Climate emergency day for PGCE history trainees

History PGCE trainees at the University of York have spent a day of the final part of their professional programme focusing on teaching history through an environmental lens and their role as form tutor in their new schools. 

In January, the trainees worked with Dr Alison Kitson and Dr Michael Riley from UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability and learnt about what history teachers are doing nationally to adapt their teaching to this huge challenge of our times. The purpose of the follow-up day was to develop their knowledge further and to make plans for enacting in their first teaching posts from September. 

The training day was led by Professor Paula Mountford and Helen Snelson from the Department of Education. Trainees focused on the contribution that school history lessons can make to education in an age of climate crisis. With an already-full national curriculum, work focused on how to reframe topics that are already taught in schools in order to incorporate an environmental perspective.

We asked our history trainees to tell us more about their experience of the training day:

What ideas emerged from the day about the contribution of school history to education in an age of climate crisis? 

David Turner reflects that the session focus on ‘is it necessary?' converted a lot of the trainees from ‘it’s the role of the geographers’ to actually seeing utility in teaching climate change and its relation to humans in the history classroom. 

He plans to teach impact on the environment as a factor alongside the big three ‘political, social, and economic’ factors that are used so often. He learnt useful subject knowledge to weave into his teacher talk in a way that is memorable for pupils. For example, about the huge development of the Argentinian steak trade as a result of World War One. 

David is interested to see if environmental history can work as a thematic study in the way that medicine, or crime and punishment do.

How did the day develop your thinking about climate change and the teaching of it?

Amy Nutall found that the session left her feeling inspired, saying: “as a teacher, this is a career in which I can have an impact on climate change through education. Prior to this session I felt some hopelessness about climate change. The session changed my attitudes on the ways in which climate education can have a positive impact.

Whereas before I felt that I didn't want to pressure students into feeling more climate anxiety than our teens often do, I can now see a way forward that involves radical hope, rather than anxiety and the hopelessness I previously experienced. I now feel passionate about this cause and feel that it has changed my approach to teaching in a meaningful way.”

What new plans do you have for the teaching of the popular school history topic of the Industrial Revolution?

Luke Higginson, says: “Following the session on Climate Change in the History Classroom, I plan on altering my approach to the Industrial Revolution in a few ways. It is evident that the topic needs to be approached from a more climate-conscious angle and one way I plan to commit to this is by looking at the ways particular landscapes have changed as a result of the IR. This would involve the students exploring the ways harmful changes have affected areas (local or national).

I would also like to delve deeper into the nuance of the causes of the IR and how it was driven just as much by a desire for profit, as it was by a desire for “progress”. Ultimately, the healthiest way to explore this topic in a way that relates to climate change, is to make it as linked to the modern day as possible and allow for students to express their thoughts and feelings on the issue at hand.”

How will you approach tricky questions about climate change in the classroom?

Bill Pain reflects: “I will approach climate change questions in the classroom in a way that guides students in the direction of positive change but not answer in ways that scare them. You want to be honest about the challenges we face. However, you do not want to do that in a way that makes them uncomfortable in the classroom. I want to make sure that students leave the classroom with a well-rounded education and part of that is knowing about the world around them.”

A huge thanks to the PGCE history trainees for their enthusiastic participation and creative thinking. We look forward to seeing how they shape the practice of their new school departments from September!