The School's Climate Report
In collaboration with Firda secondary school, Sogn og Fjordane county council, 4H and United World College, we will develop a teaching program where teachers take students out into nature and the school's immediate environment.
The Norwegian Environment Agency is providing 60,000 kroner to the project "School Climate Report". The money has been provided through the Natural School Bag . The project will increase the competence of both students and teachers when it comes to sustainable development, with particular emphasis on the climate perspective.
High school students observe the Supphellebreen glacier in Fjærland during a field trip. Photo: Monica Østbye Hansen.
– The goal is to make students more aware of the local consequences of global warming, and what we can do for climate adaptation and sustainable development and restructuring in society. We are pleased that the Norwegian Environment Agency sees the value of this and are looking forward to getting started with the project in earnest, says John Brekke, director of the Norwegian Glacier Museum & Ulltveit-Moe Climate Center.
The teaching program emphasizes practicality – students go out into nature to learn. Concrete, local issues, exploratory working methods and a practical approach are central. The principal of the pilot school Firda vidaregåande skule, Hallgeir Hansen, believes that knowledge and insight into climate issues are becoming increasingly important for being able to participate actively in social life.
– The “green shift” in politics, economics and social development requires new knowledge, new jobs, new technology and new values for future generations. The Ludvigsen committee outlines the need for new subject combinations and greater emphasis on in-depth learning to give students the right skills for the future. Gloppen aims to be a pioneer municipality in testing climate and environmental education in primary and secondary schools, and we therefore look forward to being a pilot for the “School Climate Report”, says Hansen.
An example of practical teaching in nature; lively communication and adapted excursion booklets with questions that deal with natural geography, glaciology and climate knowledge. Photo: Norwegian Glacier Museum.
The pilot project will be a multidisciplinary project to increase knowledge about climate and the environment for students in their first year of upper secondary school. It will also be an important foundation for a larger effort to develop a new program subject for the study specialization education program at upper secondary schools.
It is natural to involve science, social studies, geography, mathematics, Norwegian and physical education in the project, which should also have value for the school in the long-term learning work. The upper secondary school will be involved from the start, but the project should also have transfer value to other schools, with the possibility of local adaptations.
In the long term, the goal is to adapt the project to grade levels in elementary school.