Connection is key: better education outcomes for an uncertain future

A giant fish machine – ‘fully intelligent’ – the shape of a plastic sushi soy sauce bottle trawls the bottom of the ocean, sucking up waste to be recycled into cups and kettles. Buses levitate above our cities, powered by giant magnets, to make room for nature and bike paths below. Aluminium cans are recycled into computers which can then be recycled into solar panels, while cows munch happily on kelp, reducing methane and providing a renewable carbon sink.

Welcome to the future created by Victorian secondary students at the 2nd Climate Change Education Forum, a partnership between Sustainability Victoria, the Victorian Department of Education and Deakin University’s Centre for Regenerative Futures held on 1 May at Deakin Downtown.

Co-facilitated by Sustainability Victoria, the event brought together students and teachers from 14 Victorian secondary schools, and professionals from 27 organisations including government departments and agencies, universities and industry. Participants engaged in intergenerational conversations, learning, and future-focused activities to build confidence and understanding of climate change and climate action.

The forum – with the theme Collaboration – supports the delivery of the Victorian Government’s Education and Training Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan 2022–2026 to prepare learners to understand climate change and its impacts on them and their world.

‘We are always working to improve climate change education in Victoria,’ explains Sustainability Victoria’s Education Manager, Cyrelle Field. ‘Events like this work to increase the confidence of participants to improve climate change education.’

The Victorian Curriculum F-10 includes sustainability as a ‘cross curriculum priority’. This means teachers apply sustainability as a lens or a theme across the entire curriculum.

The day involved uplifting and challenging conversations and workshops aimed at providing a space for student voice and a platform for connection and skills exchange between students, industry, teachers and pre-service teachers with policy makers and climate action organisations.

Ellie Hansford, Education Program Lead at Sustainability Victoria, explains the activities were designed to ‘reduce barriers around working with young people and create pathways to get them involved – how to teach them about an uncertain future, and, surprisingly, feel calmed by their solutions and participation.’

Participants expressed their current concerns around habitat loss, inequity, greed, and that change is too slow. They felt concerned that we don’t have enough time and shared feelings of powerlessness.

They expressed hope for a future with green urban life, where we curb urban sprawl and use energy responsibly. A future where we’ve preserved natural resources and prioritised conservation and rights for wildlife, provided sustainable and affordable living options for everyone, and are more connected to nature.

Participants agreed that coming together is empowering, and were positive about collaboration, education and communication.

‘I’ve found this morning really inspiring and really enjoyable, particularly actually hearing what other people have to say and their different perspectives on how we can tackle such a big issue like climate change,’ one student participant said.

Phil Guthrie, a teacher at Notre Dame College, Shepparton, agrees that the future-focus was important for engaging and empowering students. ‘Highlighting the things from our current world that probably won’t be around in 30 years … [Thinking] “Wow, did we really do that?” Then conversely, to step into the world of 2050 … and look at all the good things that are possible – that was really exciting.’

‘We need to think not only about teacher agency but student agency,’ says Associate Professor Peta J. White, Co-Director, Centre for Regenerating Futures, Deakin University. ‘And in an education context, what that means is supporting our teachers to feel confident and comfortable teaching about the climate crises so that their students can have an opportunity to learn about it, but in a way that has them feeling activated … like they’re stepping into their futures in a knowing, comfortable way.’

Pre-service teachers were invited to the forum to connect the observations and themes raised with professional learning opportunities for our future teaching workforce.

‘We hope that teachers gained confidence in how to teach climate change. That the students gained confidence because the tables were turned and the teachers, policy makers and industry were actively listening to them,’ explains Ellie. ‘We hope to inspire the continuation of really creative climate change education programs.'

Laura Murphy, Executive Education Officer at DATTA Victoria, explains, ‘Just to spend time with young people thinking about the big problems of the world and how we solve them – it’s been awesome … when you meet young people like today you think ‘You know, it’s all going to be ok because all these young people are going to be in charge in the future.”’

Sustainability Victoria works with schools, government, industry, not for profits, community, and higher education institutions to ensure that Victorian students and teachers have access to best-practice sustainability and climate change education in their schools.

Our ResourceSmart Schools program supports schools to embed sustainability across the school facilities, community and curriculum, while saving resources and money for the school.

The program has supported 1,600 Victorian schools to develop their own projects to reduce their energy use and together save more 110,000 tonnes of CO2e greenhouse gas emissions since 2008.

‘We can’t do the work that we do without working with partners,’ explains Cyrelle. ‘Collaboration is the way in which we make change. When we work together our ideas grow, our plans get bigger, and our impact is so much more than when we forge ahead by ourselves.’