Mrs Henderson is the first teacher in County Durham to be a UN accredited Climate Change Teacher. She can now deliver up to date climate change lessons to all pupils at St Bede's Catholic Academy, Lanchester and plans to share Best Practice in an inset day with all teaching staff, so that they too can take part in this new innovative programme being trialled in UK Schools.
Mrs Henderson, Teacher of Geography, St Bede's Lanchester, says, "Climate change isn't something that happens to someone else, somewhere else on the planet. It affects all of us. Our pupils have experienced some of the effects of climate change with the extreme weather that has been happening over the past few years, floods, heatwaves and storms. I enjoy leading conversations with pupils about the issues surrounding us and engaging them in dialogue about the causes of climate change and what we can do to mitigate and adapt to our changing climate. By doing the UN course on climate change it gives me more authenticity to be able to lead these discussions."
The UN Climate Change Teacher Academy is being delivered by Harwood Education, in partnership with the One United Nations Climate Change Learning Partnership (UN CC:Learn) and sponsored by YPO. Not only will teachers be able to teach their pupils vital lessons about climate change but they will also earn CPD and certification from the United Nations.
The innovative programme was launched on April 22 and is free for all primary and secondary school teachers. All they need to do is log onto the Climate Change Teacher Academy to access the fully funded courses. Once teachers have completed the five units of the Climate Change Teacher Course, they will be accredited by UN CC:Learn to deliver climate change facts and mitigation best practices. They will be able to encourage and generate social innovation, and prepare today’s youth to protect the planet.
The online training for teachers in primary and secondary schools has been designed to equip educators with the knowledge and confidence to deliver lessons on the topic of climate change to their class and across the school curriculum.
A target of 80 schools are being urged to sign up to take part in an initial trial of the course, lasting around two months, which covers topics including climate change science, gender and environment, children and climate change, cities and climate change, and human health. The programme will then be made available to all schools across the UK with first lessons expected to be delivered in the classroom from the end of June.