Meet Dutch geography teacher Wieneke Maris who teaches at secondary school level at the International School of The Hague. She is also a Climate Pact Ambassador in the Netherlands and a board Member of Teachers for Climate.
Wieneke is passionate about teaching sustainability and recently went on a year trip from August 2022 to July 2023, visiting schools and organisations in 15 European countries, in order to learn and share knowledge and experiences about education for sustainability, but also to set up network of teachers on sustainable education and contribute to the Erasmus project she is involved in, the Sustainability Accelerator Programme” (SAP).
In this TALK, Wieneke shares with us what she learned along this journey, but also her concerns as a teacher confronted to the eco-anxiety largely shared by her pupils, who for most of them feel hopeless, not having enough agency and possibility to influence the future and make a change.
“We need to do something about that” she says. Hard to argue with this.
Based on her experience, Wieneke firmly believes that teachers have to teach the scientific background of climate change, but also support their pupils and equip them with the right competences to becomes actors of change. She founded out during her carrier that something that makes a real difference is to connect her students with organisations or people outside of schools and strengthen the collaboration with that community. Something that will resonate with many members of the Education for Climate community.
Questions
01:25 Could you present yourself and share with us your experience of touring the EU in order to learn about the ways to teach sustainable education ?
05:45 You tell us that as a teacher you observe that eco-anxiety is largely shared among your students. Can you tell us more about this and how to tackle it?
07:45 What did you learn during your journey? What tips and ideas can you share with us on ways to better integrate sustainability into education?
13:50 You contribute to an Erasmus+ project called “Sustainability Accelerator Programme” (SAP). Can you tell us more about it and how it contributes to implementing innovation for sustainability?
Learn more and sign up to join the Sustainability Accelerator Programme: https://innovationhub.school/sustainability-accelerator-programme-2/
Are you interested to watch previous episodes? Check the Education for Climate Talks
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