Teach Secondary 13.7

Tomorrow’s economists, lawyers, planners and policymakers will all need a grounding in ‘green knowledge’ – which geography teachers are ideally placed to deliver... G eography teachers often take pride in how their work supports young peoples’ environmental awareness. Correspondingly, many geography students will have their own individual interests in environmental issues. Such interests may now be more important than ever, in a workforce where sustainable approaches and green skills will to be needed to address the challenges that climate change presents for our economy, society and environment. But when we speak of ‘green skills’ and ‘green jobs’, what do we actually mean? Strong public support There’s significant confusion and a numbermisconceptions around this developing area. Research by Public First has highlighted very low levels of knowledge regarding the green sector, a lack of clear career pathways into it, and how people see green jobs as ‘A bit of a punt’ (see tiny.cc/ ts137-G1). The CBI has additionally found that educating the public about net zero remains a ‘huge task’ – without which, it believes, people will be less likely to choose careers in the sector (see tiny.cc/ts137-G2 ). What we do know is that there’s strong public support for geography’s contribution to green skills. According to YouGov polling, 70% of all UK adults agree that young people need to study geography to prepare themwith the skills and knowledge needed to work in ‘green jobs’. However, geographers might do well to consider how effectively our subject connects lessons learnt in the classroomwith young peoples’ views about their career prospects. When asked about the factors influencing their subject choices in relation to their future careers, 51% of young people said it was to ‘ Earn a good salary ’ – contrasting sharply with the 14% of young people seeking careers in which they could help address environmental or social concerns (see tiny.cc/ ts137-G3). Asteep pyramid? We in the geography community might therefore want reflect on: •Whether we’re being explicit about the contribution of green knowledge and skills to the workplace, and how these can also underpin careers in well-paid jobs •Howwe can promote the study of geography as a way of supporting this •Whether we present studying geography as a steep pyramid leading only to more geography at A Level and university, rather than something pupils can take with them into relevant vocational courses or apprenticeships These are timely questions, given the government’s upcoming independent review of the National Curriculum, and the forthcoming Green Careers Week taking place from 4th to 9th November. So where might we find green knowledge and skills in the geography classroom? One way might be to present geography as adopting an ‘integrated systems’ approach to the human and physical worlds. A key strength of the subject is how it enables young people to understand the ways in which interactions between people (human geography) and the environment (physical geography) shape and change places at different scales. This distinctive geographical approach is central to “We can connect the science of climate change with its implications” The future ISGREEN teachwire.net/secondary 58