Meet Elena Lengthorn, Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education, University of Worcester
Elena Lengthorn trains our future teachers at the University of Worcester. In a world where every child is growing up in a climate and ecological emergency, she believes every trainee teacher needs an understanding of how this affects young people's futures and their wellbeing. Over the past four years, with support from the university, she has developed an 'Education in Climate Emergency' module for students training to become secondary school teachers. It combines climate literacy with space to work out what our ecological situation means for themselves as educators.
"Our children need us to be well in order to do this work. We need to take a close look at how we ensure the wellbeing of our teachers."
Newly trained teachers are going into schools carrying their own unprocessed fears about climate change.
"A lack of confidence, a lack of knowledge, and sometimes carrying their own fears about climate education into the classroom," is how Elena Lengthorn describes it. As Lead Mentor for Secondary Geography PGCE at the University of Worcester, she decided to do something about it.
Four years ago, Lengthorn created an optional 12-hour module called Education in Climate Emergency – "a dramatic title for a dramatic situation". It combines carbon literacy training with space for trainees to explore how climate change affects them emotionally, and to develop a sense of solidarity and purpose.
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The carbon literacy element involves both individual and collective action – which helps develop a powerful sense of working together. The Climate Psychology Alliance describes this kind of collective action as a "protective layer against eco grief and eco anxiety".
But the module isn't just about information. It's about giving trainees the tools to navigate their own feelings before they try to support children with theirs.
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A crucial experience for teachers of all subjects
Common fears emerge in the sessions. Lengthorn outlines common questions and worries from her student teachers: "I don't know what to say to children. I don't know if it's too much information. I don't know how their parents are going to respond. Do I need permission to have these conversations? What if I find myself getting upset?"
Lengthorn says trainees need space to settle and find their own feelings "before they can navigate the world for children". Many describe the experience as therapeutic.
The University of Worcester has been supportive in enabling Lengthorn to deliver this, and deserves credit for backing such an initiative. To begin with, numbers were small – seven students, mainly geographers. Four years later she has a full cohort of 24, drawn from across subjects: psychology, modern foreign languages, science, IT. "Trainees from all subjects are saying this is important to me," she says.
Lengthorn has also built climate content into the university's core PGCE programme. In collaboration with Teach the Future, pupils from The Chase School have come to talk with trainees about the importance of climate education. "It's so much more impactful when the trainees hear input directly from children," she says. There are also opportunities for nature connection, including nature writing through 'Wildlife on Wednesdays' sessions.
Four years into the programme, Lengthorn is pleased that some alumni have stepped into sustainability leadership roles in their schools – "feeling a level of confidence and determination".
All educators should be environmental
But really, she says, it needs to be compulsory. "All educators are environmental educators." The challenge is that the timetable for initial teacher training is already packed. "What we are doing is ambitious and goes beyond what we are being asked to do." More broadly, she acknowledges the pressures and competing demands that school leaders face, particularly the cost of living crisis. It’s hard to bring our attention to this "long, slow emergency".
More broadly, Lengthorn believes in "working forwards together". She has organised climate assembly events bringing together local voices – the National Farmers Union, a Worcester environmental group, a speaker from the British Medical Association on children's health – to show what's happening in the local community. "By explaining what's happening here, the message lands differently."
Her vision is bigger than one module.
"We need a campaign of educators and educational leaders coming together – yes, training individual pre-service teachers is important, but in-service teachers and leaders also need to be supported in coming to terms with our climate reality." She pauses. "Our children need us to be well in order to do this work. We need to take a close look at how we ensure the wellbeing of our teachers."
This case study was written by Les Gunbie.
From our network
How do our children really feel about the future? SEEd is partnering with the University of Essex to map changing attitudes to sustainability of young people across the UK. If you work with young people, this could be a great opportunity for their voices to be heard.
Come along to a confidential and non-judgmental space for educators to process their own emotions with respect to the climate and ecological crisis, in a community of teachers that "get it". Reserve a place here.
What we're reading
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ITV ran a story last week about the suppressed government report into nature loss. Read – or watch – their coverage here! And if you want to find out more and discuss, come along to this Climate Majority Project breakfast call next week, where we'll be launching our latest report: We need a plan B: Engaging with the realities of catastrophic climate risk.
Till next time,
Josephine
