Teachers' Choice 2022

Letters to the Earth has been described by our teaching community as ‘deeply moving and motivating’ as well as ‘original, powerful, and simple’. Developed by co-founders Anna Hope, Jo McInnes, Kay Michael and Naomi Wirthner, the pack invites students to write creative responses to the climate and ecological crisis. With tools, prompts and exercises it encourages a much needed cathartic, emotional and moral response to what is happening. This is a well rounded resource which helps to develop students' writing skills and understanding of the climate crisis at the same time as allowing them to explore their feelings of rage, hope or anything in between. As evidenced by its popularity, Letters to the Earth clearly gives teachers a constructive way to tackle climate change in the classroom. 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted a surge in interest around resources that tackle peace and conflict. This pack by the Peace Education Network is one of the most comprehensive and it’s no surprise that it was one of our teaching communities’ favourite resources this year. Designed for primary school students, the pack offers 10 comprehensive assemblies, follow-up activities and resources that make the case for peace. Although the cost of war is touched on, what stands out here is the positive angle taken. Students are shown that inner peace is important for outer peace, how to develop empathy and the benefits of a more peaceful world. This is a pack perfectly placed to ease fears, foster hope for the future and develop moral compasses.

ThoughtBox seems to consistently nail exactly what we’re looking for in a Global Dimension resource and clearly our community of teachers agrees with us. Equality and Justice is a huge set of topics, but they are compiled here effectively with whole curriculums for every key stage that tackle the most important aspects of both issues. Students explore the meaning of social justice in a way that centres the experiences of marginalised communities and those in developing countries. They’re also asked to think about what justice for the non-human, natural world would look like and how these principles can be applied in the modern world. According to one teacher these resources are ‘skillfully written and designed to enable younger pupils to access [such] complex concepts’. Whether you touch on a few lessons or dive into the whole curriculum, your students are going to get a lot out of this.

One crucial aspect of educating students today is helping them to see how their actions form part of collective efforts to tackle the world’s greatest challenges. This WWF pack does exactly that, combining learning about the importance of our oceans and the challenges of plastic pollution with exploring how individual actions contribute to larger systems change. Showing students that they can make a difference is crucial for developing positive, motivated attitudes to environmental issues and WWF has clearly struck a chord with our teaching community by encouraging this. With a range of activities, links across the curriculum and adaptable resources for ages beyond KS2 this pack is a simple and effective introduction to an important environmental issue.

Climate change is high on the agenda for any teacher and ThoughtBox have produced a nuanced pack here for educating the ‘climate strike generation’. The pack covers the basics well; exploring climate science, the influence of human activity and the effect of climate change on different communities. What really stands out however is the inclusion of lesser known concepts such as deep time, deep listening, empathy building and systems thinking. These concepts are at the cutting edge of environmental thought and will instil the kind of values vitally needed to build a better world. This shows an attention to detail that should be commended. If you would like to go beyond the traditional education material around climate change and move students from ‘anxiety to empowerment’ then this is a good place to start.