From Teacher to Changemaker: Turning Climate Education into Action
As part of its commitment to advancing sustainability and strengthening the role of education in addressing environmental and climate challenges, Teach For Palestine participated in the Local Conference of Youth on Climate Change – LCOY Palestine 2026, held at An-Najah National University, through an interactive workshop titled “From Teacher to Changemaker: Turning Climate Education into Action.” The workshop was facilitated by Doaa Salim, Education Supervision Officer at Teach For Palestine.
The workshop was grounded in the idea that climate knowledge does not automatically translate into action and that the role of teachers extends beyond sharing information. Teachers can design learning experiences that enable students to identify environmental challenges in their own contexts, understand them and contribute to developing practical responses.
Participants explored the experience of Sara Melhem, an alumna of the first cohort of Teach For Palestine’s non-governmental track, who transformed the problem of waste accumulating in the schoolyard into a project-based learning initiative grounded in the STEAM approach. The project enabled students to collect, sort, reuse and creatively transform discarded materials into new products and ideas, extending the impact of learning from the classroom to the wider school and community.
Working in groups, participants also transformed environmental and climate challenges from their own contexts into simple and practical educational responses. Their ideas began with building awareness of the challenge, followed by learning about its causes and effects, moving towards student-led action and ultimately creating tangible and sustainable change.
This participation reflects Teach For Palestine’s approach to embedding sustainability within educational practices and investing in teachers as educational leaders and changemakers. By equipping teachers to connect learning with real environmental challenges, the organisation supports students in becoming active contributors to more aware, responsible and sustainable schools and communities.
