Laudato Si' Champions

The Laudato Si' Champions Project is the workstream of the Guardians of Creation Project that focuses on integral ecology in Catholic schools, funded by the Assumption Legacy Fund. The project offers guidance and resources in three main areas:

teaching and learning for integral ecology in schools
young people's experience of the ecological crisis
policy-making for sustainability in Catholic schools.

The Laudato Si' Champions Project has produced resources addressing each area, ranging from a ready-made six-lesson teaching toolkit for educators looking to lead lessons on Laudato Si' and integral ecology to long-form empirical reports for people looking to develop a deep understanding of how environmental issues are interacting with Catholic schools, and the teaching and learning therein.

For educators in England and Wales: the Laudato Si’ Champions resources have been designed to align with the requirements of the Catholic Schools Inspectorate’s National Framework and the guidance of the Religious Education Directory (RED).

Engagement with our materials can help Catholic schools evidence “the commitment to the environment and care for our common home” (CSI, p. 41), and the provision of religious education in line with the RED, where the themes of creation and stewardship, and the connection between Laudato Si’ and other aspects of Catholic Social Teaching, figure among the expected learning outcomes.

Furthermore, the Laudato Si’ Champions toolkit will prove useful to the Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) educators in Wales, offering a distinctive way of exploring the concept of cynefin, and of cultivating “connections to the wider and the natural world” specified in the RVE guidance.

Resources

Laudato Si’ Champions toolkit for educators

If you are an educator, looking to incorporate teaching and learning around Laudato Si’ and integral ecology into your work, these resources are for you. The toolkit was developed through a one-year pilot programme of teaching and learning delivered to 225 students (11 to 14 year-old), and updated – both pedagogically and theologically – with the help of our advisory board.

The toolkit gives educators everything they need to conduct six lessons exploring the intersection of Catholicism and ecology. The materials can be used effectively at any level of study, by all educators with an interest in Laudato Si’ and integral ecology both in schools and in other educational contexts.

If you are an educator based in England and Wales - the toolkit aligns with the learning outcomes specified in the Religious Education Directory, and as such it will prove particularly useful to RE / RVE teachers.

We welcome feedback on our teaching resources from educators with an experience of working with SEND students and/or students whose first language isn’t English. If you would like to share your expertise with the project’s team, please get in touch with us.

Download the free Laudato Si' Champions toolkit for educators

Please note: the link to download the toolkit will be sent to your email upon completion of this form.

Developing whole-school approaches to sustainability in Catholic education

Developed over the course of a one-year multiple site case study of eight schools and drawing on evidence given by 83 interviewees, this report introduces a model for understanding and facilitating responses to the ecological crisis in Catholic schools. The report begins by exploring the barriers that inhibit Catholic schools’ responses to the ecological crisis, before introducing its model for change, the Caring for Creation model.

The Caring for Creation model describes the phases that Catholic schools in England and Wales pass through in their development of a comprehensive, or whole-school, response to the ecological crisis. Readers who are familiar with Catholic education institutions should be able to identify where their institution is in its progression through the Caring for Creation model, and the consequent actions it should take to develop further.

Read the full report

Read an overview of the Caring for Creation model

Educating and empowering Laudato Si' Champions in Catholic education

The report draws on evidence from a survey of 677 students (11 to 14 year-old), and interviews with 83 participants. The report explores young people’s experiences, perceptions and beliefs regarding the ecological crisis in depth. The data is used to investigate the development in young people’s relationship to the ecological crisis as they participate in the Laudato Si’ Champions programme, revealing a clear and conclusive set of rationales for implementing the Laudato Si’ Champions Toolkit in any Catholic school.