Many of you might have seen Head Craig Davis’ recent “Teaching Climate Action Leadership” article that we shared on College social media platforms (and if you haven’t, you’ll find it right here) a few weeks ago.
Or, maybe you took part in one of last month’s information sessions for UWC National Committees to learn more about Pearson’s new coming Climate Action Leadership Diploma program.
While the former drew attention, shares and reposts from people like Oli-Pekka Heinonen, the Director General of the International Baccalaureate Organisation and institutions like the University of Amsterdam, which called for all schools to emulate a CALD-like model, and the latter was an essential outreach to NC selection volunteers, these highly-visible activities are complemented by significant work going on behind the scenes to create and implement a climate action leadership-based curriculum.
“Impressive” and “inspiring” were two of the words used by Curriculum and Development Lead, Climate Action Leadership Diploma and Experiential Education Coordinator Marjia Uzunova Dang after the first on-campus, in-person gathering of the Pearson faculty team and professors from Royal Roads (Master of Arts in Climate Action Leadership program) and Vancouver Island (Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies program) universities who together are mapping the curriculum for this innovative program.
The mid-February session also welcomed a cross-section of Pearson faculty and academic leadership who not only provided essential input into curriculum-building but also brought perspectives that reflected the spectrum of supportive student learning, experience and life. These perspectives help create not only an academic pathway but help ensure student expectations and needs are met and exceeded.
With many parties involved, curriculum mapping is a big-tent exercise to help ensure coherence, meaningful overlap and thoughtful alignment in educational material and experiential learning as well as the assurance that all the competencies of our assessment model are covered.
The planned curriculum is an important part of Pearson’s comprehensive accreditation submission to the International Baccalaureate Organization this spring. CALD is situated as an IB Career-based Diploma program, a pathway well-accepted by post-secondaries around the world.
As envisioned, implementing an approved CALD curriculum in 2022-23 will also have complementary benefits for all Pearson students, as Davis pointed out in his recent article in The International Educator online newsletter.