1. Climate Change Education FNQ
Associate Professor Hilary Whitehouse
School of Education

2. What is Climate Change Education?
The Australian Curriculum has been written to equip
young Australians with the skills, knowledge and
understanding that will enable them to engage effectively
with and prosper in a globalised world. Students will gain
personal and social benefits, be better equipped to make
sense of the world in which they live and make an
important contribution to building the social, intellectual
and creative capital of our nation.
See
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/CrossCurriculumPriorities

3. What is Climate Change Education?
Sustainability Cross-Curriculum Priority
Sustainability education is futures-oriented, focusing on
protecting environments and creating a more ecologically
and socially just world through informed action.
Actions that support more sustainable patterns of living
require consideration of environmental, social, cultural and
economic systems and their interdependence.
See
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/CrossCurriculumPriorities/Sustainabi
lity

4. The biggest challenge is to teach hope for solutions,
transformations and capacity – love of and for this
beautiful Earth
Sustainability and climate
change education can be
taught at all year levels and
across all school disciplines
– English, Geography,
History, Science,
Mathematics, Economics,
Health and Physical
Education, Marine and
Agricultural Studies etc.
There are no discipline
limits.

5. Dimensions of climate change education
- Education about climate change
- Education to counteract climate denial
- Education for climate change mitigation
carbon pollution abatement
- Education for climate change adaptation
short term abrupt and severe weather events
long term environmental change
- Education to enhance personal, community and
ecological resilience
- Education for transformation
All underpinned by values education

6. What is Climate Change Education?
Education about climate
change
Basically, climate change is a
pollution problem and pollution
is an unwanted product of
poorly designed social and
economic arrangements.
The greenhouse effect: what is happening to
the atmosphere and ocean as a result
of too much carbon pollution;
Chemistry and physics and mathematics of
climate change;
Current and predicted biological, ecological,
agricultural, social economic and
cultural impacts of climate change.

7. What is Climate Change Education?
Education about climate
change - what is is, how it
happened, changes that are
happening now, future risks,
projections of change (IPCC Report
2013), statistics and understanding
probability and therefore the evidence
for different global and local scenarios.
Key message: Change is happening.
Key challenge: How to teach with hope

8. Education about climate
change denial – ignorance
educators can do something
about, unfortunately information
does not always change minds.
Educators do face hostility,
aggressiveness, threats & trolling.
Sources of denial include
powerful media and right wing
politics; the manufacture of
“debate’; shooting the messenger
tactics; support for denial thinktanks by well funded corporate
interests; sophisticated
communication strategies
promoting doubt and ‘disbelief’;
and politicization of messages.
Why aren't we listening to the
insurers, the hardest business heads
of all? I would have thought Australia
would be leading the world in
developing a new economy because
climate change is going to devastate
Australia.
David Suzuki writing in the Sydney
Morning Herald September 18 2013
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-abbott-will-doom-futuregenerations-if-he-ditches-carbon-tax-201309172tx0j.html#ixzz2iESmBUQ5

9. John Howard, the last Liberal prime
minister and mentor Tony Abbott [will]
deliver the keynote lecture at the annual
meeting of the most prominent climate
skeptic group in the UK, the Global
Warming Policy Foundation … founded
by former UK Chancellor of the
Exchequer Nigel Lawson in 2009. It
disputes any scientific consensus on
climate change, and is strongly antirenewables. The title of Howard’s speech,
to be made on November 5 2013 at the
Institute of Mechanical Engineers in
London, is “One religion is enough.”
Climate skeptic groups like to describe
the science around global warming as “a
religion”, and those who support action
on climate change as “believers”.
Giles Parkinson:
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/tony-abbottsmentor-john-howard-to-address-climate-skeptic-group93692

10. Maurice Newman, the former chairman of
the ABC and the ASX and now chair of
Tony Abbott’s Business Advisory Council,
has launched an attack against … the
“myth” of anthropological climate change
[in] … the Australian Financial Review,
Newman said much of the public service
infrastructure would be resistant to change
because of their “vested interests” in the
status quo. “The CSIRO, for example, has
27 scientists dedicated to climate change,”
Newman wrote. “It and the weather bureau
continue to propagate the myth of
anthropological climate change and are
likely to be critics of the Coalition’s Direct
Action policies.”…
Money spent on pursuing the myths of
climate change and global action was
“wasted”.
Giles Parkinson
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/tony-abbottsbusiness-advisor-attacks-myth-climate-change-53017

11. “The idea that many Australians – including our new PM and my
distant cousin Nick Minchin – believe that the science of
anthropogenic global is controversial, is a powerful indicator of
the extent of our failure to communicate.
The fact that 30 per cent of the people in this room just bristled,
is further evidence still. That fact that that bristling is more to do
with politics than science is even more despairing.”
Tim Minchin on receiving an
Honorary Doctor of Letters from
the University of Western
Australia and delivering the
occasional address.
September 2013
https://plus.google.com/+TimMinchin/posts

12. What is Climate Change Education?
Education for mitigation
is an educational form of
direct action - what we can do
about carbon pollution and
reducing carbon emissions
across all aspects of daily life.
In schools, mitigation education
means participating in
community-based learning
partnerships and implementing
specific projects around
energy, water, waste and
biodiversity.

13. In primary and secondary
schools and early childhood
centres …
Partnerships are central
to mitigation education
Reduction in polluting
activities and increase in
natural carbon capture
(photosynthesis, soil)
Energy savings (all FNQ
electricity is generated by coal fired
plants)
Waste management (litter
reduction, recycling, worm farming,
composting)
Water conservation
Biodiversity support in school
sites

14. What is Climate Change Education?
Education for adaptation
KEY QUESTION: how will we adapt to
the expected 2 degree C (minimum)
rise in global temperatures already in
the climate system?
Schools represent significant
government investment in
infrastructure.
We are only beginning to think about
infrastructure matters – see 2013
report from the Climate Institute
titled Dangerous degrees: Risking
Australia’s prosperity, security and
health.

15. What is Climate Change Education?
Education for adaptation
means coordinated LOCAL
responses across
Teaching and learning
Curriculum
Social support / pastoral care
School infrastructure
Leadership
Systemic settings (policies and regulations)
Parents and Community
Local and state government initiatives
Partnerships
We will need to learn what will
work in our own contexts

16. What is Climate Change Education?
Education for resilience
KEY QUESTIONS:
How will we maintain our
democracy and the strong
social, cultural and community
relationships necessary for
raising and teaching children
given large, predicted and
surprising environmental
changes?
How will we protect children’s
health and well-being?
Young people will need to be
resilient. Can we educate for
resilience?

17. What is Climate Change Education?
Education for resilience
KEY MESSAGE: Expenditures on
children’s health and well-being
and preventative health and on
early years education pay long
dividends into the future.
Research definitively shows,
strong communities are more
resilient.

18. What is Climate Change Education?
Education for ecological
restoration enhances
social/ecological
interdependence
KEY MESSAGE: It is very cost
efficient to preserve, conserve
and restore Australia’s
biodiversity.
Schools have a strong role to play
as collectively occupy large tracts
of public and private land ad have
a minimum 40% reach into their
local community.
(ABS figures: 19% of Australians at
school every day as students and
staff.)

19. The many benefits of school gardens include climate
change education for mitigation, adaptation and
resilience (individual and team skills, learning about soil,
plants, insects and food security) in addition to many
proven cognitive benefits for literacy, numeracy and
science learning.
See William, D.R. & Dixon, P.S. ( 2013) Impact of garden-based learning on academic outcomes in schools: Synthesis of
research between 1990 and 2012. Review of Educational Research 83:211 Doi: 10.3102/0034654313475824

20. Environmental integrity
is essential to human
health and well being –
social and cultural.
Educators are in a very
powerful position to
leverage more desirable
futures.

21. Mapping the Australian Curriculum for climate change education
Core content of the Australian Curriculum: Science (F-10)
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Australian%20Curriculum.pdf
Numerous content “elaborations” suggest examples for implementations of concepts
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Conservation of natural resources and recycling are introduced in Year 2 (pp. 24-25).
Recycling and pollution included in the Year 3 elaborations (p. 27).
In Year 4 the main theme of the “Earth and space sciences” sub-strand is that “Earth’s
surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity” (p. 32).
Solar panels , sustainable energy sources are introduced in Year 6 (p. 41) as is the study
of natural disasters (pp. 41-42). And students in Year 6
“describe and predict the effect of environmental changes on individual living things” (p.
44).
In Year 7 students learn that humans impact natural habitats as well as about
interactions within an ecosystem, renewable energy resources and sustainability (pp. 4548) E.G. explore “how land management practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples can help inform sustainable management of the environment” (p. 47).

22. Mapping the Australian Curriculum for climate change education
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Perhaps the three most controversial elements of a school science curriculum—Big Bang
Theory of the origin of the universe, evolution by natural selection, and global warming—are
considered in detail in the Year 10 curriculum.
Year 8 students may learn about technology that relates to sustainability, such as recycling
systems and solar-powered cars (p. 53).
Ecosystem sustainability and human-caused environmental changes are part of the Year 9
“biological sciences” sub-strand (. p57). Reference is to “considering how choices related to
the use of fuels are influenced by environmental considerations” (p. 60).
Part of the overarching description of the Year 10 curriculum states that, within the
curriculum, “Relationships between aspects of the living, physical and chemical world are
applied to systems on a local and global scale and this enables students to predict how
changes will affect equilibrium within these systems” (p. 63).
Global systems,, human impact, and climate change form a key part of the “Earth and space
sciences” sub-strand in Year 10 (p. 64). Students consider “the role of science in identifying
and explaining the causes of climate change” (p. 65). Reference is made to discussing the use
and impacts of science in the media, and to using science to evaluate claims (such as those
“relating to environmental footprints” *pp. 66 – 68)
CRISE CCE Curriculum mapping project to be completed in December/January
school holidays. If you’d like to be part of this please email
hilary.whitehouse@jcu.edu.au

23. Summary
Closing the gap between danger and relative safety is still
doable, as long as we start now. Delay only means higher
costs and fewer options” John Connor, Climate Institute, 2013
Many schools in FNQ have made an admirable start to teaching
students about the real world in which we now live. This is a new
situation for all of us. Schools need to be learning organisations
in order to address the substantial risks posed by climate change.