COP26 Comes to School (Teacher Training)

In November 2021, the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) will be hosted by the UK in Glasgow. Schools and teachers have an opportunity to bring students closer to the COP with our COP26 in the Classroom resource, which brings a UN-style climate conference to school and can be run virtually. This session introduces the resource.

Date and time: Wednesday 20th October 16:30 – 18:00 (1.5 hours)

Venue: Zoom (sign up below)

Resource description: Student teams represent a range of countries and have to research, present and debate their country pledges and climate challenges, then collaborate to raise global ambition for action.

This curriculum enrichment resource brings COP26 to life in the classroom via a sequence of three sessions:

1. The Climate Crisis which poses 6 questions for students to critically discuss the climate emergency.
2. From Paris to Glasgow outlines these vital stages of UN decision making and sets out country roles.
3. COP26 comes to school guides you and your students through your own UN-style climate conference.

First requiring independent research, students will be fully immersed in the challenges, impact and urgency of the global climate crisis whilst developing soft skills (team work, public speaking and collaboration) in their own conference. A teacher pack explains the detail and notes and film links accompany each of the session PowerPoints. The student pack gives an overview of COP26 and separate briefings for 18 countries.

By the end of this training you will:

• Have an overview of COP26 in Glasgow, November 2021
• Know what a COP26-style conference is and how you might run it in your school
• Have an understanding of how to facilitate a mini-conference
• Have the confidence to hold your own COP26

ICN’s full COP26 resource is available here: COP26 Climate Conference Resources › Global Dimension.