The Collaborative Centre’s activities to support faculty & educator development include workshops and events, and the curation and development of resources, with oversight by our Planetary Health Faculty Training Working Group.
In the face of climate change and other forms of environmental degradation, it is imperative that health sciences and health professions education equip learners with the knowledge, values, skills, and confidence to protect the health of people and the planet. These are no longer peripheral issues for health professionals; they are becoming increasingly central determinants of present and future health, posing direct and indirect threats to the health of individuals and communities within Canada and around the world. At the same time, the health sector itself contributes to carbon emissions, pollution, and waste through unnecessarily resource-intensive care. This necessitates a transition to the provision of low-carbon, sustainable, high-quality, and climate resilient care.
Recognition of this “double burden” has prompted growing student demand, emerging professional standards, and global calls to advance education for planetary health and sustainable care across the full continuum of training, from undergraduate programs to continuing professional development.
However, faculty report that they lack the foundational knowledge, practical tools, and pedagogical strategies needed to meaningfully integrate planetary health into their teaching and training – a task made more challenging by already densely-packed curricula. Addressing this gap requires meeting educators where they are at, providing them with opportunities to explore planetary health frameworks and competencies alongside different curricular models and teaching approaches that can support meaningful learning outcomes.
There are three main pathways for teaching planetary health concepts and competencies:
Rapid Approach
Creating or directing learners toward standalone workshops or sessions is a relatively simple way to foster exposure to planetary health topics. When it comes to existing courses, a low-barrier approach to adding planetary health content can involve perusing accessible PH teaching materials (such as slides or case studies) and inserting these where they align with the curriculum.
Integrated Approach
Evidence suggests that integrated models, where planetary health concepts are woven throughout curricula, better support higher-level learning outcomes and practice implications. More fulsome integration includes activities such as adapting or developing relevant PH content, developing new learning objectives aligned with planetary health competencies, and/or overhauling programs to incorporate a planetary health through-line.
Transformative Approach
Deeper engagement with planetary health concepts and competencies can be achieved through transformative learning environments and experiences. This includes fostering systems thinking, embracing deep interdisciplinarity, and incorporating land-based and community-engaged approaches. It also involves partnering with students as co-creators in the learning process and intentionally centring diverse global perspectives, particularly those that extend beyond dominant Western frameworks.
Students and trainees play a critical role in this process, and partnerships with learners strengthen both relevance and impact. Within some of the Collaborative Centre’s four founding faculties, student-led efforts to assess the state of planetary health education through the deployment of the Planetary Health Report Card have indicated important steps forward and continuing gaps.
Planetary Health Educator Support Hub
Visit our Planetary Health Educator Support Hub to learn about faculty training opportunities, access relevant teaching resources, and book a consultation to discuss strategies to embed a planetary health lens into your teaching.
Planetary Health Faculty Training Working Group
Our Planetary Health Faculty Training Working Group, which is comprised of representatives from across our four participating faculties, aims to discuss and share approaches to the compilation, development, implementation, and evaluation of training opportunities and resources that will build capacity for faculty across the health professions to integrate planetary health and sustainable care content and competencies into their teaching.
Chair: Ashley Mariko Aimone
Members: Karen Cameron, Samantha Green, Emma Gregory, Margarita Lam-Antoniades, Ivy Lam, Shan Mohammed, Nicole Simmshttps://