Beyond Climate Literacy: Developing the Confidence to Act
Newcastle University | Newcastle Upon Tyne | United Kingdom
Case Study Presentation | 2pm – 3pm, BST (Find Local Time)
Duration: 1 hour
Platform: MS Teams
Description: As higher education institutions seek to prepare graduates to respond to the climate crisis, many educators, particularly those outside environmental and sustainability disciplines, feel underprepared to integrate climate education into their teaching. This case study explores how an interactive SDG Action Planning Tool, developed through a partnership between Newcastle University Business School and NETpositive Futures, has enabled educators from a wide range of subject areas to engage students with climate related challenges through values based reflection and practical action.
The session will explore how the tool has been embedded across different programmes, providing educators with an accessible way to incorporate climate education without requiring specialist expertise or significant curriculum redesign. Drawing on implementation data and participant feedback, the presentation will highlight the climate and sustainability issues that students identify as most important, the actions they choose to take, and the wider benefits for confidence, green skills and career aspirations. It will also consider how learner generated data can help educators understand student priorities, evaluate engagement and demonstrate the impact of climate education across the curriculum. Finally, the session will reflect on how this approach has increased the confidence of colleagues from a wide range of disciplines, showing that meaningful climate education can be embedded across higher education regardless of subject expertise.