Episode 7

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Published on:

20th Oct 2026

Building young people’s confidence, knowledge and belonging - Craig Biddick

Craig Biddick, Head Teacher at Penicuik High School, talks with host Osbert Lancaster as they walk in Dalkeith Country Park.

Listen to Craig’s reflections on the importance of embedding climate change and sustainability in eduction – and the challenges of doing do.

Craig talks about:

  • Why education needs to equip young people with the knowledge to recognise misinformation
  • The most effective ways to include sustainability issues in a crowded curriculum and when resources are tight
  • The potential to involve students in local planning so they can genuinely influence the future they will be living in
  • and much more…

Changing Climate, Changing Midlothian explores what the climate and nature emergency means with people living and working in the county. Their reflections will help inform discussions as cross sector representatives and community leaders meet in October to agree a new Single Midlothian Plan setting collective outcomes and actions for the next three years.

Changing Climate, Changing Midlothian is produced for the Midlothian Community Planning Climate Emergency Group by Thrivable Scotland, and is kindly supported by Midlothian Climate Action Hub, Midlothian Community Planning and Midlothian Energy Ltd.

Find out more about:

Thrivable Scotland: helping changemakers engage their colleagues, communities and stakeholders to solve challenges today while building capacity to thrive in an unpredictable future.

Transcript
Craig:

These populists, they're talking about climate change in a way

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it's just unscientific, they play on

people's fears, they play on people's

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prejudices, but they particularly

play on people's lack of knowledge.

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What we really have to do is make sure

that we equip young people with the

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knowledge to know that's not correct , and

there is an actual real and obvious crisis

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Osbert: I'm Osbert Lancaster, and

this is Changing Climate, Changing

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Midlothian, where we explore what the

climate and nature emergency means with

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people living and working in the county.

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In this episode, I'm talking

with Craig Biddick, Head Teacher

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at Penicuik High School as we

walk in Dalkeith Country Park.

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Craig: Well, I came from New

Zealand, 18, 19 years ago to Scotland.

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Both countries, are recognised as

being beautiful places, New Zealand

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was looked upon as being a very

ecologically, pure country, but actually

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hidden underneath that is huge issues.

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One of the things I've always believed is

that if you're gonna think about climate

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change, you have to actually think locally

because other things are too far removed

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from the ordinary context of people,

whether they be middle class or not.

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And one of the things that the

government wants to do in the curriculum

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in schools is actually this whole

idea of sustainability education

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or learning for sustainability.

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But we've got a really crowded curriculum.

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There's a real focus I suppose it's

the industrial kinda labour idea that

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kids are really a unit of productivity

in terms of labour market, and we

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should be producing young people

who can take up jobs and actually

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make the country, more technically

savvy, more able, more productive.

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But, you know, that process

means that actually sometimes

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we worried a lot more about the

product, no matter about processes.

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Osbert: What do you mean there by the

difference between product and process?

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Craig: I suppose that we, you know,

we see young people, sometimes

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we compartmentalise 'em to a

kind of a assessment product.

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How well are they attained?

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We working hard in our curriculum to

actually make sure young people have got

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kind of sustainable pathways we talk

about skills for life, learning and work.

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But I think alongside that, one

of the most important things and

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this is enshrined actually in the

four capacities in education, that

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they're actually responsible citizens.

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And I think sometimes we're not really

doing it as well as we should in

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education because this crowded curriculum,

'cause of this whole idea of the

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exam results come out and they're out

now and you know, everyone's held to

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account and look at, at key performance

indicators and things like that.

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It becomes very much about

that and what we are measuring.

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Rather sometimes about the bigger

picture of what we're actually

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trying to do with these young people.

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. I mean, how responsible

do, do we make them?

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You know, how successful do we make them?

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How confident do we make them?

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And I think, you know.

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When I look at the, the demographic

of our students, some of them find it

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hard to participate in learning, and

therefore that that kind of pattern

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set up for them and actually that, that

runs through their lives and they become

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kind of dependent a bit then on the

state and on support 'cause they just

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haven't got all of the capacity and the

skills and I guess knowledge, I mean, to

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Osbert: To flip that around.

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That's like in looking like what the

negatives are if you don't get this right.

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Craig: Yeah.

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Osbert: How would you describe

that in a positive way?

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What does that mean in, in practise?

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It's not exam results,

but it's something else.

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Craig: No, I think it's kind of building

a moral responsibility in young people.

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I mean, there's a vast majority of

students who have got some moral compass

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who have been brought up with values.

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And I think it's kind of trying to make

sure we bring those values to the fore

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and actually encourage and support those

young people to think a little bit more

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outside their own kind of selfish domain.

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But as I said, one of the things, I

suppose the ways we do that within

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the curriculum is actually look for

local ways, local education process to

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actually talk about is the environment.

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To talk about the effect of,

climate change, for example.

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You know, I mean, a wildfire in France

or Spain isn't really gonna have an

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impact on me or you or, or any of them.

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And they can't really experience

what that might be like to see the

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massive amount of destruction, the

heat, the danger, the fear of people

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and the long term effects of that.

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So, how do we find local examples

of climate change, of pollution?

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Osbert: How are you going about that?

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What sort of examples are you finding?

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Craig: There is an element of the

curriculum can be interdisciplinary.

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What I tend to like to do with that

is actually to look at bigger topics.

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So we have done things around

sustainability, we've linked

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that into global citizenship

because our school's got a very

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strong relationship with Malawi.

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Which is one of empowerment

rather than charitable support.

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One of the big things with us is water.

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So we have people to talk about

water because that's a commodity

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now that will become as important

as fuel as the world heats up.

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So there's something in some of that

kind of work and you link it obviously

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into numeracy and literacy and things

like that, you ask them to, engage with

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discussion and think about the world.

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And also saying, how do we

actually look after those and

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things that sustain those things?

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But I, you know, I'm

gonna be really honest.

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I think we could do better in that.

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Mm-hmm.

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We're at a point in Scotland, we

were looking at the curriculum again.

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We've got these 2030 targets

around sustainable education.

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And I think that's something we'll

need to build more into our curriculum.

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Because we will have whole off

school timetable days where we

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will look at thematic things and

they can be values based as well.

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So, respect is an important value in our

school respect for your community, respect

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for your environment, respect for your

school community and things like that.

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And we also, talk about inclusion.

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If you have a world that's so disparate

in terms of the way the resources are

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distributed and, you know, there's a,

a real underbelly society and how do

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we, how do we become more inclusive?

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How do we promote equity

and what can they do?

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These are big ideas.

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Osbert: One of the things I always find

puzzling, when talking about education and

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sustainability and climate change is the

examples and the, opportunities so often

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seem to lie in the extracurricular stuff.

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And they're not, not part of

the mainstream curriculum.

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What are the barriers to doing that?

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Or are there other examples of

where it has been brought more right

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into the core of the curriculum?

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Craig: Yeah.

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I, I think it's there.

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I think it's there, but I think it

probably has to be highlighted more.

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So, if you're talking about aspects of

the industrial revolution, historically,

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you can start talking about what

that looked like, the long term

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effects of that change and how that's

gathered pace and changed the world.

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And now we've got AI and we've got

huge centres with computers churning

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out, data and things like that.

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And I think probably some of that

escapes young people, well, they

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pick up the phone and get all this

AI and stuff, but they, they don't

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really know where, what that means.

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You know, modern studies we think around

policy and governance, you know, science

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and then, can bring your literature

and numeracy into that in terms of

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looking at solid examples, et cetera.

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But one of the things we know

educationally and through looking

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at, at cognitive, psychology, is that

near and far transfer is very hard.

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So near and far transfer of knowledge.

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. So there's a lot of people

promulgate the idea that you can

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teach generically critical thinking

skills and problem solving, but in

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actual fact they need to be actually

taught specifically in domains.

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There's a lot more emphasis on knowledge

as a base for being able to create the

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ability to think critically, but you

don't think the same way in a subject

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like history as you would in maths.

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And so trying to move these things

and then say, "is that skill then

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transferable directly what you've

learn there into this situation?"

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we find it hard to do that cognitively.

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So, I think we build knowledge in

subjects and then we can, in some

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cases, bring that knowledge to bear,

I'd say an interdisciplinary day and

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get good debate and good thinking.

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And then take it back to

the domain specific subject

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area and look at it again.

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Young people sometimes like to

debate things, they like to discuss

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things and, and they have a quite

a different view of the world now.

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And I think it's important

to understand that view.

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So what, one of the things we're

looking at is how do we capture more

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of our students' understanding, a

voice, mainly in terms of education

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and quality assurance and improvement,

but I think there's, there's a thing

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to do around their thinking about the

world, what they see as the problems,

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how they might fix some of those

things, how they might be part of that.

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They can think about

their own environment.

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I mean, we've got limited

recycling at school.

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We had Eco Green Flag, and that's kind

of fallen by the wayside just recently

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because we've decanted and there's a

big building project going in school.

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But you know, how can they control that?

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What are their ideas around

how we do some of those things

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around recycling sustainably?

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And we've built this garden, that

can be a generational project for

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young people to be involved in.

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It can grow things.

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You could talk about climate change

within the context of that, but is

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that intergenerational projects there?

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So, it'll would possibly be, older

people sharing their knowledge

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of plants and gardens, it may

be an amenity kind of area.

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We've just joined as a corporate kind

of member with, Rotary and they've

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got a few projects in Penicuik.

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So one's a kind of a sensory garden

that's getting a little bit, kinda

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knocked around in the community.

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So there's an idea that we might engage

kids in actually helping support that.

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That's about them actually owning their

own community a bit more and being

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involved with it rather than just

being kind of passive people within it.

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I think sometimes that's

where vandalism and kind of

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antisocial behaviour comes from.

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They actually don't feel a sense of

belonging or they're angry, but I

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think we've got a core group of kids

probably who are more engaged, who

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wanna be, more community orientated.

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They're your middle base

you have to work from.

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So they'll be the drivers of

positive things happening.

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And then around the periphery

of that, hopefully you'll pick

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up some of these other people.

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And it's at the same time, it's

just the fact there is less money

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in the system, from the government

down, right through to the councils.

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So you've gotta make really big

decisions about how you spend the money

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and what you do with the staffing.

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And, and a lot of the resourcing has to

go into, probably in some ways, a smaller

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part of the population who just need

that extra support to promote equity.

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But sometimes that can mean you have to

make harder decisions about how you fund

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things that actually support the middle

you've gotta balance that up because you

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don't want to destroy the good work that

can do from the middle, which kind of

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emanates and creates ethos and creates

positive community, and helps everybody,

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You know, I kind of think within our,

school, you know, really focusing on

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the young people that can help lead

things, encouraging that leadership.

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These populists, they're talking

about climate change in a way it's

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just unscientific, they play on

people's fears, they play on people's

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prejudices, but they particularly

play on people's lack of knowledge.

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So I think educationally, for me as an

educator, what we really have to do is

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make sure that we equip young people with

the knowledge to know that's not correct.

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Yeah.

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and there is an actual real and

obvious crisis and we have to

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enable that within the curriculum.

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We have to do it in a way, engages young

people, but we have to play on that middle

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of young people who are more engaged

and interested because they actually in

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the end, are the ones who drive change.

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People with their hand to mouth kind of

existence and living in poverty, they

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haven't got the luxury sometimes of

being able to do some of these things.

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And I think there is a danger and

this is what I think drives some of

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these right-wing populist parties,

is there's an anger that people

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being told by these, these, well todo

middle class people have got it all.

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They're telling us we should be doing

this and we shouldn't be doing that.

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Osbert: And that's why I think it is so,

so important if we care about climate,

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nature, sustainability, want things to be

better in the future, we have to be making

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things better right now at the same time.

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Yeah.

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And doing that in a way which builds the

foundations to give us the resilience

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and the capacities we need in the future.

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Craig: And then longer term,

that will allow more equitable

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kind of living for people.

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And, and the people who can't really

afford to worry about some of these things

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or haven't got the time and energy because

they're worrying about so many other

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things, they will feel actually like they

can thrive because actually when we have

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a more productive economy, more productive

kind of communities, more support,

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more a sense of equity and belonging.

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And I think just as a kind of microcosm

of a school, we've got young people who

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feel they don't belong, who are angry,

lost, a bit dysregulated, I think the

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wider society have got people like that

and people are preying on that right

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now and I think that's, that's horrific.

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Osbert: Absolutely.

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one of the other people I've been

speaking to for this, podcast was,

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Sharon Hill who's manager with Mayfield

and Easthouses Development Trust.

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And if you haven't listened to that, I

encourage you to listen to that episode.

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but you know, she working in an area where

people having difficult, difficult lives.

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Yeah.

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But she talks of the way in which people

have come together to create something

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which is shared by the community.

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Yep.

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And doing that in ways which make

their lives better and gives them

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a feeling of capacity and strength.

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They're taking control, they're doing

things for themselves and for each other.

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It's like that collective action rather

than this sort of individualistic

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approach is so important.

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Craig: And I think some

of that's invisible.

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Really teachers largely come

from middle class demographic.

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And I sometimes think we forget or

fail to understand what some of the

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struggles are, but how we can build

community and help support those

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people, 'cause it's not about actually

doing it in some patronising way.

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Yeah.

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It's actually about empowerment.

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And how, how confident they feel

about operating in the world.

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I think a lot of our young people

really lack confidence in being in

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the world and taking part in it.

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You know, they'll be quite savvy

within their own local environment,

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but they get out with that and they

actually struggle a little bit.

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Osbert: We hear a lot in the media

about young people broadly, being

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quite aware of what's going on in

terms of with the climate emergency

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and cost of living crisis, lack of

opportunity economically and so on.

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But being very, very disengaged

from that and very disempowered.

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Craig: It's such a difficult world.

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I mean, I wouldn't want

to be a teenager now.

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I think even though that they're aware

of those things, they're subverted by

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these kind of existential angst almost.

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At any level of demographic.

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And, kids who are quite a well

to do, got the cultural capital,

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suffer from those things as much

as students who come from mm-hmm.

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From more deprived areas, because

that, those teenage years are very

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much a kind of discovery phase.

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So I think it's hard, I think

preaching to young people is

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not gonna help, but I think,

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Osbert: don't think

preaching to anyone helps.

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Craig: No, no.

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So, so I think you have

to take a balanced view.

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I suppose for me, as they grow into

young adults and things like that, and

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they've got the opportunity to contribute

and go into the workforce, you know,

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that they have got some knowledge and

some ideas about the lack of equity

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in the world, what's driving some of

that, to make good political decisions

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about what they vote, who they vote for.

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Ethos of your school and how you build

that culture and, and how you model things

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with young people is important as well.

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You're hoping then they come out,

be productive citizens because

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that's the only way you're

gonna get a better Scotland.

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Osbert: Tell me a bit more

about modelling in that sense.

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What do you mean by that?

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Craig: Teachers are quite powerful

in terms of not just what they

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say, but how they act, are they

fair minded and equitable people

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within the classroom environment?

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Do they listen?

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Do they, model a moral compass in, in

what they believe and say, because, you

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know, not that they're there to inculcate

young people with political viewpoints or

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all that, but they could have a balanced

conversation about mm-hmm what their own

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belief system is, why they believe that.

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Um, but I think young people really

listen and look up to their teachers

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because they spend quite a lot

of time with 'em over the years.

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Yeah.

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And they form quite

positive bonds with 'em.

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So I think that's important for teachers

to model and share, positive values.

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And part of that would be around,

knowledge of climate change, impact

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on people of some of these issues.

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And it could be within any subject area.

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Mm-hmm.

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I think because, there'll still be

question of ethics come into discussions

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about things through, through context.

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And, kids ask questions.

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So I suppose it's the way

they answer those questions.

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I know when, the Ukraine Russian War broke

out, young people were quite frightened,

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they had questions about what that meant

for them in terms of possibility of war.

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All schools in Midlothian do this thing

called a Glasgow Health And Wellbeing

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Profile, and one of the questions came

back for us is that some of our students

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don't feel that sense of ownership.

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We really need to focus on

how do we build community?

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How do we make school fun?

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So, you know, in the last week of

term we had a big, activities week

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just before the summer holidays.

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So we actually tried to engage

'em in a way that actually created

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a, a positive community ethos.

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It kind of mixed up year groups and young

people and a lot of them enjoyed that.

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We had a trip to Alton Towers, we

had trips, go and play bowls and

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do things in the city, there was

lots of really positive activities.

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And I we're going to go

off, timetable in September.

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And that'll be themed around our values.

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And we'll talk about quite

a few things within that.

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So there'll be a little,

few interdisciplinary things

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we'll get speakers in.

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So, I've suggested, Rebecca Lewis, so

we might get to come her to work with

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some young people and talk about Esk River

and citizen science, things like that.

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Osbert: The Single Midlothian

Plan is , being revised.

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That'll be setting sort of

priorities and informing work

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programmes for the next four years.

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In the context of how can organisations

work better together, support each

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other to, create a, a Midlothian

where people and nature can thrive.

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If you were gonna do something,

different what might they be and

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who, could or should be involved in

those conversations or that work?

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Craig: I think we are encouraged

to get involved with young people,

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but I don't actually think that

necessarily happens in that.

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I'm not blaming anyone for that.

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So I think there's, there's maybe how

do we capture student voice in schools

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around the local development plan?

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How do they understand what that is?

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What's the outcome of that and what do

they know about how that affects them?

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You know, I can remember when Curriculum

for Excellence first started and I

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was at a school on the West Coast

and they were talking about launching

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the Curriculum for Excellence.

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And one of the things I said to

the head teacher, do they really

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understand what curriculum means?

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And she went, oh, you

knows, good point to go.

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Sometimes it comes down to what

level are we talking about?

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What language are we using,

how accessible is that?

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So, you know, you don't wanna pay lip

service to involving people and things.

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But, you know, we live in a busy, busy

world and it's kind of balancing up and

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saying, well, this is really important.

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We'll do this.

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But one of the things that

Midlothian's done and I think that

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it's good, is they've actually

really focused in on student voice.

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We've got a student council, student

parliament, and we've also got these

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kind of like advisory groups, where

we, we kind of try and encourage

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a broader range of young people

who have involved, have a voice.

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They also have centralised meetings

where young people representives of the

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schools come together, they talk about

the quality of student voice within

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:

the school, but they also talk about

education issues, things like that.

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So it could be that there should

be a student environmental voice

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panel I sometimes think you

could have a, a, a kind of student

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:

conference on the environment, on

the crisis and involve young people.

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I suppose the key thing is to make it

as equitable as possible because it

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could just become a middle class kind

of activity where the kids with the

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:

cultural capital are able to do that.

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:

And I think it's not just

about hearing, sometimes it's

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about challenging them as well.

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:

To go, well actually, 30,

40 years time you still will

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:

be around, some of us won't.

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:

What kind of world do you want to be in?

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:

And what I see in my children and their

friends is actually quite a bit of

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:

moral outrage about a number of things.

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:

, you know, the whole me too thing , which

it kind of got a really challenged

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:

male behaviour, patriarchy and

things like that, that's quite big.

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:

They feel these things are important

and they don't like those kind of

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behaviours and they'll call them out.

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:

So I think we underestimate the moral

compass in our young people and they

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make some judgement on these things.

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Osbert: And there you have it.

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You've been listening to Craig

Biddick, Head Teacher at Penicuik High

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:

School on Changing Climate, Changing

Midlothian with me, Osbert Lancaster.

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:

I hope you have found this

conversation as fascinating as I did.

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About the Podcast

Changing Climate, Changing Midlothian
Reflections from our community
What does the climate and nature emergency mean for people living and working in Midlothian?

I talk with people across the county and ask what would help them and others make more positive changes for the communities and places they care about.

We’ll discuss how organisations could work together better to co-create, deliver and support even more action on the ground.

As well as sharing inspiring stories and insights with you and other listeners, the conversations in this podcast will help cross sector representatives and community leaders as they meet in October to set collective outcomes and actions for the next three years in the Single Midlothian Plan.

About your host

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Osbert Lancaster

Osbert is an experienced facilitator and podcaster, helping changemakers engage their colleagues and stakeholders to solve challenges today while building capacity to thrive in an unpredictable future. Osbert lives in Edinburgh and has previously worked in Midlothian.