CSH supports Teach the Future Campaign

Monday, 8 February, 2021

"Our education system routinely fails to educate, prepare and equip us for the climate emergency and ecological crisis. The majority of teaching and learning is misaligned from the systemic changes required to make to society sustainable."

CSH is delighted to support Teach the Future, a student-led campaign to repurpose the education system around the climate and ecological crisis.  

The campaign asks the Government to take action in several areas, and of these have also been our direct interest: 

1: Review how the formal education system prepares students for the climate and ecological crisis 

 CSH has been working on curriculum change in nursing, medicine and the allied health education since 2010. Sustainable Healthcare Education Network of university teachers produced recommendations in 2014  (Thompson et al) that has been adopted by the Association of Medical Education Consensus Statement.

2: Include climate emergency and ecological crisis in teacher training and a new professional teaching qualification 

CSH offers masterclasses and CPD courses for university educators, and a teacher's network for sharing good practice. We are currently collaborating with the University of Gothenborg to integrate sustainability across all their health degrees, from Nursing and Medicine to Audiology and Medical Physics!

According to recent NUS surveys, 4% of students feel that they know a lot about climate change, 68% of students want to learn more about  the environment, and 75% of teachers feel they haven’t received adequate training to teach about climate change. So its clearly time for everyone to roll up their sleeves and respond to the interest and need, in this, our last decade to bend the curve on carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.