KlimaatWijzer website

This project aims to develop an online platform that collects teaching materials on climate change and makes them accessible to Dutch secondary school (VO) teachers for integration into their existing curricula. Climate change is a major societal challenge, yet it currently receives limited and fragmented attention in secondary education, partly because teachers lack the time, resources, or subject-specific expertise to develop scientifically sound and pedagogically effective materials themselves. The platform will curate, assess, and make high-quality climate education materials accessible, explicitly linking them to kerndoelen and exam programs across different subjects.

The website (klimaatwijzer.nl) will offer a range of teaching resources, from short lesson additions to complete lessons and lesson series, alongside didactic guidance. Anyone who creates teaching materials on climate change should be able to submit them. Subsequently, a reviewer from KlimaatWijzer will assess the materials according to an existing set of criteria (including scientific validity, pedagogical quality, alignment with curricula, and the inclusion of hopeful and actionable perspectives). If approved, the material will be published on the platform. The website will also include a search and filtering system to help teachers easily find relevant resources.

Minimum viable project (MVP): The MVP consists of a functional website that presents a curated selection of existing climate education materials for VO education. These materials are tagged and searchable by subject, educational level, and kerndoelen/exam requirements (which we can provide). In the back end, administrators can add and edit a short description, intended learning goals, and a brief explanation of how each resource can be used in class. There is a way for developers of educational material to submit their work to us for revision.

Fully completed project: The fully developed platform expands into a comprehensive ecosystem for climate education in secondary education. It includes a large and diverse collection of materials—ranging from lesson snippets to full lessons, lesson series, and innovative didactic formats—combined with in-depth didactic support and contextual information about climate education goals, pedagogical principles, and curriculum integration. A core feature of the fully completed platform is a robust and user-friendly submission–review–publication workflow that is fully integrated within the same system. External creators can submit climate education materials via structured submission forms, after which materials are stored in the back end and reviewed according to clear quality criteria. Reviewers can revise, approve, or request changes within the platform, and approved materials are published directly to the public website. This streamlined process ensures quality control while remaining accessible and efficient for both contributors and reviewers. In the long term, the platform may also include community features such as teacher feedback, discussion spaces, and guidance for developers of new materials.