InterClimate Network recognised with ‘Top Resource’ Award from Global Dimension for COP26 Climate Conference Resource. 

ICN heard earlier in the summer that our COP26 Climate Conference in the Classroom resource has been selected as a winner of the Global Dimension Awards 2022 in the category for Top Resources. 

At Reboot the Future, we have the privilege of collaborating with passionate organisations looking to provide teachers with the best, most engaging resources for their classrooms. We host these on our resource hub Global Dimension. We think that high quality resources and the wonderful people that make them deserve recognition, and that’s why we have introduced our inaugural Global Dimension Awards. 

The Top Resource Award goes to the five individual resources we’ve found to be the most helpful, inspiring and effectively designed. Your resource was selected because with students studying the key aspects of the climate crisis, the functions of the UN and learning to empathise with different countries’ situations, this offers a fantastic, multi-layered learning experience. 

Reboot the Future winners’ email

Our motivation

ICN is going to wear this badge with pride. The core motivation for our COP26 in the Classroom resource was a drive to meaningfully engage as many young people as possible with COP26. We wanted it to: 

  • bring to life critical thinking about the global impact of the Climate Crisis, with sharp focus on lived experience of climate change, especially for young people and the most vulnerable around the world 
  • sit within school priorities, particularly for schools reopening after lockdown 
  • provide a route for secondary students to engage with COP26 

Alongside our own schools’ climate conferences, this resource formed a key part of ICN’s contribution to a significant year of action across like-minded civil society organisations with one aim: to direct as much focus as possible on the decisions being made by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) in Glasgow at COP26.  

We know that all high-level decisions – from leadership at school, to the choice of Prime Minister, to country pledges at the UN – have an impact on the urgency of our response to the climate crisis right now, and profoundly affect how we will live in the future. 

Our team is now updating the resource in preparation for COP27 in Egypt (7-18 November), with all the pressure building again to see ambitious pledges on the table, and delivery on action and finance to match that ambition. It will be made available in the coming term through our own website and as part of a Climate Action toolkit with our I-CAN Erasmus+ project partners. 

We would also like to thank our other funders Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, abrdn Charitable Foundation and Scottish Power. Their support has meant we could bring the resource and conferences free of charge to schools involved in those projects. 

 

We are a partner organisation of the I-CAN network. I-CAN (International Climate Action Network) is an Erasmus+ funded project aiming to give teachers the skills and framework to teach students to become “effective critical thinking collaborators and active climate conscious citizens“.

Resource reach

Over 2000 students from more than 200 secondary schools have engaged with the resource. We have reached students across the UK and the Isle of Man, as well as students in France, Hungary and even Australia.  

75 British secondary schools have been involved in conferences led by the InterClimate Network team: 

  • 5 Climate Conferences, held in-person and digitally with Local Council support in Bristol, Gloucestershire, London, Reading and Solihull. Explore our 2021 conferences evaluation here.
  • 4 Nations digital event held with partners in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales 

More than 130 other secondary schools were involved in COP26 conferences, including:

  • whole year groups – sequences of lessons for years 7 and 8 culminating in a classroom conference
  • across year groups and whole schools – conferences organised by teachers and Development Education Centres
  • across academy chains
  • virtual and live conferences with eco-school networks including UK Sustainable Schools Network, Avon, Buckinghamshire and London Schools Environmental Networks
  • conferences with other councils led by linked/partner organisations
  • schools in France (briefings translated into French) and Hungary (students used English)  
  • schools in Wales in sessions by partners Size of Wales and Welsh Centre for International Affairs 

Thanks

ICN brought together and was grateful for the expertise of our associates and volunteers including trustees involved in climate policy in Brussels and UK. We adapted our tried and tested model UN climate conference format for secondary schools into a resource which could be successfully used in a wide range of settings, from individual classrooms, to conferences between schools across four nations. Our thanks to Sam Auden at Design and Tonic for her terrific graphic design work to make it so accessible and distinctive. 

As well as researching individual countries and their positions, we integrated the priorities for the COP26 global negotiations in Glasgow. Because of COVID restrictions, on-line sessions for civil society groups were introduced by the COP26 Unit that leads the Presidency on behalf of UK. Having regular access to briefings from Ministers, senior negotiators and many others in the UK Government COP26 team was highly instructive. 

We would like to thank Holly Everett at Global Dimension for her support in promoting the resource and inviting us to contribute to an article in the run up to COP26. We also ran on-line training for teachers and facilitators in UK, presented to teacher networks (such as the Geographical Association) and the network of Development Education Centres, and trained partners and teachers as part of our European Erasmus+ International Climate Action Network project.  

Reflections

Below are a few extracts of feedback we have received from teachers and students who have worked with our resource. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

Thanks for all of your time and effort in organising and hosting this event, it is one of the best activities I have taken part in with my eco group over the years. I like the fact that it is specific, and focused with an overall outcome at the end”  

Teacher, 2021 Conference

I attended a Climate Conference run by ICN to discuss how to combat the issue of climate change. The conference made a big difference to how I think about climate change by outlining and exploring the many problems it presents.

Student, 2021 Conference

Students were engaged with the fact that the UK was hosting COP26 and were really interested in the causes and impacts of climate change. Students who had a connection to their country were far more likely to get passionate about their research, e.g. a boy with Indian family did amazing research into India’s position. Students valued the opportunity to learn more about the issue of the day. 

Teacher, Devon

The conference went very well, way beyond my expectations. The pupils spoke a very good level of English, and were focused throughout the whole morning. I got the impression that this generation is much more concerned about the issue. 

Balazs Nagy, Anthropolis, Hungary (I-CAN partner) 

Written by

Michila Critchley

Michila is Programme Manager at InterClimate Network. She has extensive experience working with not-for-profit organisations internationally and in the UK.