Cambodia is highly vulnerable to climate-related risks, including rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and recurrent floods, which significantly affect education, agriculture, livelihoods, public health, and the economy. Building climate resilience requires an education system that equips learners with the knowledge, skills and values to address climate change challenges and support adaptation and mitigation efforts. Teachers, in particular, play a key role in this process, and to fulfil that role effectively, they need the right tools, training, and support.
Through the Climate-Smart Education Systems Initiative (CSESI), funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and UNESCO have developed a Climate Change Education (CCE) Instructional Package for teacher education and training, in collaboration with the Battambang Teacher Education College (BTEC). The package equips teacher educators and student teachers with both the subject knowledge and the practical pedagogical skills to integrate climate change meaningfully across subjects. Thus, whether teaching Math, Science, or Khmer, teachers can find ways to bring climate change into everyday learning and empower students to take meaningful action.
The CCE Instructional Package was developed through a comprehensive, evidence-based and consultative process, aligned with UNESCO’s Greening Curriculum Guidance: Teaching and Learning for Climate Action. It draws on insights from a mapping exercise of the general and non-formal education curriculum, teacher training programmes, and teacher readiness, as well as relevant international and local frameworks and publications. Interdisciplinary teacher educators, primary school teachers, and practitioners collaboratively reviewed existing materials and co-developed contextualised lesson plans and learning activities responsive to learners’ needs.
Structured around the 5Es Instructional Model—Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate—and the key elements of Green Learning, the package covers essential content on climate science, biodiversity, ecosystems, and strategies for resilience, adaptation, and climate justice. Each chapter balances cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioural learning, with inclusivity and equity at its core, and provides step-by-step guidance for designing climate-integrated lessons grounded in learners’ real-life environment.
On 4-5 February 2026, the National Consultation Workshop on Validating the Draft Climate Change Education Instructional Package was held in Phnom Penh. Chaired by H.E. Dr. Oung Borat, Secretary of State of the MoEYS, the workshop brought together 120 participants, including representatives from the MoEYS, the Ministry of Environment (MoE), the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MoWRM), teacher education institutions, schools and development partners, to review and finalise the package, ensuring its contextual relevance, technical quality, and strategic alignment for wider adoption nationwide.
H.E. Dr. Oung Borat, Secretary of State of MoEYS, emphasised that in the educational vision for the 21st century, teachers must serve as agents of change. By equipping teacher educators and student teachers with strong pedagogical competencies to integrate climate change education, Cambodia can cultivate climate awareness among children from an early age, building the resilience the country needs to face the climate crisis. He called on all relevant institutions to translate documents into concrete practice, ensuring the package reaches teacher training institutes and primary-level institutions through effective training, digital platforms, and continuous monitoring and evaluation.
The workshop also underscored the strength of the partnership between UNESCO and MoEYS that underpins the entire CSESI programme in Cambodia.
Mr. Flavio Bonetti, UNESCO Representative to Cambodia, highlighted that the package is the result of close collaboration between UNESCO and MoEYS, guided by UNESCO’s Greening Curriculum Guidance, to embed climate-responsive pedagogy sustainably into Cambodia’s education system. “When teachers apply these approaches, climate concepts become relevant and practical, inspiring students to think critically, act responsibly, and grow into agents of resilience within their schools and communities,” he said.
Beyond the development of the CCE Instructional Package, UNESCO is supporting the MoEYS to embed climate change education into the pre-service teacher education programme for primary school teachers. UNESCO is also rolling out a full two-credit Continuous Professional Development (CPD) course on climate change education for in-service primary school teachers and teacher educators. These efforts aim to build a strong, future-ready teaching workforce capable of delivering impactful and transformative climate education across Cambodia.
READ MORE: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-supports-cambodias-climate-smart-education-transition-through-new-instructional-package?hub=701
