July 4, 2023

SA’S Primary School Teachers call for more plastic pollution education

  • Plastic pollution named by teachers as the most important environmental subject for primary-aged children
  • A dipstick measure revealed that 74% of primary school teachers would like more training on how to teach environmental and plastic pollution
  • Call comes before official launch of Plastic Changemakers, an initiative designed by The Breteau Foundation, ZAG and Mediawan Kids & Family to inspire over one million primary school children globally to become ambassadors for responsible plastic use

Ninety-three percent of primary school teachers in South Africa believe that there should be more creative and interactive activities around environmental and specifically plastic pollution education for their students. The work was done by The Breteau Foundation, a non-profit organisation with a vision to provide access to quality education for all children, found that primary school teachers need more environmental education resources and support in environmental education – specifically plastic pollution.

Teachers believe that creative and engaging education multimedia resources would be highly valuable in addressing plastic pollution. These results match similar studies in South America, the UK and Lebanon, where teachers also believe that teaching using multiple formats including video, reading and activities is more effective.

Ron Mukanya, Director of Sustainability Management at the Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning, said, “I support the notion of distributing environmental education resources to schools as a means to engage young people as leaders in environmentalism because a combination of cartoons and educational materials comes with inspirational learning activities which as a combo of environmental education methods greatly enhance students’ engagement with environmental and science issues. Education for sustainable development equips learners with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to address complex environmental challenges in the 21st century which links to Sustainable Development Goal 4 on Quality Education.”

This comes ahead of the September launch of Plastic Changemakers, a new initiative by The Breteau Foundation. Collaborating with award-winning global independent animation studios ZAG and Mediawan Kids & Family, this initiative aims to inspire the next generation of ambassadors for change in the fight against plastic.

As part of the initiative, the Foundation has set out to address the clear demand from teachers with a comprehensive and free-of-charge education pack that contains a flexible set of ready-to-go lesson plans and activities designed to empower children to affect change.

Created by educational and environmental experts and aligned to curricula, the Plastic Changemakers Education Pack contains five modules for 7–11-year-olds and seeks to equip children with a comprehensive knowledge about plastics and how individuals and communities can use it more responsibly.

Alongside the Education Pack, The Breteau Foundation, ZAG and Mediawan Kids & Family have co-produced an episode of the Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir simply called “Action” where the characters of the show seek to demonstrate how small efforts can make a big impact in the fight against plastic.

Sebastian Breteau, Founder of The Breteau Foundation comments: “Our international experience in education has shown that children want to see more responsible plastic use in their homes and communities. We want to inspire over one million primary school children to become plastic changemakers, and by equipping them with the right knowledge, we believe we can kickstart a global movement on responsible plastic use.”

Emma Becker, Executive Director at The Breteau Foundation adds: “As a former teacher, I know first-hand the pressures teachers face when it comes to finding and preparing resources for lessons. The Plastic Changemakers Education Pack has been created by experts to allow teachers to focus their time wholly on delivering the lessons.”

The Plastic Changemakers Education Pack and “Action” episode will be available on The Breteau Foundation website in September when all educators will be able to download the pack for free and stream the episode. Visit https://www.breteaufoundation.org/plastic-changemakers/ for more information or to register to receive updates.

About The Breteau Foundation

Established in 2014, The Breteau Foundation’s mission is to maximise children’s future potential by providing equitable access to quality education through bespoke teacher training, educational content, and digital tools.

Reaching over 100,000 children across 13 countries globally in Europe & the UK, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean regions, the Breteau Foundation is a non-profit organisation that believes in quality education for all children, regardless of background or location. The Foundation’s global team of education experts implement support bespoke to local contexts including local languages and curriculums.

About the Plastic Changemakers initiative

The Breteau Foundation aims to inspire and empower over 1 million primary school children around the world to take action against plastic pollution in their homes and communities. The Breteau Foundation’s international experience in education has shown that children want to see more responsible plastic use in their homes and communities.

The Breteau Foundation has partnered with the makers of the global hit TV series Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir ZAG and Mediawan Kids & Family, on a special episode on plastics simply called “Action”. Educational experts and environmental experts have co-produced the episode and have created a complete, easy to use, FREE set of resources for teachers, which are aligned to curricula. With the right knowledge, the Plastic Changemaker initiative will enable children to become ambassadors for change and kick start a global movement on responsible plastic use at home and in their community.

The “Action” episode and Plastic Changemaker Education Pack will be available to stream and download (respectively) in September 2023 via The Breteau Foundation website for free. Teachers can pre-register to receive the resources at: https://www.breteaufoundation.org/plastic-changemakers/.

About Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir continues to be everyone’s favourite superhero story and has been ranked by IMDB amongst the Top 10 Best Animated Shows in the last 20 years. Available in over 120 countries, season five of the series started to roll-out in fall 2022.

With a core audience of 52% girls and 48% boys ages 6-12, and a massive fan base of young adult “Miraculers,” (ages 15-25), Miraculous has become a digital planetary craze with over 35 billion views on YouTube (authorised and user-generated content); over 200 million downloads of the official app; and over 550 million+ plays on Roblox. Over 280 million products have been sold and retail sales have surpassed US$1B worldwide to date. Miraculous is the winner of 31 awards including Best Animated Series in the Kids Programming category at the 2023 Kidscreen Awards.

The 3D-CGI-animated superhero aspirational action-comedy series Miraculous™: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, created by ZAG and co-produced with Method Animation (Mediawan Kids & Family), follows the adventures of two seemingly typical teens with secret identities, Marinette, and Adrien, who magically transform into superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir. As secret superheroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir are partners in the action. But in the daytime, Marinette is just a normal girl, living a normal life. Cat Noir will do anything to support and impress Ladybug but does not know this is Marinette from his class. Marinette, the regular girl, in turn dreams of Adrien and simply gets little response.

When evil threatens Paris, their beloved City of Lights, can they beat the unexpected villains?

Discover more at: https://www.miraculousladybug.com

https://www.youtube.com/c/miraculousladybug

About ZAG

ZAG is a global independent entertainment studio specialising in world-class storytelling across TV, film, and digital platforms. ZAG’s foundation is rooted in compelling characters, limitless imagination, and masterful storytelling infused with original musical scores. The company is home to world-class entertainment properties under the ZAG HEROEZ label, including Miraculous™ – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir as well as Ghostforce (2021). ZAG is also currently in production on Melody, an animated feature to star Katy Perry; and recently signed a 10-movie deal with Cross Creek Pictures. Visionary director and composer Jeremy Zag founded the ZAG Kids and Family Entertainment Group in France in 2009, further expanding the company to the USA in 2012 with the Global Brand Franchise office in Santa Monica, California. ZAG now has offices in Paris, London, Montreal, Santa Monica, Miami, Mexico, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Frankfurt, Dubai, and Shenzhen. ZAG’s Consumer Products Division, helmed by Julian Jacob ZAG, EVP, Global Operations and Head of Consumer Products, includes the licensing and merchandising, gaming, promotions, and toy groups, and focuses on developing products and experiences beyond the screen into brands that inspire the new generation to discover their true character.

About Mediawan Kids & Family

Mediawan Kids & Family is the division of Mediawan dedicated to the production and distribution of children and family content for audiences worldwide. The company is the European leader in animation and produces premium TV shows, high-end feature films and digital content for kids, tweens, young adults, and families. Mediawan Kids & Family houses five production labels: Method Animation (Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (in co-production with ZAG), Robin Hood – Mischief in Sherwood, Petronix Defenders, The Three Musketeers and The Little Prince & Friends), ON Classics (The Little Prince, The Little Nicholas- Happy As Can Be), Joann Sfar’s Magical Society (Little Vampire, Mister Crocodile), along with brand-new 2D animation TV label for kids Somewhere Animation (Chefclub Adventures), tweens live-action studio Elliott Studio and international companies Wildseed Studios and Submarine.