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School Strike 4 Climate: the intersection of education for sustainable development, education for global citizenship and the Australian Curriculum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2021

Karena Menzie-Ballantyne Open the ORCID record for Karena Menzie-Ballantyne [Opens in a new window]  and
Miriam Ham
Karena Menzie-Ballantyne*
Affiliation:
School of Education and the Arts, CQUniversity, University Drive, Bundaberg, QLD, Australia
Miriam Ham
Affiliation:
School of Education and the Arts, CQUniversity, Cairns, QLD, Australia
*
*Corresponding author: E-mail: k.menzie-ballantyne@cqu.edu.au
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Abstract

In June 2020, an Australian Curriculum (AC) review was announced, particularly regarding content crowding in primary years, flexibility and deep understanding of core concepts. The language of the announcement highlighted again the ‘competing-priorities’ discourse that suggests a disjuncture between focusing on fundamental knowledge and skills of literacy and numeracy and providing opportunities to develop broader conceptual understandings and skills inherent in the pedagogies of education for global citizenship (EGC) and education for sustainable development (ESD). By contrast, the School Strike 4 Climate rallies exemplified students’ integration of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes from a variety of disciplines and broader learning experiences embedded within the AC with the cross-curriculum priorities, particularly sustainability, and the general capabilities. This article claims that the School Strike 4 Climate rallies highlight the interconnection between EGC and ESD and the AC. It will argue that the inquiry-based, pedagogical approaches of EGC and ESD are powerful integrators offering teachers the opportunity to take cross-disciplinary approaches to planning, connecting multiple learning areas from the AC with real-world projects and issues. It is suggested that, far from crowding the curriculum, such integration frees up space and offers opportunities for the deep conceptual understanding the curriculum review seeks.

Keywords

School Strike 4 Climateeducation for sustainable developmentglobal citizenship educationAustralian curriculum
Type
Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 38 , Special Issue 1: School Strike for Climate , March 2022 , pp. 85 - 95
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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