Sustainable Development Goals: The What, When, Why and How?
Our skills as Primary English teachers are challenged more than ever in the current climate as we guide the children in our classes on the first steps of their journey through life. Many of us worry about educating children for a future we know very little about. Events like the pandemic and sadly, war, have taught us how dramatically our world can change almost overnight. Events like these have made everyone think about the urgent need for peace and kindness in the world.
To be honest, the world is a complicated place for us all to navigate, but it is especially so for children. Fortunately, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals provide us with a veritable road map and pre-primary and early primary classrooms are the perfect place to start out on this journey.
What?
The colourful United Nations Sustainable Development Goals grid can be seen everywhere now – on the Internet, in schools, at the supermarket. I recently saw it on the side of a bus.
Check out the goals on the United Nations’ website here.
As Primary English teachers, we are raising awareness about what these colourful squares mean and looking at what the children themselves can actually do.
To quote the United Nations, “At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”
The media often presents us with an image of ‘doom and gloom’ about the world and the environment, which children very quickly pick up on. This view does not encourage anyone to want or feel they can make a difference. It is much more positive to concentrate on the children’s natural ability to find awe and wonder in everything, and also play on their ‘can-do’ attitude. At the recent UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal (COP15, December 2022) Inger Andersen, the UN’s environment chief called for immediate action saying:
‘We need to change the relationship between people and nature. And if we are honest, time is not on our side. We’ve backed nature into a corner and it’s time to ease the pressure. We also know it is a remarkable thing and nature is very forgiving. If we give it half a chance, it will bounce back. Let’s not pause for a second. Embrace the history we have made in Montreal and let’s get down to the business of delivering the framework.’
Inger Andersen’s reflections give some hope and the feeling we may not be ‘too late’, which is a great approach when working on this important topic with young children.
When?
The United Nations are hoping we achieve the SDGs by 2030.
As I have said above, in order to ensure that our students grow up to make a difference to the world they will inherit, the younger we start the children on this road, the better.
Why start young?
Pre-primary and primary-aged children generally tend to:
- be open-minded;
- be idealistic;
- have a “can-do” attitude.
Pre-primary and primary-aged children in our classes are the future, so it is important they understand they can make a difference. Looking after their world and the people and animals in it needs to become intrinsic to them.
How?
The Sustainable Development Goals can easily be simplified for children.
Encouraging the children in our classes to be kind to other people, to animals, to the Planet and the environment will help us work towards making our schools, communities and the children’s world a whole lot better.
The aim of the activities in my recent OUP webinar were to raise awareness of the Sustainable
Development Goals among pre-primary, primary age children and even lower secondary English Language learners.
SDGs in my classroom
Education in values and citizenship have long been important in my teaching but I started work on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) when I discovered:
The World’s Largest Lesson, a project to promote the use of the SDGs in learning, is a great place to start. It encourages us to begin with simple ideas to build a foundation to then approach more complicated issues, something I have been putting into practice ever since.
In my experience, the goals relating to Peace, People and the Planet are the most accessible ones to engage children.
I’m often asked by colleagues and teachers of older learners whether the children in my classes are not too young to learn about SDGs. Saying a child is too young to learn about SDGS is like saying they are too young to learn a language. As language teachers of young learners, we know that we don’t start with the Present Perfect Conditional and technical vocabulary. We provide them with a fun, meaningful experiences and teach language that is useful and functional. The same principles apply when working with SDGs in the Primary classroom – we just need to start simple and work up from there.
At Primary level, our aim should be to help children approach situations with empathy and understanding and encourage them to reflect and become aware of the simple things they can do.
In some ways, it is easier to teach SDGs to younger learners. We are usually not trying to change a mindset – the children haven’t yet formed their ideas and convictions about the issues.
We should not, however, underestimate children’s interest and concern about the world they live in. The Oxford Children’s word of the year for 2023 was climate change.
To become changemakers, children need to know about the world. In the words of Kofi Annan, “Knowledge is power.”
In class, we can simply present the children with information of the issues and show them how they could make change happen. It is important to value their opinions. When asked, children often come up with some ingenious ways to ‘fix’ things. When challenged, they are brilliant. Whether it is investigating ways to make their snacks waste-free or ways we can reduce carbon emissions, I’m often left speechless with their ideas. Show interest in what they are saying, and you will often be amazed at how they are geniuses of simplicity.
If you missed my webinar on September 5th, I encourage you to go back and watch it here.
I also encourage you to go and look at the wonderful new materials about Sustainable Development Goals in Learn with us Now.
Learn more about how to start educating young changemakers now with free lesson plans about Wellbeing, Diversity & Inclusion, and Sustainability. Download them here.
Once the children participate in ‘change’, they will grasp the concept that their contributions, however small in childhood, will be vital in changing in the world.
In the words of Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
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