Climate change demands creative and critical responses. Through pedagogical exploration, including approaches like Philosophy for Children, we aim to equip students and teachers with the tools to navigate complex issues, imagine solutions, and critically evaluate information. By fostering discussions around trust, epistemology, and social justice, we seek to cultivate a generation of proactive problem-solvers ready to address the challenges of the climate emergency.

We’re exploring a whole-school strategy to encourage the critical and creative thinking that is core to our response to the climate crisis. Tackling huge issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainability calls for creativity and critical thinking. That’s why we’ve been exploring a whole-school approach to help students build these essential skills – tools that are crucial for addressing the climate crisis. We designed posters to spark curiosity and invite everyone to “See, Think, and Wonder” about important climate-related topics.

By thinking critically and creatively about sustainability, students develop the skills they need to access, evaluate, and use the vast amount of information available to them. In a world where young people are constantly navigating the flow of information – both accurate and misleading – these skills will be key to making informed decisions in the future. Schools have started using the posters in classrooms to encourage deeper thinking and better questioning, helping students prepare for the challenges ahead.

Looking ahead, we believe that success could mean integrating issues like trust, knowledge, and social justice into education – all of which will play a critical role in shaping how future generations manage information and make decisions. You can read an account here, from Serena, a teacher in St Pauls College, Raheny about her experiences initiating this in her school.