This blog post collates information from the national Learning for Sustainability network for practitioners and senior managers working in Falkirk education establishments. It shares exciting new materials and information about the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties which takes place in Glasgow between 1st -12th November 2021 (known as COP 26 – click the image to visit the official site).

The five themes of this international event are:

• Nature
• Clean Transport
• Energy transition
• Adaptation and resilience
• Finance

This link will take you to a Tweet and video clip from the organisers of this event in which David Attenborough explains how vitally important its outcomes are. The Scottish Government commitment to the goals of COP 26 is shared via its Net Zero Scotland campaign which you can learn more about here.

Some of the many education resources for use with pupils connected to COP 26 may already have come to your attention. The links below take you to key national support and teaching materials which you can use as part of your usual curriculum content, or for any new subject-specific or interdisciplinary learning contexts you feel will engage your children and young people and contribute to their development of the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence.

BIG NEWS The #CountdowntoCOP learning materials developed by Education Scotland are now live and can be accessed here . These will enable you to engage your learners with the big #COP26 themes of nature, energy, transport, finance, adaptation and resilience.

To view the recording of the 10.6.21 Education Scotland professional learning session about COP 26 please click here.

To view the Wakelet of resources and ideas created by the Education Scotland LfS team relating to COP 26 click here. 

To explore how you can combine COP 26 learning contexts with your pupils’ development of STEM skills, click here

To explore the professional learning and education resources provided by our Scotdec partners click here

Learn more about the Children’s Parliament Climate Change group, vision and aims by clicking here.

The EIS are offering a series of twilight professional learning webinars looking at the clinate emergency and the role of education and trade unions in tackling this – click here for more information.

Click here to learn more about the BBC Scotland Climate Tales writing competition for children and young people aged 5-16.

Click here to view an example of the data available about our planet from the NASA website. There is powerful data evidencing the current twin emergencies of climate change and loss of biodiversity including a range of satellite images comparing the same locations over time.

Argyll and Bute Council are hosting their first ever Education Climate Summit on 27th and 28th October – click here to find out more.

Education Scotland colleagues have set up a GLOW Learning for Sustainability Practitioner Network in MS Teams for practitioners/leaders with an interest in LfS and COP 26. Please use this code o4sj08j to join the network. This Glow LfS MS Teams space will be used to host drop-in sessions, provide support and signpost information/resources. This will also be a space for practitioners to connect with like-minded practitioners and share resources, ideas and practice.

Ian Menzies, senior development officer for Learning for Sustainability has created this power point presentation (narrated) which is a wonderfully broad overview of Learning for Sustainability and can be used by whole staff groups in education establishments to refresh and review LfS within their curriculum. Ian and colleagues are encouraging practitioners and senior leaders to use the LfS self-evaluation tooklit (click here ) to inform school improvement planning and help with this process.

And finally – for anyone in need of inspiration to do something about climate change – including those with a passion for sport – take a look at BBC Sport 2050 resources here. These include powerful video clips which explore how predicted impact of climate change will affect the sports we are most passionate about AND how sport is already being affected!

This blog post is the first of a series which will share specific Falkirk education establishment COP 26 teaching and learning. Please comment below or email jane.jackson@falkirk.gov.uk or yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk to let us know what you are planning or what we can do to help!

Falkirk Children’s Commission – Children’s Rights and Engagement Group are recruiting staff, children and young people to help create our Falkirk Council and Partner organisation Integrated Children’s Services Plan. We are doing this partly because the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, Part 3 – Children’s Services Planning and Part 1 – Rights of Children,  requires Local Authorities and Health Boards, alongside their community planning partners, to improve outcomes for all children and young people in Scotland by ensuring that local planning and delivery of services is integrated and their rights upheld. However, we are also building this Falkirk Children & Young People’s Planning Team because we believe it is essential that pupils’ voices shape their education and life experiences, and because research shows that their participation in decision-making improves their academic performance and life chances. Learn more about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC – recently passed into Scottish Law) by clicking here or by visiting the pages of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland here.

We will work with interested staff colleagues and the children and young people to create this plan and to design the processes needed to make the group and the work sustainable in the long-term. The children and young people joining this group will also plan and co-ordinate other tasks and initiatives. Our main aims are to:

1. Connect and co-ordinate pupil council and leadership groups in schools, across our health board, community and third sector organisations
2. Involve children and young people in shaping their own education, lives and communities through integrated organisational processes via our Members of Scottish Youth Parliament
3. Ensure that our group and processes are truly representative, inclusive and diverse
4. Establish processes which build children and young people’s voices and participation into all layers of our organisations without adding to bureaucracy.

To help staff in our early learning and childcare centres and schools connect this work with their curriculum, we are making it part of our wider Falkirk Learning for Sustainability Framework (click here for more information about the framework). Children’s Rights and political literacy are already built into the experiences and outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence and our framework includes plans and professional learning which early years officers and teachers can use. The work of the Falkirk Children & Young People’s Planning Team will be supported by Julie Williams our Rights Respecting Schools development officer alongside Fiona Malcolm, Faculty Head of Humanities, Braes HS. Fiona and Julie will liaise with schools and centres who are working towards Rights Respecting Schools Accreditation (click here for more information about this) and education support officers Yvonne McBlain and Jane Jackson will offer professional learning and co-ordinate the development of safe online collaboration via a Microsoft Team in Glow.

Please leave your comments below or email yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk or jane.jackson@falkirk.gov.uk for more information or to help with this exciting work.