We wanted to find out how passionate teachers are about plastic pollution and its prevention. Together with this, we wanted to investigate how schools are treating the growing issue within the classrooms. For us it is critical that schools educate children on looking after the environment – their future depends on it after all.
We tried to interview a couple of local primary schools but sadly, none of them was empowered to participate. Still keen to hear things from the point of view of teachers, we made contact with a geography teacher (she asked us not to share her identity). What she told us made us feel both shocked and disappointed. Here is just how far behind schools are (from her point of view):
As a geography teacher, do you feel that schools do enough to educate children on plastic pollution?
I don’t think that enough is done in our school (you should see the state of the bins at our school) They don’t even own recycling bins, never mind teaching kids how to use them!
Is it environment and plastic pollution something that youwould like to see being taught more?
I watched the BBC documentary with my third-year class on plastic pollution and they told me that they thought that it was “boring”, so I think that they need to engage kids in the issue more.
Do you think it’s important that kids know about plastic pollution?
Of course, they need to know about it. I don’t think the pupils that I teach realise just what damage they are causing by throwing a way their plastic waste and not recycling it properly.
Is there a specific age where kids should be taught about plastic waste?
In the curriculum for excellence (Education Scotland, 2019), primary schools are supposed to teach kids way of looking after their schools environment so I think there is scope to be more specific and add in the stuff about plastic waste specifically because as a geography teacher it’s not part of the curriculum I’m expected to teach at high school when it definitely should be.
From our interview with this teacher, we were disappointed at the lack of awareness; involvement and ownership schools are creating for pupils and the environment. We feel as if children are not getting the depth of knowledge needed from an early age and more should be done about this. The Curriculum for Excellence should aim to educate Scottish pupils more and include the environment as a core subject.
Works Cited
Education Scotland. (2019, April 2). Retrieved from Scottish Education System: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/What%20is%20Curriculum%20for%20Excellence?
Planet Plastic 