Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
494. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Education what training is provided to student teachers or existing qualified teachers on how to discuss climate change with their pupils, and how to implement responses through the curriculum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36933/23]
View answerI can advise the Deputy that ESD to 2030 – Ireland’s 2nd National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development 2022 to 2030, co-sponsored by the Department of Education, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, was published in June 2022.
ESD to 2030 is aligned to UNESCO’s framework for ESD for 2030 and aims to ensure that all learners have the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.
Under the 1st National Strategy for ESD, much progress was made:
- Integrating ESD themes and principles across the curriculum
- Integrating ESD themes and principles into the assessment and inspection processes
- Integrating ESD into ITE and CPD for teachers
- A dedicated resource hub for ESD on Scoilnet: www.scoilnet.ie/esd/
An audit of the curriculum for opportunities for linkages to ESD was conducted by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and published in 2018. This audit shows where each Sustainable Development Goals can be linked to the curriculum including SDG 13 – Climate Change which was shown to have explicit links to Primary History, Geography, Science and SPHE curricula, JC Business Studies, Home Economics, Science, History and CSPE curricula and LC Ag. Science, Geography and Politics and Society curricula. A copy of the audit is available here: ncca.ie/media/3573/esdreport_final_june2018.pdf . Work has continued integrating ESD across new and re-developed curricula and a follow up audit will be conducted under ESD to 2030.
ESD to 2030 aims to build on these foundations and has five priority areas: Advancing Policy, Transforming Learning Environments, Building Capacity of Educators, Empowering and Mobilising Youth and Accelerating Local Level Action.
In terms of Priority area 3: Building Capacity for Educators - Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) was published in November 2020. All programmes of initial teacher education are aligned with Céim for first year intakes since September 2022.
Global Citizenship Education (to include Education for Sustainable Development; Wellbeing (personal and community); Social Justice, Interculturalism) is one of seven core elements in Céim that underpin programme design for primary and post primary teachers.
In November 2021, the Teaching Council commenced Cycle 2 accreditation of existing programmes, which involves a scheduled review of 68 programmes of ITE in 14 Higher Education Institutes, between 2021 and 2023.
Information regarding the overall implementation of Global Citizenship Education as an element of programmes of ITE, will be available in 2024, following the conclusion of the accreditation cycle.
CPD for teachers is delivered by a wide range of providers including for example the Department’s Teacher Education Section funded Support Services, Higher Education Institutions, NGOs such as ECO UNESCO, An Taisce/ Green Schools, Irish Schools Sustainability Network, Global Citizenship Schools, WorldWise Global Schools and the UBUNTU and DICE networks. Under ESD to 2030, the Department recently carried out some research on the CPD programmes related to ESD which are available for teachers. The Department is currently reviewing the resulting report and plans to publish the list of ESD related CPD programmes available for teachers in due course. This list will also be reviewed by the ESD advisory group for schools to see if there are any gaps in provision and if so, how such gaps might be addressed.
ESD to 2030 funding totalling €267k was recently allocated to organisations supporting implementation of ESD to 2030 including funding to increase teacher participation a number of ESD related CPD programmes.
ESD to 2030 funding for schools will be advertised at the start of the new school year (23/24) and it will include provision for schools to get funding for ESD related CPD for it’s teachers.
The Summer Course Programme for primary teachers comprises a range of face-to-face, online and blended summer courses that are generally aligned to national priorities and focused on teaching, learning and leadership. Summer Courses must be approved by the Inspectorate. The Department has included Education for Sustainable Development as one of the permitted categories for summer courses in the 2023-2025 approval cycle.
The Department, through its quarterly ESD Newsletter continues to promote ESD related CPD for teachers.
The ESD to 2030 Implementation Plan 2022 – 2026 details further actions which are underway across the education sector to build teacher capacity in this important area.
In addition to the cross-curricular integration of ESD, Minister Foley announced the introduction of “Climate Action and Sustainable Development” as a leaving certificate curricular subject from September 2024. The NCCA are in the process of developing this new curriculum. The subject focuses on the development of students’ knowledge on climate change and sustainable development, their skills such as systems thinking, critical thinking, creativity and problem solving, and their dispositions in relation to values and futures thinking. The focus is on motivating students’ to action for a sustainable future.
Further details on ESD to 2030 are available on the webpage: www.gov.ie/en/publication/02952d-national-strategy-on-education-for-sustainable-development-in-irelan/
