Thanks to ERASMUS+, we are co-leading the research and education project ‘CLARITY’: Transformative Climate Resilience Education for Children and Youth: From Climate Anxiety to Resilience, Creativity and Regeneration.
Which challenges does the clarity project address?
Climate change education in schools and universities tends to focus on environmental facts, whilst little room is given to inner dimensions of change and to collective ation. The emotional and mental wellbeing of students, as well as the values, skills and mindsets that are needed for addressing societal challenges and fostering transformation are hardly considered. Consequently, children and youth are increasingly experiencing climate anxiety, associated overwhelm and denial.
CLARITY aims to address these challenges by (1) enhancing educators’ skills for dealing with climate anxiety and nurturing inner resilience of learners, and (2) supporting more integrative approaches that link the inner and outer dimensions of transformation.
What will we create through the Clarity project?
Based on the GreenComp Framework adapted for children and youth education and an inter- and transdisciplinary co-creation process, we will develop an innovative educators toolbox (that links psychological, artistic/creative and ecological approaches) and train educators in implementation. Through an online resource hub, and our online community platform, we will support related knowledge exchange and regenerative shifts in underlying paradigms and approaches.
So far, we have produced the following documents:
Our CLARITY competence framework can be accessed here.
We also released a policy-brief advocating for transformative climate change education for children and youth as you can see here.
What are the objectives of the CLARITY project?
As a result of the project, children and youth educators will be better equipped to provide social, emotional, ethical and trauma-informed education that supports climate resilience across individual, collective, and system levels. This does not only involve enhancing the emotional and mental wellbeing of children and youth and building their capacities as transformative change-agents. It also involves creating a field of change through more regenerative cultures and communities of practice needed to address climate change and other societal crises in the long run.
How can you get involved in the CLARITY project?
If you are a teacher or an educator, you are welcome to take part in the CLARITY project in various ways:
- You can join our pilot teacher training from January to March 2025. You can learn more here and express interest here before December 13th, 2024.
- You are also welcome to register your interest in joining future cohort-based training for teachers and educators in the fall-winter 2025-2026 here.
- You can join our ‘transforming climate eduction’ online community for teachers and educators here.
For any other collaborations or ideas, please contact us: [email protected].
Which organisations are partnering under the CLARITY project?
Project partners include: Lund University, One Resilient Earth, REAL School Budapest, Climate Creativity, Legacy17, and The Vision Works, and associated partners are the UNESCO Chair of Futures Literacy at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences and the Learning Planet Institute.
The project will run from October 2023 to March 2026.
