Meet the team, Sophia Hague

I am Sophia, and I have just graduated from UEA with my Masters in Climate Change and International Development. I decided to do my placement with the Steve Sinnott Foundation because of my interest in the intersecting identities which impede on access to education and experiences within the education system. I am very excited to contribute towards a charity striving for inclusive and equitable quality education and to fulfil my passion for social justice. Education is a vital tool for sustainable development; what is learnt today will shape tomorrow’s future! An educational transformation is needed to beat the impeding climate disaster.



What empowers people to make good choices for the environment?


Having an environmental consciousness must start somewhere…education. What we learn at a young age affects our later thoughts and actions, whilst simultaneously filtering through our relationship with others and thus impacting our family or friends’ actions too. If the intrinsic value of nature is emphasised at a young age in school, people will maintain these values in later life and good choices for the environment will surmount.

 

What is the real relationship between the division of wealth and resources, and climate change?


As reported by the IPCC, it is those who are the most vulnerable who will experience the greatest burden of climate change impacts. Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is unable to cope with the adverse effects of climate change. Those who are already disadvantaged in terms of their wealth status are affected disproportionately because their capacities to adapt are weakened. Those with a lower wealth status have less access to basic services and good infrastructure and thus are less able to withstand any climate change shocks, whether that be in terms of their physical or social wellbeing. This impact of wealth status also intersects with other forms of social identity, such as gender and ethnicity, and has consequential exacerbated impacts in terms of environmental justice and social equity.  

 

How does education affect the distribution of wealth?


Education impacts on the distribution of wealth and can contribute towards entrenched social inequalities. Those who are already privileged by their wealth status can use this to their ability and thrive even more within the education system and consequently, wealth disparities will widen. For example, wealthier families are more likely to be able to afford the resources and fees associated with extra tuition, books, school trips, or private education, which feeds into greater knowledge and critical understanding and thus higher grades. Higher grades then equate to better paid jobs and the cycle persists.

 

How will education for all have a positive effect on the environment?


Good quality education for all has the potential for a very positive effect on the environment. By instilling education for sustainable development as part of goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals, students learn about the interconnected global challenges of the present and future whilst focussing on human rights, gender equality, peace, global citizenship and cultural diversity – all components needed to increase one’s capacity to address environmental and development issues. If students are physically exposed to wildlife reserves, different cultures and real-life case studies, environmental and ethical awareness will increase. Combined with the critical ability skills gained in education, students can use their voice to strive for and create the change needed from those higher in power.

 

Moreover, education which is embedded within a whole school approach to sustainability would majorly benefit the environment. A whole school approach incorporates sustainability into all aspects of school life, across all students, educators, administrators and communities. School governance would be supported by people of all entities and backgrounds, ranging from students and parents to community residents and neighbouring schools/businesses. In this way many community partnerships will arise and encourage innovation and creativity on a small scale which can then be presented more broadly to local councils. In terms of teaching and learning, teachers beyond the typical subject areas of science and geography would be mobilised in climate change to integrate this into their own subject areas. Additionally, those knowledges and teaching methodologies which have been hidden or marginalised will be reclaimed so a wider range of voices and perspectives are reclaimed, and new ways of understanding are opened. And finally, education for all with a whole school approach to sustainability would have all climate friendly facilities and operations which would save energy and waste. This could then encourage students and staff to continue these waste saving behaviours outside of the school too.

 

Education and the environment


So, overall, there are numerous links between education and the future of our planet. Education creates the tools necessary to firstly increase our environmental awareness, and then to increase our ability to implement the necessary steps needed for environmental up-keeping. There needs to be a transformative change to the education system for this to occur. The curriculum needs to be reorientated and a new pedagogy is needed which establishes the relationship between human beings and nature so that we can appreciate all cultures and all methods of knowing so ultimately no one is excluded and so nature is valued intrinsically. This would all halt the inequalities entrenched within the education system and foster an alternative growth system value not based on the exploitation of the environment. Through all of this, a more harmonious connection to others and nature can precede.


Steve Sinnott • July 25, 2022

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026
How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity. 

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026
‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here

I heard it said today by a friend that “You learn a language best when you use it to speak and write about things that are important to you. ”

By Susan Piper • May 6, 2026
This summed up to me about why I volunteer for the Hands Up Project. HUP is a charity trust which, through its network of volunteers, connects children around the world with young people in Palestine. By means of online interaction, drama and storytelling activities, it enables the use of creativity and selfexpression to promote mutual understanding, personal growth, and the development of English language skills. I joined HUP in 2020 during COVID. After going to Palestine in 2017, I wanted to get more involved in working with Palestinian children in schools. HUP gave me the opportunity to link up with schools in the West Bank and Gaza. Every week I’d tell them stories from all over the world, then we’d discuss it, play games and I’d get them to retell it. Sometimes we would work from their coursebook English for Palestine’ in mutual team teaching sessions with their teacher. The simple act of telling a story became much more than entertainment. It became connection, healing, and a bridge to the world beyond their immediate reality to help them improve their language skills, and to give them a platform to speak about their lives in a language that connects them to people everywhere. I loved it, every week, seeing their smiling faces on the screen and building long lasting friendships with their teachers. I even went to Gaza in 2023 and met some of the kids I’d only seen on Zoom. It was a beautiful experience and something I will never forget. As hostilities escalated, I lost contact with everyone. I thought about where the kids were and what had happened to them. As I watched schools being bombed, universities flattened, and people killed in their thousands, I thought about where the kids I’d met were and what was happening to them. I kept in contact with many of the teachers I knew and heard daily news of displacement, destruction, hunger and bombing. Recently, I’ve started to link up again with children in Gaza, and it feels wonderful to be back helping them learn after being denied an education for over two years. Connecting with children in Palestine is more than just words. When a child in Palestine confidently tells their story to someone on the other side of the world, bridges are built, empathy grows, and the world gains a fuller picture of childhood in contexts far from peace and privilege. My work with these children is rooted in the belief that education and voice are inseparable. Through storytelling and English language learning, I witness children not just learning new vocabulary, but reclaiming their narratives, believing in their potential, and finding human connection in a world they perceive has abandoned them. And more than anything, this work reminds us all that children — everywhere — deserve to learn, to speak, and to be heard. Links to HUP information, books and resources: The Hands Up Project BY SUSAN PIPER Susan Piper is currently an ESOL teacher in Oldham, Greater Manchester and has worked in education for over 30 years. She is also a volunteer for the Hands Up Project and is the International Solidarity Officer and President of her NEU district. She believes in quality education for all and aims to make her lessons creative and inclusive so that effective language learning can take place.