Sustainability & Climate Change in Textiles Education (Online On-Demand)

Description

Online Course Tackling Sustainability & Climate Change in Textiles Education

ONLINE ON-DEMAND

FEES: FULL COURSE £35

Online Course Tackling Sustainability & Climate Change  & How we can deliver this through a textiles lens

This course uses presentations and materials collated for the Textiles Action For A Sustainable Future conference in June 2023. It focuses on sustainability and climate change, and how textiles education can make practical differences, using case studies approaches from businesses, NGOs and teachers.

Climate Stripes created by Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading (2018)
Showing how global average temperatures have risen over nearly two centuries.

The UK Government legislation to meet net zero by 2050, involves us all to act in order to achieve the 25 Year Environment Plan and Net Zero Strategy. This includes the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and UNESCO’s ‘Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for 2030’, which sets out the key role of education in the successful achievement of the goals.

 Contributors include:

WAYNE HEMINGWAY (Hemingway Design)

MET OFFICE - Dr Jane Strachan (Head of Internatioanl Applied Science and Services) & Emily Barker (Flood Forecasting Centre)

PRIMARK - Lynne Walker (Director PRIMARK CARES); Nicholas Lambert & Vicki Swain (Primark Cares Team)

MARKS & SPENCER - Simran Virk (Sustainability Manager) & Daniel Mountford (Sustainability Coordinator)

FASHION ENTER LTD. - Jenny Holloway (CEO Fashion Enter Ltd.)

SUSTAINABLE FASHION WEEK - Amelia Twine (Founder/Director)

REPAIR WHAT YOU WEAR - Ros Studd (co-Founder)

READING UNIVERSITY - Dr Jo Anna Reed Johnson - (School Director of Climate & Sustainability); Graham Goldthorpe (PGCE Subject leader for D&T); Melanie Jay (PGCE Subject Leader for Art & Design)

GREEN SCHOOLS PROJECT - Henry Greenwood

RACHEL ADDY - D&T Textiles teacher and Sustainability Lead at Marlow School

KATE TURNBULL - HOD Fashion & Textiles at Headington School, Oxford

UK GOVERNMENT POLICY PAPER: Sustainability and Climate Change: A strategy for the education and children’s services systems.
Published 21 April 2022

Education is crucial in equipping and empowering children and young people with the tools to tackle the climate change challenge. This event aims to give up-to-date information, advice and practical guidance on integrating climate education into D&T and Art & Design Textiles courses. 

This course looks at the Fashion & Textiles industry and the British schools curriculum, with presentations from sustainability experts from high street clothing brands such as PRIMARK & Marks & Spencers, designers, manufacturers and education, talking about and giving examples of how they are tackling the challenges of becoming climate and environmentally friendly. They identify and outline how a step change in climate and sustainability education can be made, so that young people have the skills and knowledge needed for the twenty-first century.

The course also looks at the NATIONAL CLIMATE EDUCATION ACTION PLAN which emerged from the Climate Education Summit in September 2021, organised by Reading University, one of the world's leading centres for the study of climate.

The aims are to:

Why is this important?

Currently, young people in the UK face a ‘lottery’ with regards to climate/sustainability education and subjects, such as textiles, which desperately needs perceptions and attitudes changing. The textiles industry is one of the largest polluters, users of valuable resources and producers of waste. Young people, teachers, and experts from across a breadth of subjects are calling for change and textiles teaching can support this.

There is a huge need for essential skills and knowledge, to prepare for the challenges of a changing climate, to be taught across the curriculum. Appropriate training and support for all staff within schools and colleges, including teachers, leaders and governors, is also essential.

Climate and sustainability are such important issues and we hope to update you on what is already happening both nationally and locally and support you in delivering this through your teaching.

The Tempestry Project (Asy Connelly, Marissa Connelly, and Emily McNeil 2017- now, Philadelphia)

The Knitting Map (Jools Gilson and Richard Povall, Cork 2005)

Why do this course?