Education to nurture kindness in Chinese children

In this update report, we are delighted to share the compelling story of Ms Joy (name changed for confidentiality), a teacher at Jian Yuan Primary School in Guangdong, China, whose remarkable journey vividly illustrates the profound impact of ACTAsia's Caring for Life (CFL) programme.  

Two years ago, Ms. Joy participated in ACTAsia's Earth Day activities with her students, using our Caring for Life Earth Day toolkit. She adopted the themes and materials from our Caring for Life (CFL) children's educational framework and seamlessly integrated them into her teaching practices. Drawing from ACTAsia's CFL program, Ms Joy is dedicated to instilling respect and compassion in her students, aiming to mould a future generation of change-makers. 

Ms. Joy is a passionate teacher who finds inspiration in the fresh perspectives children bring. She takes pleasure in employing innovative approaches to teach traditional Chinese culture. Her goal is to empower her students to become critical thinkers capable of building sustainable futures. Unsurprisingly, she is drawn to CFL and ACTAsia's Earth Day activities. 

Teaching a class of fifty eleven-year-olds, a standard class size in Chinese schools, Ms.Joy is often asked how she manages such a large group of young students. She chuckles and says, "I've become accustomed to it." She acknowledges that students' behaviour can be influenced by their school environment. Many of the children at her school come from families where their parents live far away, leaving them without the support and care associated with a strong family environment. This lack of stability can make some of her students more prone to behavioural issues. 

To Ms. Joy, teaching eleven-year-olds is a unique and crucial opportunity. 'I enjoy the growing maturity of that age,' she says. As these children grow up and approach adolescence, 'we need to give more guidance on how to be compassionate and good.' Ms. Joy emphasises that equipping students with tools for developing lifelong responsibility and care is especially important. This is one of the reasons she so firmly believes in teaching compassion through CFL. 'It is hard to train students to be better people,' she says. 'There are not many resources like CFL to provide students with a comprehensive, holistic education.'  

Addressing Climate Change with Caring for Life 

Ms. Joy discusses the ever-growing expectations and requirements of teachers. 'It is not just about teaching skills, but morals,' she says, 'not just about teaching children how to be good, but parents as well.' However, teachers are given minimal support in realising this goliath feat.  

ACTAsia's CFL education for children programme aims to support Asian children between 6 and 12 years old in developing a sense of compassion and responsibility for animals, people and the environment. Using education to promote the One Health concept, central to the CFL programme, is the interdependence of all living things.  

Ms Joy enlightens young minds with a powerful lesson on Earth Day 2023 

For Earth Day, ACTAsia invites schools in Asia to share critical climate change and biodiversity concepts using materials and activities from our CFL framework. Ms. Joy has participated in these activities with these students for the past two years.  

Ms. Joy was first introduced to CFL as an undergraduate student, where she underwent professional training. 'The training influenced the content I teach in class,' she says. Her initiative to incorporate CFL into her teaching is nothing short of inspirational. As Jian Yuan Primary School is not an ACTAsia pioneer school, using CFL themes in her lessons is her own independent project. This is a testament to Ms. Joy's belief in and understanding of the importance of building compassion through environmental and humane education. She is the only teacher in her school to conduct biodiversity and climate change lessons.  

If birds lose their home, we, too, will soon lose our home. 

The Earth Day activities have a significant impact, according to Ms. Joy The children are shocked to learn about the environmental deterioration and are motivated to take action. Without CFL, it is difficult for students to comprehend and address climate change as they lack guidance in protecting the environment. 

What stands out most to Ms. Joy about ACTAsia's CFL is its promotion of critical thinking and imagination among young learners. She shares stories of her students' profound responses to climate change during her Earth Day classes. She recalls a powerful and ominous painting created by one quiet, introverted girl, capturing both the despair of environmental degradation and the hope and determination for a better future. 

'A boy stood up and said, "Destroying forests is equal to destroying birds' homes. If birds lose their home, we, too, will soon lose our home.' 

ACTAsia's CFL materials ignite environmental awareness and action in students. "It marks a wonderful starting point for environmental protection," notes Ms. Joy. Ms. Joy's commitment extends to teaching Earth Day annually. She aims to integrate the full CFL curriculum into her school, making empathy, compassion, and the significance of safeguarding animals and the environment an integral part of everyday learning. 

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Ms Joy for her dedication to advancing our vision to educate and empower children, enabling them to be the change-makers of the future.

Empowering Chinese Children to Save the Planet from Climate Crisis

In the first half of 2023, our Caring for Life (CFL) Children’s education programme achieved significant milestones in promoting learning and environmental awareness. Pioneer schools successfully implemented the CFL curriculum, engaging over 6,000 students. Classes on togetherness encouraged interaction and understanding of animals, while the Community Parent-Child Activity Series provided families with exciting experiences centred around biodiversity and the environment. The World Meteorological Day talk raised awareness about climate change, motivating individuals to reduce their carbon footprint and the launch of the "Climate Change" teaching kit empowered teachers to address this important topic effectively. The publication of the Caring for Life Education textbook was widely celebrated by educators. These endeavours collectively fostered curiosity, empathy, and a sense of responsibility towards the environment among the students.

Earth Day 2023

Now in our third year of collaboration, we were delighted, as part of our CFL Children's education programme to participate in Earth Day, the annual global celebration to raise awareness to protect the Earth's natural resources. Earth Day is celebrated by over 1 billion people in more than 193 countries worldwide. This year's official theme is Invest in our Planet, and over two weeks, we reached over 33,000 children through schools in China. In preparation for Earth Day 2023, we held several Continuing Professional Development webinars for teachers and anyone registering for our Earth Day activities. The first webinar was solely focused on climate change. Many teachers in China do not understand climate change and its impact on our planet, so ACTAsia supports them so they can teach it. Our team provided a climate change-themed Toolkit to every teacher. This activity pack provided teachers with content, resources, background knowledge, and other activities related to climate change. Teachers could combine activities according to their student's needs, abilities, and availability. Content could be adapted to suit their local region, and teachers could use the Toolkit in any related lesson, such as science, or deliver the class lessons, after-school clubs, and youth centres both indoors and outdoors.

The Importance of Addressing climate change in Chinese Schools

The report, climate change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC), states that climate change poses a severe threat to human well-being and the health of the planet and that with global warming exceeding 1.5 degrees in the next 20 years, global action on climate change mitigation and adaptation is urgent. Findings show that a quarter of the world's natural lands are experiencing longer fire seasons due to rising temperatures and drought. Climate change is also increasing the spread of wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases. A study of 976 species found that 47% of plant and animal extinctions were linked to climate change. The decline in species reduces the ability of ecosystems to provide services and their resilience to climate change. And frequent fires and reductions in ecosystem carbon stocks could dramatically increase the release of carbon into the atmosphere, triggering an ever-increasing vicious cycle for both climate change and ecosystems. 

SeeWo collaboration 

In partnership with the Chinese software business, SeeWo, which provides interactive educational software to Chinese schools, our goal is to reach even greater numbers of children this year to teach children how to protect our precious planet. SeeWo - part of a larger company called CVTE - developed an education platform that offers online teaching materials and remote lessons with real-life teachers via the Internet. Thanks to this collaboration - our first in the education sector - many thousands more children will now grow up with a better understanding of their actions' effect on the world. 

Impact of ACTAsia's Earth Day activities 

Thanks to the generous support we receive from our supporters, we have made a significant impact this year, reaching 33,696 children in 127 schools across China to celebrate Earth Day 2023. This includes 26,028 children from hard-to-reach rural areas, facilitated through our partnership with Seewoo online education platform. Through our Toolkit and training, teachers and students have actively engaged in learning about climate change and exploring practical actions they can take in their daily lives to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. 

We received many messages of support from schools after the Earth Day week of activities. As one teacher from Hongjun Liu School in Dongfeng, Wuhan, reported, "Students learned that the Greenhouse Effect is actually all around us. They now know what they must do to reduce carbon emissions!" 

Many thanks again for your support for ACTAsia's Caring for Life activities. 

Links:

• ACTAsia Earth Day 2023