A draft Leaving Cert specification on “climate action” would see students taught how to “effectively organise” around climate issues, and study the “tactics” of “activists,” including “direct action,” “civil disobedience” and more, Gript can reveal.
The proposed plan, which is currently out for public consultation, was drafted by the National Council for Curriculum (NCCA) and is entitled “Draft Leaving Certificate Climate Action & Sustainable Development specification.”
The consultation period opened on February 2nd and closes on April 5th 2024. Individuals can respond online here.
According to the document, the module’s purpose is to teach students to respond to “sustainability challenges, including the climate crisis.”
“Environmental degradation is one of the most significant issues facing life on our planet and is
a major challenge to human flourishing,” the specification reads.
“…Leaving Certificate Climate Action & Sustainable Development enables students to learn
about and experience meaningful action.”
The document goes on to say that as part of the course, students will “examine their role as global citizens” and “explore” the “drivers of environmental injustice,” adding that by “reflecting on action, students become effective organisers of collective change.”
One “applied learning task” for students within the subject is “organising action,” including political lobbying, boycotting, and studying the “tactics” of “activist” groups.
“Through this Applied Learning Task, students learn how to effectively organise themselves to
take action,” the document reads, adding that pupils will “work in groups to organise an action on a matter related to climate”.
It further states that students are to study the “tactics” employed by “activists”, as well as lobbying, direct action, civil disobedience and more.
“Students learn about: lobbying, community organising, trade union organising, popular education, direct action, civil disobedience, boycott, setting up alternatives, creative arts; personal transformation, social movement history, tactics employed by Indigenous activists or groups, intergenerational learning, etc.”, the paper reads.
Furthermore, students are to “learn about climate justice movements” and engage in “real-world and applied learning” such as “campaigning on sustainability matters.”
Under the plans, children would also be encouraged to learn about “power and privilege” within communities as part of “equal, inclusive and empowering decision-making.”
Notably, a previous draft for the NCCA’s SPHE curriculum would see students urged to “recognise” their “privileged status” as a white person, a male, or an Irish person.
The new draft SPHE curriculum urges children to recognise their “privileged status” as a “white, male or Irish person,” & tells them to seek positive portrayals of “LGBTQI+” gender identities in media. @Ben_Scallan reports:#gripthttps://t.co/zICxfS2UjR
— gript (@griptmedia) July 12, 2023
The climate document says that children will learn about, among other things, “climate injustice,” and “power inequalities” relating to “neo-colonialism, gender inequality, class inequality and racism.”
The curriculum plan would have students study ideas like the circular economy, and economic “degrowth” – an idea that entails deliberately shrinking the economy for the benefit of the environment.
https://www.ucc.ie/en/greencampus/news/degrowth-exploring-a-post-growth-approach.html#:~:text=As%20defined%20by%20the%20World,to%20reduce%20consumption%20and%20exploitation.
It would also have students “discuss arguments for the rights of nature” and examine “campaigns for the rights of nature.”
The document further claims that students should understand the role of Irish agriculture in “climate breakdown,” among other issues.
“Students should be able to explore the role of Irish agriculture in conservation of biodiversity, climate regeneration and climate breakdown,” it reads.
The text outlines how “space should be created for students to express emotions” regarding climate change, and says that it can be “difficult to keep hope” in the phase of the looming global catastrophe.
“Teachers should be aware of the complex integration of emotions with climate action and
sustainable development issues in all aspects of the learning,” it says.
“…it is important to strike a balance between optimism and realism, as it can be difficult to keep hope about the potential to respond to the climate crisis when faced with the very real and pressing challenges facing the world.”
Notably, “climate anxiety” has been a noted development among young people across the Western world in recent years, with BBC News calling this “an increasingly common phenomenon among children and teenagers” that has left many young people feeling “hopeless.”
Climate change anxiety: Young people 'feel hopeless' https://t.co/FD3EgAVFp3
— BBC Health News (@bbchealth) June 24, 2021
The document also claims that part of the course will be teaching students to avoid “disinformation.”
“As the spread of disinformation, unsustainable behaviours and prejudice threatens democracies
worldwide, students learn the importance of evidence-informed decision making,” it reads.
“…As they consider the mounting evidence for human influenced climate change, for example, they explore data, information, patterns and trends.”
The document also reveals how there are “sustainability links between subjects” even at Junior Cycle level, and that there are climate change related “learning outcomes” in “subjects such as science, geography, business studies, home economics and wood technology.”
In a previous article last year, Gript revealed how the Green Schools programme, which has been present in schools across Ireland for years, explicitly urges students to “eat less meat and dairy” to save the planet.
It also encouraged teachers to read picture books about Greta Thunberg saving the world to young students.
A State-funded group urges Irish teachers to encourage children to “eat less meat” & dairy in pursuit of climate goals, to introduce them to “vegetarian or vegan” eating, & to show them a picture book about Greta Thunberg. @Ben_Scallan reports:#gripthttps://t.co/mXiRdIsLym
— gript (@griptmedia) August 25, 2023
Gript also previously revealed how school teachers are being encouraged to teach students how to organise radical feminist protests, as well as discuss “challenging the patriarchy” and other far-Left talking points by Ireland’s official national curriculum body.
Irish school teachers’ guides discuss “challenging the patriarchy”