Page 35 - Climate Conference - EBook 2023: Al-Qasemi Academy

Climate Change Education - Policy and
practice
Dr. Gilmor keshet-Maor

Director of science and mathematics Division , Ministry
of Education, Israel

ABSTRACT
On the backdrop of climate change (CC) and the related disasters, which are already
becoming a permanent feature of people's lives across the globe, the Ministry of
Education and the Ministry of Environmental Protection jointly established a policy of CC
education to prepare our children for living in a changed climate. Students today need to
be equipped with a new set of knowledge and skills that will enable them to grow and
flourish in a world different from the one we knew, less stable and less predictable across
all the interconnected systems of environment, economy, culture, and society. It is
.projected that no system on Earth will remain untouched by CC (IPCC, 2022)
Accordingly, since Sept. 2022, a new CC curriculum, designed by a multi-disciplinary
expert committee, has been applied to content development, school lessons, and
professional development. The policy is driven by three main principles: (1) CC will be
taught as an independent subject in the 8th and 10th grades, based on the structure
presented by the IPCC. (2) CC issues will be embedded in various school subjects from K
to 12 in an age-appropriate manner. (3) Student agency and initiatives will be promoted in
.school and the community
Schools are required to develop CC school plans, taking into account the local school's
needs, available resources, and school community. Each school will establish an
interdisciplinary CC leadership team to oversee the CC curriculum's implementation. The
school leadership team will be responsible for planning CC activities, organizing students’
participation in local and national projects and activities concerning CC, involving
students in community projects, supporting teachers’ professional development, and
.other initiatives as appropriate for each school
In summary, the Israel Ministry of Education has identified the urgent need to develop a
national CC curriculum. In following this call, over the past year, the Ministry has been
working to develop state-of-the-art CC curricula based on evidence-based educational
theories and practices. We believe that preparing our students to grow and thrive in an era
.of CC should be a prime goal for ministries of education worldwide

Keywords: Climate Change Education; Environmental Education; Sustainability Education;
Science Education