Citation: Bangay, C. and Blum, N. (2010) Education Responses to Climate Change and Quality: Two
Parts of the Same Agenda? International Journal of Educational Development 30(4): 335-450.
depending on particular contexts and needs. However, an indicative outline of key areas of
knowledge and skills includes:
• Knowledge of climate change and wider environmental processes
This includes both specific, content-based knowledge (e.g. climate, deforestation, habitat
loss, water cycle, soil erosion, air pollution) as well as awareness of strategies to address
pressing environmental concerns (e.g. reducing carbon consumption, encouraging low
carbon development, reducing deforestation through sustainable forest management,
improving water and waste management).
• Knowledge of local environmental conditions, associated risks and management
strategies
The precise content of this area will vary from location to location, depending on local
and national contexts and concerns. Possible topics might include the annual flood cycle
and how to manage it; sustainable agricultural methods; existing areas of pollution and
potential strategies for improved water, soil and waste management; sustainable forest
management; and awareness of valuable endemic species (both flora and fauna) and
how to protect them.
• Disaster risk reduction
This is a relatively new area of work in international development and research in which
communities are supported to identify and plan for emergencies such as natural
disasters as well as other environmental risks such as water contamination, soil erosion,
deforestation (leading to landslides), and disease resulting from inappropriate waste
disposal. Recent research suggests that these participatory strategies can have a
considerable impact on community health and well-being7.
Furthermore, high quality learning in these areas is most likely to take place when it is
supported by appropriate approaches to curricula, pedagogy and systems of assessment
(Alexander 2008). Research has frequently shown that systems of assessment in particular
can have significant positive and negative impacts on what happens in classrooms (cf.
James et al 2007, Vulliamy 1988). Standardised testing, for example, which requires
students to show mastery of particular curriculum content is likely to lead schools and
teachers to rely on memorisation and rote learning (i.e. teaching to the test), rather than to
use activities which develop critical thinking or problem-solving skills. In other words,
encouraging high quality teaching requires curricula, teaching approaches and systems of
assessment which place value on high quality learning. Recent research on innovative
approaches to teaching and learning in multigrade schools in India and Colombia, among
other places, provides a useful foundation for future research and strategy development of
this kind (cf. Blum and Diwan 2007; Little 2006; Psacharapoulos, Rojas and Velez 1993).
The potential benefits of such an approach are likely to include increased (meaningful)
access and completion levels, as well as the encouragement of critical thinking and lifelong
learning skills - including „learning to know’, „learning to do’, „learning to be’, and „learning to
live together’ (Delors 1996) - which are needed to address climate change and future
uncertainty. These skills, in turn, are linked to a wide range of potential inter-connected
improvements to health and well-being which have already been identified by research (e.g.
reduced infant mortality, reduced fertility, improved child nutrition, and reduced rates of HIV
infection).
6.3 Challenges to Implementation
7 See, for example, work by the Children in a Changing Climate initiative
http://www.childreninachangingclimate.org/default.php.
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