Pilot Programme

The Irish Second-Level Students’ Union and Educators for Sustainability are collaborating in running a pilot programme of the short course, which began in the school year 2021-2022. Approximately 15 schools offered the course in the first year of the pilot programme, and in the second year a similar number of additional schools are offering the course. The pilot will run for the full three years of the short course.

The pilot programme is providing initial online teacher training, peer-support meetings, and online resource sharing and development between the teachers of the short course in each school. These activities are funded through a WorldWise Global Schools NGO/School network grant, and by the Sunflower Fund through the Community Foundation for Ireland’s Youth Fund.

The objectives of the pilot programme are to build teacher capacity within pilot schools by providing teacher training and peer learning; to build and test a bank of relevant resources available to all schools to support learning for climate action; to review the course, with a view to amending the specification where necessary based on teacher experience of teaching the course; and to evaluate impact of the course on student perceptions of their knowledge, skills, attitudes and motivation for climate action, through surveying by schools at the start and end of the school year.

The pilot is coordinated by sustainability and climate change educators: in the first year, Sian Cowman and Nancy Serrano; and in the second year Nancy Serrano and Áine O’Gorman.