Young activists leading the Scottish Climate Strikes demand a) climate justice and b) the prioritisation of climate crisis in education. Taking these demands seriously, this programme brought together diverse stakeholders to examine what it means to truly place social justice at the heart of efforts to address the climate crisis in education. Concretely, this entails a sustained focus on decolonising education and climate justice through which the programme team explored the historical entanglement of racism and capitalism in an effort to imagine a transition to more ‘climate just’ futures.

The programme therefore worked alongside young participants advocating for change through the Teach the Future Scotland Campaign and the Scottish Youth Climate Strikes, frontline communities, young activists working on decolonising the curriculum, teachers, trade unionists, community educators, academics and key players in education policy, including Learning for Sustainability Scotland to explore these themes. A series of participatory events allowed to build relationships, clarify and interrogate our own thinking and, ultimately, influence policy and practice ‘from the ground up’. The aim was to create a space that prioritised the knowledge and experiences of frontline communities and young activists in order to ‘educate the educators’ and influence key powerholders, whilst hearing from leading domestic and international academics.

This programme sought to catalyse wider long-term conversations about the need for, and scope of, education for climate justice and serve as a resource for further exchange and mutual learning as Scottish educators and educational policymakers aim to make Scottish education fit for purpose when it comes to addressing the climate crisis.