1.3.2 Opening up space for politics in teaching and learning

As we continue to face growing and acute environmental disasters and injustices on both global and local scales, our position as educators is to challenge forms of educational research and practice and to break away from the comfortable luxury of staying neutral. Among the critical questions we need to raise, both in and outside of formal learning spaces such as schools, colleges and universities, are those related to the role of politics in climate emergency-related education.

Inspired by Booker et al. (2021) when developing this course, we grappled with the following questions:

• How can educators engage more directly with the political dimensions of teaching and learning?
• What might that engagement offer for addressing the climate emergency?

Considering such questions is crucial for everyone involved in teaching and learning and necessitates a commitment to change at all levels of our professional and everyday lives as we are ‘developing new ways of learning and being in relation to each other, our institutions, and our planet’ (Jurow and Zhang, 2021, p. 10).

Here, by using the term ‘politics’ we refer to issues of power, hierarchies and inequity, and to the roots of those issues. Striving for climate justice is a fight against all forms of oppression including structural racism, sexism, fascism, imperialism and the legacies of colonialism. Change will only be possible when explicit attention is paid to such issues as a means of identifying challenges that need to be addressed. This is where the political dimension of learning comes into play, and you’ll shortly explore strategies for supporting your students in climate crisis-related political engagement.

Next though, you’ll explore how the concept of transformative learning, and the principles of critical pedagogy, can be the basis for effective education and action addressing the climate emergency.