Teach the Future


Teach the Future is a campaign to repurpose the education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis. It is formed by a volunteer base of students studying across the England and Scotland at all levels of education - from primary to tertiary - who believe the majority of teaching and learning throughout the entirety of the education system is misaligned from the systemic changes urgently required to make to society sustainable.

History

The Teach the Future campaign began as a demand of the UK Student Climate Network and has been so since its formation in December 2018. From this, as it was a specialist area, the demand evolved into an individual campaign with the support of its parent organisation, Student Organising for Sustainability - UK in addition to UKSCNs School Group Developmental working group.
The campaign was unveiled on 12 October 2019 at National Education Union's Climate Emergency Conference, in front of a room full of educational specialists and campaigners. Two days after the campaign unveiling, TtF began its petition and gathered 7413 signatories
In the lead up to the General Election of December 2019, Teach the Future launched a campaign to improve climate crisis education policy in political party manifestos. The outcome of this was the Labour Party including a curriculum review and the Green Party of England and Wales specifically mentioning TtF's English Climate Emergency Education Act in both of their respective manifestos.
In accordance to the third demand, the student volunteers and a professional legislative draftsperson drafted the first ever student written education Private Members Bill in history which has been supported by many Parliamentarians. Nadia Whittome supported the students in hosting a parliamentary reception to unveil this legislation to the Government by being their Parliamentary Sponsor; this reception was held in the Houses of Parliament's Terrace Pavilion on 26th February 2020 and had an attendance of over 200 politicians, educators, student campaigners, union representatives and supporters. Following the parliamentary reception, three student campaigners met with Trudy Harrison, Boris Johnson's Private Parliamentary Secretary, to discuss how asks can be incorporated into governmental policy.

Asks

Teach the Future calls for 3 main asks from the government, in addition to a fourth which is only relevant to the Scottish campaign
  1. A government-commissioned review into how the English formal education system is preparing students for the climate emergency and ecological crisis
  2. The inclusion of the climate emergency and ecological crisis in English teaching standards and training
  3. The enactment of - the first student written bill in history - and a Scottish Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Education Act
  4. # The establishment of a national climate emergency youth voice grant
  5. # The establishment of a national Youth Climate Endowment Fund
  6. # For all new state-funded educational buildings to be built carbon net-zero from 2020 onwards and for all existing state-funded educational buildings to be converted to a carbon net-zero grid by 2030
  7. For there to be an increased priority for sustainability in school inspections and publicly influencing educational rankings

    Structure

Teach the Future is a non-hierarchal organisation currently run by a team of 51 volunteers - spread across the nations of England and Scotland; in addition the campaign employs 5 part-time student campaign coordinators, 1 seconded campaign manager from SOS-UK and 2 other SOS-UK staff members on small contract hours. These contacts began beginning on Monday 4th May 2020.
These volunteers organise through an online Slack workspace and aim to onboard new influxes of volunteers regularly - with the most recent being over a fortnight, during the last two weeks of July 2020.

Nations

Despite Teach the Future being an umbrella organisation, encompassing volunteers from across the United Kingdom, it is comprised of two separate organisation. These operate in England and Scotland respectively. Both campaigns are heavily intertwined as they run similar devolved projects, as well as having a fluid methodology whereby volunteers are able to assist in any working group that interests them.

International Influence

The Teach the Future campaign aims to form an international network of climate education campaigns and has formed close ties with some, in the founding stages. Globally, it has made communication with multiple youth climate action groups, which has been facilitated through a staff member with the specific mandate of international outreach and support.
The UK-based campaign shares it's name, however is not directly associated, with the Teach the Future Poland campaign - a branch of .

Supporting organisations

The Teach the Future campaign is supported and endorsed by multiple national organisations focussing on areas such as youth representation, conservation and education system reform. They are:
Ask for EvidenceArboriCultural AssociationAshden TrustAssociation of Colleges
The Association for Science EducationBioregionalBritish Youth CouncilCampaign Against Climate Change
Chartered Institute of BuildingChartered Institute of Waste ManagementChartered Institution of Water and Environmental ManagementChester ZooCountry Trust
Campaign to Protect Rural EnglandEarthwatch EuropeFriends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern IrelandForce of NatureGlobal Action Plan
Green Building Council UKGreenpeace UK
Institute of Environmental Management and AssessmentInstitution of Civil EngineersInternational Tree Foundation
Marine Conservation SocietyNational Education UnionNational Union of Students
QuakersRoyal Institute of Chartered SurveyorsRoyal Institute of British ArchitectsRoyal Society of ArtsRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds
Society for the Environment
University and College UnionUrban Design Group
We Have the PowerThe Wildlife TrustsWoodcraft FolkWorld's Largest LessonXR Educators
Young People's Trust for the EnvironmentThe Institution of Engineering and Technology#IWill

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