LESSON PLANS AND ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS, TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS AND PARENTS

UN Summit for the Future Sept 2024 (p25)

IV. Youth and future generations

58. Today’s generation of children and young people is the largest in history, with most of them living in developing countries. They are critical agents of positive change and we welcome the important contributions of young people to peace and security, sustainable development and human rights. However, across our world, millions of children and young people are deprived of the conditions they need to reach their full potential and fulfil their human rights, especially those in vulnerable situations. Children and young persons continue to live in extreme poverty, without access to critical, basic services and respect for their fundamental rights. We recognize that, together with future generations, they will live with the consequences of our actions and our inaction. We will invest in and promote engagement by young people at national and international levels to secure a better future for all.

59. We recognize that children and youth are distinct groups from future generations. We must ensure that decision-making and policymaking today takes greater account of the needs and interests of the generations to come, and that they are balanced with the needs and interests of current generations. We have annexed a Declaration on Future Generations to the Pact for the Future that details our commitments in this regard.

Action 34. We will invest in the social and economic development of children and young people so that they can reach their full potential.
60. We stress the importance of investing in, and ensuring equitable access to, essential services for all children and young people, especially health, education and social protection, to advance their social and economic development. To fulfil their full potential and secure decent, productive work and quality employment, young people must have access to safe, inclusive, equitable and quality education opportunities, including in emergencies, throughout their lives that equip them with the knowledge, skills and capabilities they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world. We decide to:

(a) Scale up investment from all sources in essential services for young people and ensure that their specific needs and priorities are integrated in national, regional and international development strategies, ensure that services are accessible to all young persons and invite the Secretary-General to update Member States on the proposal for a Global Youth Investment Platform to attract and better finance youth-related programming at the country level;

(b) Accelerate efforts to achieve universal health coverage to ensure that all young people enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including immunizations and vaccinations and sexual and reproductive health, and address all the challenges faced by developing countries in achieving these goals;

(c) Support developing countries to significantly increase investment from all sources in education and skills, especially early childhood and girls’ education and skills, to build inclusive, accessible and resilient education systems and lifelong learning opportunities that are tailored to the needs of young people and children today and in the future by enhancing curricula, improving teachers’ professional development, harnessing digital technologies and improving access to technical and vocational training to help young people to contribute to their societies;

(d) Create decent jobs and livelihoods for youth, especially in developing countries and particularly for young women and young people in vulnerable situations, while dismantling inequalities in the care economy, and establish and ensure young people’s access to universal, adequate, comprehensive, sustainable and nationally owned social protection systems;

(e) Empower, encourage and support young people to pursue entrepreneurship and innovation and transform their ideas into viable business opportunities;

(f) Implement family-friendly and family-oriented policies that support the social and economic development of children and young people so that they can reach their full potential and enjoy their human rights.

Action 35. We will promote, protect and respect the human rights of all young people and foster social inclusion and integration.
61. We reaffirm the importance of ensuring the full enjoyment of the rights of all young persons, protecting them from violence and fostering social inclusion and integration, especially of the poorest, those in vulnerable situations, including Afrodescendent populations, and those who face discrimination in multiple and overlapping ways. We decide to:

(a) Step up our fight against all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and all forms of intolerance that impact young people and hinder their ability to fulfil their potential, and counter religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence;

(b) Intensify international, regional and national efforts to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and eliminate all forms of child labour;

(c) Address the challenges faced by all young women and girls, including by combating gender stereotypes and negative social norms and eliminating discrimination, harassment, all forms of violence against young women and girls, including sexual and gender-based violence, and harmful practices, including female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage;

(d) Enhance inclusion and eliminate all barriers that hinder young persons with disabilities from attaining and maintaining maximum autonomy, independence and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life and invest in assistive technologies that can promote their full, effective and meaningful participation in society;

(e) Address the adverse impact of climate change and other environmental challenges that constitute threats to the ability of young persons to enjoy their human rights and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment;

(f) Strengthen intergenerational partnerships and solidarity among generations by promoting opportunities for voluntary, constructive and regular interaction between young and older persons in their families, workplaces and in society at large.

Action 36. We will strengthen meaningful youth participation at the national level.
62. We commend the important contributions that young people are already making to the advancement of peace and security, sustainable development and human rights in their own countries. We can only meet the needs and aspirations of all young people if we systematically listen to them, work with them and provide them with meaningful opportunities to shape the future. We decide to:

(a) Encourage and support the establishment of mechanisms at the national level, where they do not exist, to consult with young people and provide them with meaningful opportunities to engage in national policymaking and decision-making processes supported, upon request, by the United Nations system, in line with national legislation and policies;

(b) Consider fostering intergenerational dialogues to build stronger partnerships between individuals of different age groups, including youth, and between Governments and youth;

(c) Address the challenges and remove barriers that prevent full, meaningful and effective participation of all youth, including for young women, young persons with disabilities and young persons of African descent and those in vulnerable situations, in national policymaking and decision- making, and improve their representation in formal political structures;

(d) Support youth-led and youth-focused organizations, in particular through capacity-building.

Action 37. We will strengthen meaningful youth participation at the international level.
63. We welcome the progress made in promoting the meaningful engagement of youth in the United Nations. We are determined to accelerate this work by ensuring more youth engagement in the work of the United Nations and by increasing the representativeness, effectiveness and impact of youth engagement at the United Nations. We decide to:

(a) Promote meaningful, inclusive and effective engagement of young people in relevant United Nations intergovernmental bodies and processes, where appropriate and in accordance with the rules of procedure and established practice, taking into account the principles of gender parity and balanced geographical representation and non-discrimination;

(b) Encourage the inclusion of youth, including youth delegates, in national delegations to the United Nations;

(c) Call for contributions to the United Nations Youth Fund in order to facilitate the participation of youth representatives from developing countries in the activities of the United Nations, taking into account the need for greater geographical balance in terms of youth representation, and in this regard request the Secretary-General to take appropriate action to encourage contributions to the Fund, including by raising awareness of the Fund;

(d) Request the Secretary-General to continue to develop core principles, in consultation with Member States and young people, for meaningful, representative, inclusive and safe youth engagement in relevant intergovernmental processes and across the work of the United Nations, for the consideration of Member States.

The challenge of climate change means that school education is more important than ever in preparing young people for an uncertain future. The focus of this research is climate change education and its status in the compulsory middle school years (approximately years 7–10) across six countries (Australia, Israel, Finland, Indonesia, Canada and England). The authors investigated formal published national curriculum documents, specifically science and geography, to determine the presence of climate change topics, and the way they are addressed in these subjects. The key findings are that: (1) the term ‘climate change’ appears in the formal curriculum of all six countries in science or geography; (2) approaches to climate change in the curriculum differ substantially across different countries; (3) climate change is often presented as a context, example or elaboration for other science concepts rather than a discrete topic; (4) the presence of climate change in most curriculum documents is scattered and spread over multiple years and (5) knowledge about causes of climate change predominates over action and behavioural changes. These findings raise questions as to whether current school curricula provide sufficient guidance for teachers to develop students’ understandings, skills and values regarding climate change.

A cross-country comparison of climate change in middle school science and geography curricula

Vaille Dawson, Efrat Eilam, Sakari Tolppanen, Orit Ben Zvi Assaraf, Tuba Gokpinar, Daphne Goldman,  show all

Pages 1379-1398 | Received 24 Oct 2021, Accepted 11 May 2022, Published online: 25 May 2022

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This article presents and evaluates a model made for climate change education – the bicycle model. The model was created based on an extensive literature review, from which, essential aspects of climate change education were drawn out. The bicycle model is a representation of holistic climate change education and emphasizes the importance of the following aspects: knowledge, thinking skills, values, identity, worldview, action, motivation, participation, future orientation, hope and other emotions, and operational barriers. In this study, the model is also evaluated by climate education researchers and educators. The evaluation was done through documented group discussions and an electronic questionnaire. The findings suggest that the model is useful in developing climate change education policy, research and practice. The findings also give insight into expert's perceptions on climate education. Finally, the article discusses how this model could be developed further.

Bicycle model on climate change education: presenting and evaluating a model

Hannele Cantell, Sakari Tolppanen, Essi Aarnio-Linnanvuori & Anna Lehtonen

Pages 717-731 | Received 26 Jul 2018, Accepted 10 Jan 2019, Published online: 01 Feb 2019

see: https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-05/Climate_Change_Education_Bicycle_Model.pdf

and full article here: https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/76dd020f-0b0c-433f-9e57-689d23fcbe0b/content

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