here is an extract from a long zoom session teach4theplanet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSLRfcLFKfU yesterday  which included john twinney- i have included some timestamps in case you want to go into the video  ...for teachers and unions to work with governments to include quality climate education for education

itselfin the classroom integrated into their systems in every country that should be part of countries climate

promises and commitments on a credible time scale the united nations

is organizing the cop 26 climate change conference which begins at the start of november countries will

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come together and review their commitments to combat climate change and scotland is the host country

so we're joined in this next panel discussion by larry flanagan the general secretary of the educational

institute of scotland and minister john swinney the deputy first minister and cabinet secretary for

education and skills in scotland and now share with us their thoughts on why this conference cop

26 is important and what it means for  education unions

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and for quality climate education welcome to both of you larry and john and maybe let me start by

asking you both what does cop26 why does it matter to the education sector

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john thanks very much andrew and it's a great pleasure to take part in this conversation

through education international cop 26 matters for our education system

because fundamentally we have to ensure that young people are equipped

to meet the challenges of the ever-changing world in which we are living and climate change is one of those

fundamental challenges- the most fundamental challenge that we all face

in the forthcoming period so we have to make sure that young people are equipped with an

understanding of the issues and and from that they can form their commitments

and influence the commitments of society to tackle this very significant issue and obviously we have a unique3

relationship withthe cop 20 cop26 because

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it will take place um in the city of glasgow in scotland and rescheduled 

..

but we hope it's going to be able to take place on a face-to-face basis and provide a

landmark agreement that can tackle climate change so we'll come back on those points but

larry what's your perspective so why does cop26 matter for education

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i would echo john's point essentially for us here in scotland cop26 is a real opportunity to

consolidate and reinvigorate the work which has already been undertaken

because in education for sustainability has been a key part of a curriculum here in

scotland for um over a decade now the curriculum for excellence

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and by having an event like cop 26 I think does allow us to use it as a catalyst for re-energizing

that agenda and i think everyone understands that education is the key to the future and tackling climate

change and is about the future so particularly in our schools with the enthusiasm of young people in

relation to the need to tackle climate change then

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this is a real opportunity and for us here in scotland but also i think globally corp 26 allows us to

reset and reinvigorate the the campaign to tackle climate change as effectively as possible and we're

certainly looking forward to it i come from glasgow this is my home city and

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i'm looking forward to the opportunity to host the world around this very important pool so john

as a minister what's your commitment then to make education visible at cop26 what are you going to do

141:30

i think as larry mentioned the whole issue of considering questions around

sustainability have been at the heart of scotland's curriculum you know we

made a conscious decision over a decade ago to move our curriculum

to ensure that it equipped young people with the skills the knowledge and the attributes

and the capacities that would enable them to deal with the world as they find it

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and of course climate change is a central part in that challenge so the presence of cop 26 within

scotland brings that curriculum to life for young people and we've taken forward for some time a

learning for sustainability strategy and that provides opportunities for young people to learn and to understand

about questions of sustainability so that's a thread that runs through our curriculum

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and we will be encouraging and motivating our focus within our schools on the issues that emerge from the that

are part of the preparation for cop 26 and what emerges from cop26 and obviously that fits in very closely with the

policy agenda of the government on tackling climate change in its widest sense and again going back over

over a decade the scottish parliament enacted by law

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some of the most demanding targets for tackling climate change and they are

essentially the most demanding of any jurisdiction in the world and we are having to work hard to adapt

and change our systems to enable us to comply with those targets

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so i think what cop26 provides us with an opportunity to do is to share the progress that we have

made in scotland but then also to be challenged about what more needs to be done because all

of us need to change practices and approaches to enable us to tackle

143:17

this very significant issue so john cop 26 is obviously a symbolic  event to crystallize a lot of these

discussions but will you carve out for example during the event or in some parallel

sessions the opportunities for teachers in the education community to very actively engage with the debates and

discussions

yes and we want to do that you know we have as a government and take an approach to maximize the

widest possible engagement with the issues around cop26..so we are creating opportunities

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Obviously still a little bit uncertain because of the implications of covert as to what will be the physical format of those

arrangements but we are structuring a whole engagement program so that different sectors of our society

can be involved in those discussions- we want to make sure that educators and also young people

are very much at the heart of that discussion and that they have the opportunity to influence our thinking as we prepare

for cop 26 but also to interact with the colleagues from around the globe will be coming to glasgow for what will

be an absolutely central event in tackling climate change

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and larry both you and john have mentioned that point about how the scottish curriculum has already been

integrating issues of sustainability and climate change for some time

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that said you still see some scope for increasing that and what are the tensions you know kind of balancing it

with existing curricular and teacher priorities… larry

144:50

i think that you know there's a huge challenge around fitting everything into

the curriculum it's a constant dialogue that we're having and but i think

 the learning for sustainability is a cross-curricular feature and and it's something that we want to embed

into the daily life of our schools and there's a government agency education scotland

which oversees a curriculum and as john indicated here we're in dialogue with him so that across the

corps summit we have something taking place in every school in the country and where staff and pupils are engaged

and addressing and considering the main themes of the corps summit so

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there is there's no single agency here which has possession of this precious agenda

145:38

and one of the things that we try to do in scotland is to work collaboratively and wherever

possible on agreed aims and certainly i think in terms of attacking climate change then

we're in a strong place to make sure that our education system is preparing young people for a

future in which this this particular agenda is tackled effectively so you know across a whole range of

areas and there's a lot of work on going all of which creates a synergy around a better future

for children and young people

 146.14 john anything o add on onbuilding that extra headroom tointegrate still further in advance uh

Curriculum integration around sustainability and climate change beyond what scotland's

done already

146:26

obviously we're constantly revisiting as a government in relation to our wider policy agenda

the commitments that we are making on climate change and you know as as as as each piece of

research takes its course the challenge becomes ever more significant and serious for all of us