Education for climate justice: Centring social justice amidst demands to prioritise the climate crisis in education

Young activists leading the Scottish Climate Strikes demand a) climate justice and b) the prioritisation of climate crisis in education. Taking these demands seriously, we will bring together diverse stakeholders to examine what it means to truly place social justice at the heart of efforts to address the climate crisis in education. Concretely, this entails a sustained focus on decolonising education and climate justice through which we explore the historical entanglement of racism and capitalism in our efforts to imagine a transition to more ‘climate just’ futures. Therefore, we will work alongside young participants advocating for change through the Teach the Future Scotland Campaign and the Scottish Youth Climate Strikes, frontline communities, young activists working on decolonising the curriculum, teachers, trade unionists, community educators, academics and key players in education policy, including Learning for Sustainability Scotland to explore these themes. Through a series of four participatory events, we will build relationships, clarify and interrogate our own thinking and, ultimately, influence policy and practice ‘from the ground up’. We will do this by creating a space that prioritises the knowledge and experiences of frontline communities and young activists in order to ‘educate the educators’ and influence key powerholders, whilst hearing from leading domestic and international academics. This programme will catalyse wider long-term conversations about the need for, and scope of, education for climate justice and serve as a resource for further exchange and mutual learning as Scottish educators and educational policymakers aim to make Scottish education fit for purpose when it comes to addressing the climate crisis.