Although education for sustainable development is progressing in textbooks, teachers still rarely take up practical projects and lack training on the subject.
“We must give students the keys to understanding the complexity of the climate. Today, we find aberrations on the internet. Talking about it in class ensures that they do not fall into certainties or conspiracy theories.” For David Boudeau, president of the Association of Biology and Geology Teachers, schools have a clear role to play in the fight against climate change. Faced with the emergency, educational projects on the subject have gained popularity in recent years.
Example with the Climate Fresco: since its creation in 2018, 300,000 students have been made aware of the causes and consequences of climate change thanks to the tool, according to the association. From Monday March 25 to Friday March 30, a week on the theme “I can’t, I have climate” is organized by the Civic Service Agency and the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe), in conjunction with the Unis-Cité association. In support of teachers, committed young people come to lead short awareness sessions for students.
In school programs, awareness of environmental issues appeared in 1977 under the name “environmental education”. From 2004, we talked about education for sustainable development (ESD), according to a parliamentary report on the subject made public in December 2023, carried by deputies Francesca Pasquini (Nupes) and Graziella Melchior (Renaissance). “Following a letter of referral from the Ministry of National Education, addressed to the Higher Program Council in 2019, notable developments were introduced in all cycles”, specifies Anne-Françoise Gibert, educational advisor “scientific culture and sustainability” of the network Canopé, responsible for teacher training.
At the end of kindergarten, as provided for in the program (PDF), it is now expected that children will begin to “adopt a responsible attitude in terms of respect for places and protection of living things”. In language suitable for toddlers, this means, for example, turning off the light when leaving a room or throwing a cardboard package into the correct bin. In final year, the three themes covered in science education are linked to climate change: “Science, climate and society”, “The future of energies” and “A history of life”.
A need for interdisciplinarity
Faced with the increasingly visible effects of climate change, the urgency is felt. In high school, “we are talking more and more about the IPCC reports and the various COPs”, illustrates David Boudeau. But the teacher notes that the consequences on biodiversity remain “too few” present in the manuals. He also observes that interdisciplinarity is difficult to implement, while climate issues can infuse all subjects taught. “At college, interdisciplinary practical lessons (EPI), created during the 2015 reform, are gradually disappearing, because we no longer have the means to provide them.regrets David Boudeau.
“The disciplines lack links between them, including education for sustainable development.”
Anne-Françoise Gibert, educational referent for the Canopé networkat franceinfo
Unions, such as SUD Education, also note a lack of consistency in school textbooks. They denounce a “greening of programs” and demand a “in-depth overhaul of school programs, which ceases to make growth an essential economic model. The syndicate criticism of “tech-savvy solutions” presented “as the only solutions to the environmental crisis”which is contested by the IPCC reports, which emphasize the importance of sobriety and reducing the consumption of energy emitting greenhouse gases.
Concrete to make the emergency real
To interest children in climate issues, a concrete approach is essential, according to all the people interviewed by franceinfo. Since the beginning of the 2000s, school circulars “encourage school leaders and the entire educational community to implement educational projects” around sustainable development, notes the report by Francesca Pasquini and Graziella Melchior. But the impetus given to these projects depends on the sensitivity of the school and its teachers, as well as the time and means made available to them to take them on.
Benjamin Gentils, president of La Fabrique des communs pedagogiques, is one of the fervent activists of schools from outside. The association trains national education executives in this practice of outdoor teaching and its founder believes that“iThere does not have to be an exclusive choice between outside and inside, but [que] the exterior remains a primordial approach to talking about education for sustainable development. Children can thus address environmental issues indirectly (doing math by counting insects, for example), or through activities directly linked to climate issues.
End December, relates Benjamin Gentils, “in a school in Bagnolet, students carried out pollution readings using a sensor. They must go to the mountain soon and will be able to compare. On puts them in a scientific position so that they become aware of the risks close to home, while addressing the concepts of the program”. He assures that more and more academies are showing themselves “interested” by initiative.
In Poitiers, half a day a week, nearly 14,000 students have classes outside, in the forest, a park or even the playground. Since the municipal victory in 2020 of Léonore Moncond’huy (EELV), this nature education initiative has flourished everywhere in the Vienne prefecture. “We provide whoever wants it with a nature kit, including a tarpaulin for sitting outside, gardening tools or even nature observation tools. illustrates Hélène Paumier, education assistant at Poitiers town hall, for whom each kit costs between 600 and 800 euros.
Insufficient teacher training
To easily address the subject of climate change in class as well as to set up educational projects, teachers are looking for knowledge. In their report, Francesca Pasquini and Graziella Melchior point to largely insufficient support for teachers, whether it concerns their initial or continuing training. In the first degree in particular, “teachers have difficulty getting involved, because they have less of this scientific culture” on climate issues, notes Anne-Françoise Gibert. Only 14% of school teachers received scientific university training, according to a study by the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Technologies published in 2020 (PDF).
While there are many resources on platforms intended for teachers, such as Eduscol, Guislaine David, co-general secretary of the SNUipp-FSU union, believes that consultation of “emergency technical sheets” cannot replace training in contact with professionals. According to Francesca Pasquini, teachers ultimately feel “a lack of legitimacy”.
However, everyone can be affected by issues related to climate change. As much as a SVT or physics-chemistry teacher, “a literature professor is just as legitimate to talk about it during his course”pleads Anne-Françoise Gibert. During cycle 4 (5th, 4th and 3rd), the theme “Imagining new universes” in French can, for example, be a gateway. A sign that the ecological transition is affecting all matters, technology and moral and civic education will integrate its issues from the start of the 2024 school year, the ministry announced in June.
The objectives of raising awareness of environmental issues at school are significant: reducing students’ eco-anxiety, combating climate-sceptical misinformation online and, of course, making them responsible citizens. “PThe sooner we make them aware, the sooner they will have awareness and be able to act on their environment. underlines Guislaine David. “We must not forget that they can become decision-makers later: engineer, business manager, political leader…”, Francesca Pasquini even projects herself.
Since the 19th century, the average temperature of the Earth warmed by 1.1°C. Scientists have established with certainty that this increase is due to human activities, which consume fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). This warming, unprecedented in its speed, threatens the future of our societies and biodiversity. But solutions – renewable energies, sobriety, reduced meat consumption – exist. Discover our answers to your questions on the climate crisis.