OceanEarth Foundation was recently endorsed as Australia’s National Coordinator for the Blue School Global Network (BSGN). As part of this role, Claudette, our ocean literacy lead, was invited to travel to Qingdao, China, to attend the UN Ocean Decade International Conference on Ocean Literacy. Claudette spoke about our journey to joining the network and the importance of embedding ocean literacy in education to help address the many crises we face currently.
A highlight was visiting three schools – early childhood, primary and high school – and seeing how ocean and environmental learning can be embedded across the whole education journey. Their philosophy of educating the whole child was particularly inspiring. Learning engaged all the senses, with art, creativity and hands-on experiences given as much importance as traditional academic learning. The result was vibrant, joyful, and deeply connected learning.
The BSGN team also visited an innovative biotechnology company using crab moults for biomedical applications, providing an impressive example of how marine resources can inspire new solutions and contribute to the emerging blue economy.
China has also recently joined the Blue School Global Network, opening significant opportunities for international collaboration. With around 200 million students across almost 500,000 schools, even reaching a small proportion of schools could engage millions of young people in ocean education and action.
For Australia, being part of this growing global network presents an exciting opportunity to share our experiences, learn from others and build stronger connections between educators and young people around the world.
The Qingdao experience reinforced a key message: ocean literacy is crucial in addressing the environmental challenges we face, and it starts with connection. When young people experience, understand and connect with the ocean, they are better equipped to become environmental custodians and changemakers.
The global Blue School movement is growing, and Australia now has an important role to play.
