By Brad Hayes, Independent Education Union
This was adapted from Mr. Hayes’ presentation at the ‘Educators Stand for Climate Justice and a Just Transition’ held in May 2023 at Lautoka, Fiji.

It’s useful to break down the actions and union strategies into three distinct phases, which bear similarities to the ‘Educate/ Organise/ Action’ approach. The final curriculum documents are the end point but the hard work lies in the need to advocate for change and have the member power and strong union voice to overcome any political opposition.

The first step is building capacity and expertise in our plan for change. Before educating students, we need to educate and prepare our own members, employers and the government authorities that we deal with. This can take a number of forms, but it is a good way to start building our case. This is the ‘why’ argument and creates momentum for change. So what are our tasks? We need to:

• Run professional development and events for union members and officials, covering climate responses at the individual and collective level. This reinforces the understanding that climate is union business.  
• Create Sustainability / Climate Change Committees of union members and officials: these could be at the area, branch or national level. They provide the opportunity to discuss, inform and plan.
• Use bargaining and collective agreements to double down on our commitment: ensure provisions that establish and support member committees in schools, or the opportunity for members to have input on WHS committees to include climate change and workplace actions on the agenda. Provide training and support for members on these groups.
• Back up union climate policies with public action: support student climate strikes, attend public events, days of action etc.
• Union workplaces should consider developing their own Climate Proof Action Plans: these set out the union’s own short-term and long-term targets. Make this publicly known and available.

The second task is positioning for influence with government and policy makers. Once we have built member and organisational confidence, knowledge and capacity, it’s time to target the decision makers. Depending on the jurisdiction, this may take the form of formal and informal consultation or lobbying with members of government or curriculum authorities.

One consideration that hangs over this phase, and can be a frustrating diversion, is the ‘climate wars’ narrative promoted by conservative politicians and media. I assume the “keep left wing views out of classrooms” or “teach both sides” is not just a problem in Australia. Anti-union governments will rarely welcome union input into curriculum. We need our unions to be strong enough to overcome such obstacles. I propose a few key action points:

• Like all change agendas, it will only be delivered with a strong union voice. We must be active in the professional space, backed by the industrial.
• We need to engage with the decision makers at any opportunity to build relationships and legitimacy for our input.
• In Australia, our unions, even under a coalition government, had opportunities to participate in the review of the Australian curriculum in 2021. We need to be involved and get more members involved.
• We also need to allocate resources to dedicated professional officers to identify and promote curriculum issues. This is part of the sign and symbol that we take the issue seriously and know what we are talking about.

Finally, the end game is the classroom. Once we have done the hard work of the education and organisation phases, we need to see what’s possible in the classroom.

Hopefully after phase 1 and 2, the curriculum will have dedicated climate-based units, such as in Australia where we have units like Living on Earth: Managing Earth’s Resources. However, the school curriculum will need to better integrate modules that cover renewable energy technologies, sustainable agriculture and environmental policy, with a balance between theoretical knowledge and more importantly, their practical application for future green jobs. For instance, the Australian curriculum has a ‘Sustainability’ cross curriculum priority (the SCCP). However, based on experience, without thorough planning and support, many teachers will struggle to find ways to incorporate the SCCP into their teaching practice.

This means that we need to capitalise on what’s already in the curriculum – such as training and professional development for members that highlight the places in the curriculum where climate topics can be taught. There are also bodies such as the Climate Change Education Network that can be engaged to target such areas and they have excellent teaching resources and professional development. For example, there is some good news in the Australian Curriculum as the updated curriculum in 2022 has 32 references to climate change, where it previously only had four. They are in diverse subjects including civics, history, the arts and mathematics, but they are still predominantly in the sciences.

However, we are still worried about the Australian Curriculum because the explicit mention of climate change is still missing in primary schools. In secondary schools, there is still a gap between students who want to take action, and clear syllabus guidance about what practical action looks like. As governments move toward low-carbon industries, there will be a renewed emphasis on the future skills needed to work in these industries. There is a general anxiety, however, that skill shifts in emerging green economies tend to adversely impact low-paying jobs. The question then becomes ‘how do we support future workers to upskill and reskill’?

This will mean that rapidly evolving industries and technologies will likely focus more on life-long learning strategies, rather than front-loaded qualifications and training. This will tend to involve on-the-job training options, short reskilling and, especially Vocational Education and Training (VET). Hence, schools will need to explore new industry partners for VET that are focused on practical skills and certifications recognised in new industries such as solar panel installation, energy auditing, green building construction, and sustainable agriculture. We need to ask: are these available in existing VET options for our students? And for our career guidance colleagues: informing students about growing areas of work in low-carbon industries, and the projected decline in other jobs and employment sectors with high emissions will be critical.

While there are upcoming exciting opportunities in new green industries, this will be meaningless if the right workers with the right skills mix are not in place. As has already been mentioned, our union values have to underpin what will be a dramatic period of transition and change. This means no student is left behind. No school, no worker and no industry must be left behind.