Educators around the world are standing up for the planet and for their students. The Teach for the Planet campaign was in the spotlight at Education International’s 10th World Congress taking place in Buenos Aires from 26 July to 2 August. Education unionists met to exchange best practices on climate education and union advocacy for a just transition in education and beyond, to strengthen and expand the Education International Climate Network, and to strategise the way forward.
On 30 July, education union leaders from around the world came together to focus on climate change, its impact on education systems and the working conditions of millions of educators, and the role of education unions in tackling the climate emergency and the deepening social inequalities it causes.
“The climate crisis is intensifying - no region, no country, no teacher will be left unaffected. But it is those who did the least to cause climate change, and the most vulnerable communities, that will be affected the most. Union values require us to act in the face of these inequities. Union business also means that we must ensure teachers’ right to decent work is protected in the face of climate impacts, and that education systems are adapted to ensure that every student learns about climate change and how to tackle it”, stated Jo Grady, General Secretary of the University and College Union from the United Kingdom and moderator of the session.
Climate change is a union issue
Climate change has a significant and growing impact on education systems around the world. Just in the last few years, we have witnessed extreme temperatures causing thousands of schools to close down in the Philippines, South Sudan and India, massive floods destroying tens of thousands of schools in Pakistan, extended heatwaves forcing teachers and students to teach and learn in unbearable conditions in Europe and across the Americas. Island nations are particularly vulnerable, with entire communities at risk from rising sea levels and extreme weather events. These developments are affecting the working conditions of millions of educators, making climate change a bread-and-butter issue for education unions around the world.
Rosalia Fataki from the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff, Fiji and Sifiso Ndlovu of the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association spoke about the devastating consequences of climate change on education in the Pacific and in Africa and the ways in which their unions are mobilising to educate communities and lobby governments for action.
Dan Montgomery from the American Federation of Teachers shared the fantastic work of the Chicago Teachers Union who are putting climate justice front and centre in negotiations with their school district. The union is actively using collective bargaining for the common good and have put forward 26 proposals on climate issues, including programmes for green jobs, pension fund divestment from fossil fuels, school-based recycling programmes, standing committees on climate justice in every school, electric school buses, free public transportation for students, carbon neutral school buildings, school kitchens that make food from scratch, and much more.
Adapting education systems to enable a pedagogy of hope
The climate crisis has also affected teachers’ professional practice, creating a sense of urgency in the profession around the imperative need to deliver quality climate education to all students. Developed together with education unions and launched as part of the Teach for the Planet campaign, the Education International Manifesto outlines the profession’s vision for quality climate education and how we can achieve it.
Teachers believe that climate education, based on science and with a civic action focus, must become as fundamental as teaching reading and writing. However, education systems are failing both teachers and students. According to a global teacher survey conducted by Education International and UNESCO, while 95% of teachers feel it is important to teach about climate change, fewer than 40% feel confident to teach about the climate emergency, citing a lack of training.
Speaking at the EI Congress, Najat Ganay of SNE-FDT, Morocco, echoed these findings. Climate education is integrated across subjects at all school levels and extracurricular activities focusing on the environment are available thanks to dedicated teachers who volunteer their time. However, urgent funding is needed to ensure quality training for all teachers.
In Morocco and beyond, education unions have been mobilising to fill the gaps in education systems and ensure climate literacy for students. Responding to students’ climate anxiety, teachers are also striving to infuse education with a sense of hope that is informed by critical reflection and embedded in principles of social justice so that it can be a catalyst for action and activism.
At the EI Congress, Nanise Bale Kamikamica of the Fijian Teachers’ Association presented her union’s action plan to ensure quality climate education for all, stressing the critical role of indigenous knowledge: “Indigenous traditional knowledge and practices are an often overlooked component of climate resilience. Age-old cultural knowledge from the Pacific can help inform modern climate preparedness. We need to disrupt the status quo by bringing traditional knowledge perspectives to the forefront of global discussions and solutions.”
Alfonso Cepeda Salas of SNTE Mexico shared the pioneering work of his union in raising awareness of climate change across the country. For many years, the union has created and distributed pedagogical tools for teachers and students, foregrounding indigenous knowledge. With their latest initiative the union has mobilised over 1.7 million teachers for a nation-wide campaign in schools to educate for water conservation.
While teachers and their unions are working hard to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to adapt to a world in crisis, structural change in education systems is imperative. Governments must act.
A powerful new tool: UN recommendations to strengthen the teaching profession
In February 2024, the United Nations High-level Panel on the Teaching Profession launched its recommendations for governments to transform the teaching profession and tackle the teacher shortage. In addition to competitive salaries, quality working conditions, and professional autonomy, the Panel calls for:
- education for sustainability, including climate literacy, to be integrated into curricula and teaching at all levels;
- teacher training and professional development to be developed accordingly, so that teachers have access to free, quality, and up-to-date teaching and learning materials on these topics;
- governments to develop, fund and implement adaption and contingency strategies to make educational institutions more resilient to the negative impacts of climate change.
These recommendations are a new and powerful tool to hold governments accountable to prioritise climate education.
Advancing environmental justice and climate education
EI’s 10th World Congress adopted two resolutions on the climate emergency, mandating Education International and its member organisations to redouble their efforts to advance climate justice and climate education around the world.
The resolutions include a wide range of actions, from union advocacy for climate justice and a just transition in the education sector, to supporting educators in engaging students in learning about climate change, its causes, consequences, and solutions. Ensuring students are adequately prepared for the green jobs of the future is also a union priority.
Greening education infrastructure is another key area for action, with unions calling for new school infrastructure to be made sustainably and designed to withstand climate impacts and for existing schools to be retrofitted to withstand extreme weather events, particularly in areas of high climate vulnerability.
In addition, Congress decided that EI’s Go Public! Fund Education campaign should advocate for increased financing for climate education.
Education unions will work to promote divestment from fossil fuels by unions, educator pension funds, and education institutions. Congress also encouraged unions to advocate for and participate in international legal processes, including access to the International Court of Justice, to hold the international community to account for promises made and promises broken with respect to loss and damage, adaptation and just transition linked to human-induced climate emergencies.