COP 28: Teachers for the Planet

Between 3rd and 10th December, I had the opportunity to attend COP 28 as one of 15 delegates from the Teach For All Network. Together with other educators from the Aga Khan Foundation , we formed the Teachers for the Planet at COP. We shared our climate education contexts, our implemented solutions, and our vision for climate education; and for us, this was momentous because it finally meant that teacher voices are being heard at the decision making table.

We started our engagements on 3rd with an engaging session that focused on reorienting teaching and learning for a climate resilient world. In this session, we shared about the Teaching as Collective Leadership (TACL) approach. We believe that this is the approach we need to transform education for a resilient future as it serves to build students as leaders who implement change. In TACL, students are seen as leaders, teachers learn alongside learners, the community is power, and the work aims to implement systemic change. This approach in climate education builds student agency to take action. We then had an opportunity to explore TACL and climate education in practice. I ( Teach For Kenya ), Ahmad El Baghdadi ( Teach For Lebanon ) and Nikhil Sharma (Teach for India) shared our climate education work.

Our next engagement was a session organized by Global Partnership for Education (GPE) that focused on the role of schools in building climate resilience. We focused on the role of all school stakeholders in increasing resilience to climate change and driving the development of sustainable and climate-smart food systems. Malawi’s Minister of Education, Madalitso Wrima, opened the session by sharing the policy perspective. She stressed the importance of education in creating resilient societies. I, Salha Aziz, and Colette Fox also shared our work. Our climate education project at Kwa Njenga builds the resilience of our school where we implement smart agriculture techniques ensuring learners have access to vegetables even during drought spells. This session reiterates the importance of student agency. If we build student agency, empower them to be leaders, they will be innovative and they will work together to bring lasting change that will ensure we have resilient and sustainable communities.

Our next engagement was a teacher workshop co-led by Teach for All, Office for Climate Education, IRENA, and UAE’s MOE. This teacher workshop focused on the four pillars of climate education; Greening Curriculum, Greening Teacher Training, Greening Schools, and Greening Communities. In this session, we delved deep into these four pillars and discussed how we achieve these pillars in our schools and communities. I remain inspired by the collective conversation as teachers from these different entities came together and shared best practices on how they have been implementing change in their context. Teachers are willing to engage learners in climate education, we are just waiting and pushing for policy makers to catch up. We need the curriculum greened and we need teachers to be supported with capacity building and resources so that learners can access quality climate education.

Our next engagement was Education Day!! The most exciting day!!!

COP 28 was the first COP to have an education day, and this day kicked off with the RewirEd Summit. As Teachers for the Planet, this was momentous as we launched our online repository that has 100 teacher-led climate education solutions. At the summit, Ma?lys Reneaume (Teach for France), Ryan Bestre (Teach for the Philippines), and I shared our solutions as examples of the 100 solutions available.

Here’s the link to the repository and you can also submit your solution here: https://teachersfortheplanet.org/solutions/

We also had a Policy-Practice Think Tank where Nikita Gidwani, Edson Dongo, Maya Coianiz, Nikhil Sharma, Rajasree Guha, Venessa Rios, and Allison Hampshire shared their climate education context and solution. I remain truly inspired.

Our next engagement was workshops led by UNICEF, UNESCO, and GPE. We delved deep into the frameworks of the four pillars.

Our last engagement was Teachers COP organized by the Office for Climate Education. Out of 386 solutions submitted, I’m happy to share that our Kwa Njenga project was one of 10 finalists. I was glad to represent Kenya and Kwa Njenga in this. I shared our climate education solution and remain truly inspired by solutions led by Paula Galvin, Noor Halini, Isis Flores, and Judith Priam. Congratulations to Noor Halini for winning #TeachersCOP.

One key takeaway shared by Wendy Kopp stayed with me throughout COP. When addressing this climate education challenge, we focus on the four pillars of climate education. They are important, but this is an opportunity for us to rethink the purpose of education. If we design our education to build students as leaders, prioritize building student agency, they will have the knowledge, skills, and values needed to tackle the climate crisis. So our ‘silver bullet’ in this fight is to have an education that builds students as leaders who will shape a better future.

I am truly grateful to Lennart Kuntze, Dr. Andrew Cunningham, and Sarah Horley for making sure teachers are part of the conversation. You cannot talk of implementing climate education without having teachers present.

I remain inspired by these amazing teachers!