At Kristin we have recently attained Enviroschools Green-Gold certification, with our outstanding students being the driving force behind achieving this status. Enviroschools is an action-based programme where young people are empowered to design and lead sustainability projects in their schools, neighbourhoods and country.

Through our involvement in the Enviroschools programme, students have further developed their understanding of climate change impacts. From a local perspective, this is done through simple acts like recycling and switching off lights. Students have also broadened their understanding of global issues including the devastation of rain forests and the extinction of certain species. This understanding is reinforced in the classroom through our International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, which focuses on global citizenship and community service.

With the positives this approach brings, there is a darker reality. I am referring to the rise of climate anxiety growing among school-age children worldwide. Our present reality, alongside global instability, is creating a palpable sense of apprehension about the future among young people.

This raises the question of how can we retain the importance of climate change without resorting to fear? Climate education needs to be inspiring; it needs to challenge, and as schools, we need to look to channel anxieties into actions that are both empowering and encouraging. Organisations like Enviroschools are excellent in this space, bringing the focus back to what students can do in their communities while still impacting the bigger picture. As educators, we recognise there is an appetite for creating a better, safer world and we need to capitalise on that positivity.

We must continue pushing the importance of change in a supportive, stimulating and valuable way. Most schools are already looking at ways to strengthen climate education within their curriculums to ensure we are inspiring rather than relaying statistics. There is a post-COVID-19 curriculum agenda here, too – one that uses the last couple of years to educate children on essential topics such as: what is a sustainable way to spend money? How can we live more sustainably?

Meaningful conversations and inspirational speakers in schools can be beneficial too, sharing experiences of those who have made a difference and are focused on giving back rather than on impending doom.

We also need to consider the age group we are educating. For younger children, fears are more related to things they can readily grasp, such as physical safety or animal extinction. For older children and teens, the focus might be more on how the world will be impacted by refugees or the global movement of the population, for instance. Either way, it is vital for schools to fully understand and participate in meaningful conversations with young people around climate change and that means we must continually re-educate ourselves, too.