCN), Joe (2019-10-12). "Launch day". Teach the Future. Archived from the original on 2020-09-29. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  6. "Schools". UK Student Climate Network. Archived from the original on 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  7. "Teach the Future". UK Student Climate Network. Archived from the original on 2020-05-15. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  8. Ibrahim (NUS), Zamzam (2020-02-27). "The end of the beginning". Teach the Future. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  9. Williams, Jeremy (2020-02-26). "Teach the future – the climate emergency education bill". The Earthbound Report. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  10. "Teach the Future Archives". British Youth Council. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  11. "New Year's revolutions". Global Action Plan. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  12. "NUS supports Teach the Future campaign launch @ NUS Connect". www.nusconnect.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  13. "Teach the Future and Friends of the Earth". Friends of the Earth. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  14. "Teenage climate activists Scarlett Westbrook and Joe Brindle go live on BBC Breakfast to talk about the Teach the Future campain". Vimeo. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  15. "'Unfit for Purpose': Students Seek to Take Climate Education Into Their Own Hands". DeSmog UK. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  16. Foundation, Thomson Reuters. "Schools challenged to teach climate change as Greta strikes grow". news.trust.org. Retrieved 2020-04-14. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)