Keep Scotland Beautiful is your charity for Scotland’s environment, with a vision for a clean, green, sustainable Scotland. We work with you to combat climate change, reduce litter and waste and protect and enhance the places we care for.

A Keep Scotland Beautiful trainer stands at the front of a classroom and shows a slide on a projector screen. 10 students sit at their desks while listening to him,

We have been delivering climate education to Scottish school students since 2019. We have a framework called Climate Action Schools, to put climate change firmly on the agenda for educators, young people and children in Scotland. Our Climate Emergency Training course builds on this experience and provides a way for students to gain a greater understanding of climate change and its surrounding issues.

Why the course
was created

While delivering our pre-existing climate change course (Climate Ready Classrooms), we noticed there was no SQA-accredited course specifically aimed at improving climate change understanding and empowering learners to take positive steps towards combatting climate change. We know there is a student voice demanding more climate education and knowledge, and our Climate Emergency Training is the first national course to meet this need.

The Climate Emergency Training SCQF level 4 course is aimed at secondary school pupils looking to develop their knowledge of climate change and understand what positive decisions they can take to address the causes of climate change. The course includes a notional 20 hours of learning, activities, and assessment. It covers four main points:

  • The causes of climate change.
  • The evidence behind climate change.
  • The physical and social effects of climate change.
  • The actions we can take to reduce the impact of climate change.

Material is jointly delivered by the class teacher and a Keep Scotland Beautiful trainer, who marks all the assessed work, ensuring consistency.

Achievements

Students completing the course gain two SCQF credit points, highlighting the accessibility of the course while also demonstrating the work required for students to gain this accreditation.  Alongside giving them confidence that they will complete the course, the credits will also emphasise that students who learn with us will have a knowledge of the actions they can take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, alongside an understanding of why these actions are important and how they result in an emission reduction.

It presents positive opportunities for young people to grasp the opportunities around the climate emergency and the skills that will be required within the private and public sectors.

We hope it becomes the go-to course for Scottish secondary school students who want to make a positive contribution to combatting climate change.

“The course is a perfect way to not only open up positive conversation amongst colleagues, but also for individuals to consider facts and how even small adjustments in behaviours towards climate change can have an impact on the effect. Very enjoyable and would recommend to any school or employer as an introduction to climate ideas in the workplace without the dogma.”
Annie Rodgers, course participant

We believe this course is one of the best ways learners can identify what they can do personally and collectively to combat climate change.

Find out more about the course.

The National Progression Awards in Climate Change and Sustainability, at SCQF levels 3 and 4, have recently been developed by the SQA. These build on content included in National Qualifications in Geography and Environmental Science.

The Scottish Government Climate Change Plan sets out how our nation will move towards a low carbon economy that will help to deliver sustainable economic growth and create a greener, fairer and healthier Scotland by 2032.

The Scottish education system has a crucial role in providing learners with opportunities to develop the skills, capabilities, attributes, knowledge, motivation and behaviours to live sustainable lifestyles as informed and committed global citizens.

Learning and practice

Learning for sustainability is an entitlement for all learners within Scotland’s curriculum and all education practitioners are expected to reflect the principles of ‘Learning for Sustainability’ within their practice as set out in the Vision 2030 Report.

Awareness of climate change and the need for sustainable lifestyles has grown enormously over the last few years. The potential and actual impacts of climate change due to physical factors and human activity and the need to live more sustainably have become increasingly apparent.

Glasgow hosting COP 26 in 2021, where world leaders debated the human causes of climate change and strategies to minimise these causes, brought these issues very much into public focus in Scotland. As a result, a demand for qualifications in this area has grown and the National Progression Awards in Climate Change and Sustainability were developed to help meet this requirement. These awards are designed to enable learners to learn more about the impacts of climate change and to develop the skills, knowledge, motivation and behaviours to live sustainable lifestyles.

Quality assured

The qualifications are accredited by SQA and credit rated for inclusion on the SCQF, providing learners and employers with the confidence that the qualifications have been developed following robust and comprehensive processes.

National Progression Award in Climate Change and Sustainability:

Award Name

SCQF level

SCQF credit points

NPA Climate Change and Sustainability

3

12

NPA Climate Change and Sustainability

4

12

For more information on the awards, visit the SQA website.

Glossary Term

Authority

Appears at Level 12 only where it is used in the phrase ‘demonstrate substantial authority’, reflecting a recognised high level and depth of expertise/expert knowledge and understanding, along with confidence. It does not mean ‘exercise authority over staff and resources’ etc, as that could clearly apply at earlier levels.

Glossary Term

Exercise

Used in connection with management and/or supervisory responsibility, denotes a requirement of a formal, substantive role.

Glossary Term

Directive

Applied to ‘supervision’, signifies a task or activity that is guided.

Glossary Term

Graphical Data

Encompasses maps, plans, diagrams, tables and graphs.

Glossary Term

Synthesis

Combine discrete elements into a coherent whole.

Glossary Term

Analysis

Examine in detail with a view to explanation and interpretation.

Glossary Term

Present

Set out, put forward, deliver information using a variety of mediums as appropriate.

Glossary Term

Hypothetical

Supposed, assumed for the sake of argument.

Glossary Term

Straightforward

Clear and uncomplicated activity, but not as demanding or systematic and therefore not as advanced as ‘routine’.

Glossary Term

Creativity

Often used in combination with ‘originality’. There is overlap in definition, but the defining characteristic of creativity appears to be imagination.

Glossary Term

Originality

Often used in combination with ‘creativity’. There is overlap in definition, but the defining characteristic of originality appears to be independence.

Glossary Term

Professional

Used throughout as an adjective and applied to terms including level, skills, techniques, practices, contexts, and issues where it bears broad interpretation as ‘behaving appropriately/doing things properly and well and to notions of accepted, (including externally) prescribed standards’, as well as narrow, relating to a specific occupation designated as a profession. In this latter sense, the term applies in all contexts including academic study, eg footnoting properly.

Glossary Term

Unfamiliar

New territory for an activity.

Glossary Term

Routine

Used as an adjective throughout and applied to terms including skills, tasks, elements, practices, contexts, methods and problems where it describes activity that is standard, usual, unvarying, customary, common.

Glossary Term

Everyday

Slightly more advanced and beyond personal but a known experience/activity encountered/applied regularly - less advanced than ‘familiar’.

Glossary Term

Familiar

Often encountered or experienced; common; something one has a good knowledge of - more advanced than ‘personal’ and ‘everyday’, not as advanced as ‘routine’.

Glossary Term

Personal

An experience relating only or primarily to the person – one would expect to start here then widen out into the rest of the world, so not as advanced as ‘familiar’.

Glossary Term

Critical

Fully informed, capable of supporting in-depth analysis and assessment.

Glossary Term

Discerning

Using judgement to recognise differences but not fully equipped/informed to analyse and discuss them in depth, so less advanced than critical.

Glossary Term

Awareness

Consciousness, including a background consciousness. Can be a starting point for further exploration.

Glossary Term

Appreciation

A sense, perception, a hold, fix or grasp of one or more of the various aspects of a subject/discipline/sector.

Glossary Term

Understanding

A thorough and firm grasp of a subject/discipline/sector or an element or elements of it, derived from education/study, experience and reasoning in appropriate combination. Can be defined as ‘know why’, as opposed to ‘know that’. More holistic knowledge of processes and contexts, so more advanced than appreciation and knowledge.

Glossary Term

Simple

Undemanding activity not necessarily part of a formal structure - not as advanced as ‘basic’.

Glossary Term

Knowledge

Facts, ideas, theories and concepts in a subject/discipline/sector acquired through experience and/or education – a surer grasp than appreciation so more advanced.

Glossary Term

Basic

Activity is early stepping stone on a structure or framework that can be built upon – more advanced than ‘simple’.