The climate crisis and why we need green career education

Professor Tristram Hooley

Reasons to act

A transition to a low-carbon, greener economy will imply the creation of new jobs in environmentally friendly production processes and outputs, whereas other jobs will be at risk, in particular in those sectors with fewer options for a transition towards a more sustainable ways of production. �International Labour Organization

Every day that goes by in which we don’t do something about it is a day wasted. If we don’t act now, it’ll be too late. �David Attenborough

Why do we need green guidance

What are the consequences?

• Reduced crop yields
• Flooding (and water scarcity)
• Increased extreme weather
• Poorer health
• Growing global migration
• More flashpoints for global conflicts

European Green Deal

It aims to cut emissions by at least 50% by 2030, rising towards 55%, while legally binding the 2050 neutrality goal through the European Climate Law.  It pushes forward a clean transition that protects people and planet, is economically sound and socially fair. 

The European Green Deal - European Commission

Green jobs and green careers

WHAT IS A GREEN JOB?

Green Jobs

Jobs are often classified as Brown, White or Green.

Brown = damaging to the environment, affected by green labour market transition

White = not damaging to the environment, largely unaffected by green labour market transition

Green = jobs / roles that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment, affected by green labour market transition

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Graph from:The Possible Implications of the Green Transition for the Labour Market (2022)

What we know

This raises a range of questions that people need to address in their careers

Green career education

Implementation strategies

Explicit framing: Introducing the practitioner as a "Green Guidance Ambassador“, sharing values during contracting.

Implicit embedding: Integrating wider sustainability dimension as part of ethics, values, or wellbeing conversations without explicitly talking about ecology. (‘green ninjas’ that weave sustainability into standard sessions and tools)

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Auditing the curriculum

• Do you have a careers / guidance curriculum?

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• Does it address the environment directly?

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• Where can you actively make the connection?

The five dimensions for environmentally sustainable careers education (learning areas)

e.g. Exploring how citizens/workers can put pressure onto employers and governments

e.g. Taking your class outside to discuss careers in a natural setting

e.g. Developing group tasks to investigate green careers and their impacts

e.g. An investigative activity looking at companies’ greenwashing practices

e.g. Encouraging students to visualise their futures and how the environment has changed

An example activity

Divide students into small groups and encourage them to investigate different sectors of the economy.

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Resources might include:

All your usual LMI sources plus others like…

Corporate Watch https://corporatewatch.org/ / How Climate Change Impacts the Economy https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2019/06/20/climate-change-economy-impacts/ / Emissions by sector https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector / CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/22/7-industries-at-greatest-risk-from-climate-change.html / Newspapers

Green careers education should not…

• push any one job or career;
• enforce the worldviews of the teacher;
• focus only on individual decisions and actions
• only discuss environmental issues;
• only discuss the socioeconomic and political context;
• aim to make all students into activists (unless they want to develop their career in this way); or
• aim to make students adapt to the labour market (i.e., make students adjust to an unjust world).

Green careers education should…

• be based on facts;
• support critical analysis;
• respect students’ autonomy and agency;
• be based on teachers’ reflexivity; and
• educate clients on the interconnection between sustainability/environmental issues and social justice, the labour market, as well as individual life projects.

Green careers education should also…

• address and discuss complicated socioeconomic, environmental and political topics
• exploring possible scenarios of the future and their potential consequences
• Examine unequal power relations in society and their impact on individuals;
• consider the material opportunities available for the student as well as what constrains their power; and
• promote the wellbeing of the student, which entails considering the common good, social justice and the wellbeing of all living things

In summary

• Environmental crisis is the defining issue of our time.
• It will have a major impact on our careers
• We have to address this in career education
• We have lots of frameworks, tools and approaches that can support career education
• But, this is still an emergent area, so you need to experiment and develop new approaches.

Any questions?

About me

Tristram Hooley

Professor of Career Education

t.hooley@derby.ac.uk

https://adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com/

linkedin.com/in/tristramhooley