Education is key to addressing global challenges like climate change. 

As teachers, we are deeply concerned that our current education system isn't preparing young Australians and teachers for this urgent challenge.[i]

We believe that our students - who are disproportionately affected by climate change -  and fellow educators must be empowered with the necessary knowledge, skills and agency to understand, communicate, make decisions and actively work towards solutions.[ii]

Climate change is impacting on the physical and mental health and well-being, economic stability and cultural identity of all Australians.[iii]

But governments can make a difference. 

Prioritising climate change education, supported by teachers’ resources, initial teacher education and teachers’ professional learning, with a focus on developing Green Skills[iv] for the workforce, will empower every young person to contribute to and thrive in a more resilient, sustainable society - one that respects, cares for and protects our natural systems and Country.

Teachers for Climate Australia therefore asks the Federal, State and Territory Ministers of Education to:

1. Acknowledge that Australian governments, like teachers and parents, have a Duty of Care to equip young people and teachers with the skills, knowledge and values to respond to the challenges posed by climate change.
2. Ensure that all school students from Kindergarten to Year 12 are guaranteed 40 hours each year learning about climate education and sustainability, with opportunities for practical application of their learning in preserving and connecting with the natural world and Country.
3. Mandate staff professional learning and initial teacher education on climate change, including school leaders, managers of corporate services and School Boards.
4. Prioritise Green Skills in vocational courses & workplace learning to help prepare young people for a net-zero emissions future.
5. Rebuild and retrofit all educational buildings to be made climate and nature-friendly, and create spaces that foster connection with the natural world and Country.

Please sign and help us empower and protect future generations.

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 Footnotes:

[i] In Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum, climate change and the core concepts of climate change are addressed in the Content Descriptions and Achievement Standards of Year 10 Science and Year 9 HaSS only. It is not mentioned in the primary school curriculum at all. In addition, “Sustainability” as a Cross-curriculum Priority, described by the report from the WA Inquiry into the Response of WA Schools to Climate Change  as "the main vehicle through which teachers can teach climate change" in the Australian curriculum, is neither compulsory nor assessable and “fragmented, poorly understood and often overlooked as a curriculum concept... It is a weak policy imperative for doing so.” The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), in which Australia participates, has developed a Climate Literacy Assessment for the 2029 PISA cycle. These data will shed further light on how education systems prepare students to respond to climate challenges and contribute to sustainable futures.

 

[ii]  In 2021, Education International (EI), of which the Australian Education Union (AEU) is a member, launched its Manifesto on Quality Climate Change Education for All, in which it “called on every government in the world to deliver on their commitments to climate change education and education for sustainable development in the Paris Agreement (article 12) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (targets 4.7, 12.8 and 13.3)”. Later in 2021, the AEU made a submission to the WA Parliamentary Inquiry into the Response of Western Australian Schools to Climate Change, echoing EI’s Manifesto and making 15 recommendations to address the “climate emergency” in the Australian context around policy, staffing, curriculum and OSH. 

In 2022, AEU published the Public Education and the Climate Emergency Policy, in which it declared its “commitment to action” on “the climate emergency [that] is the most urgent and defining challenge of our time”.  In addition, Australia, as a signatory to the UNESCO Declaration on the Common Agenda for Education and Climate Change since October 2024, has made a commitment (as yet unfulfilled) to include education in its Nationally Determined Contributions and enhance climate change education as part of its adaptation, mitigation and investment strategies. UNESCO’s Greening Education Guidance (Teaching and Learning for Climate Action) establishes 4 pillars of action to green schools’ curriculum, teacher training and education systems’ capacities, in line with the Declaration on the Common Agenda for Education and Climate Change (2023) and UNESCO’s Education 2030 Framework for Action (UNESCO, 2015). 

 

[iii] Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (2024), National Climate Risk Assessment – first pass assessment report, DCCEEW, Canberra, March. CC BY 4.0.

 

[iv] See Australia Institute (2024), No Jobs on a Dead Planet, Submission on the Net Zero Economy Authority Bill 2024 and the Net Zero Economy Authority (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024.