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'Teaching about climate change: A report into climate change and sustainability education in schools'
Context
UCL commissioned Public First to conduct some rapid quantitative and qualitative opinion research between January and February 2022 to inform the development of its new Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education (CCCSE). The Centre launched in April 2022 with a core mission to lead research into climate change and sustainability education which shapes outstanding, free professional development for teachers and school leaders working across all age groups and subjects. This professional development will build teachers’ confidence and expertise while helping to embed and frame issues of climate change and sustainability appropriately in classrooms. Through both its research and professional development programmes the Centre will also ensure that school leaders are better equipped to embed sustainability in their schools’ ethos and across the entire curriculum.
The work of the Centre will be research-informed and will draw on extensive expertise from across and beyond UCL. This includes cutting-edge interdisciplinary research across, for example, climate science, biodiversity and technology, which will be reflected in the training and resources provided to teachers. It will also include specific research focused on climate change and sustainability education.
Public First’s report represents the initial phase of this work and will inform two subsequent phases of research that the Centre is leading this year:
- a national-scale survey of teachers and school leaders and,
- in-depth case studies of holistic approaches to climate change and sustainability education at school-level.
These research phases are complemented by broader research programmes led by members of the Centre including Eco-Capabilities and Branching Out.
Support for the concept of a Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education
Central to the commissioning of this report was the need to test the concept of the new Centre with a national cross-section of teachers, school leaders and young people. We are delighted that the report is positive in its recommendation for an external body to provide support for teachers although we note specific recommendations below.
The perspectives of parents are rarely considered in the context of climate change and sustainability education. This highlights the importance of the views of parents contained in this report regarding climate change education as vital, indicating a need to study this aspect of climate education more thoroughly.
There is also a disparity between parental confidence in schools’ preparedness to teach about climate change and the lack of confidence expressed by teachers in focus groups.
We believe that the evidence is clear that more support for teachers is essential if we are to embed climate change and sustainability education constructively, appropriately and consistently in classrooms.
Specific findings and recommendations
The report raises a number of important issues that we will consider as we develop our work.
1. Issues of climate change and sustainability are relevant across the whole school curriculum
We are pleased to see such strong support in the report for embedding issues of climate change and sustainability across the whole curriculum and this is a key principle of the Centre’s work. We note the anxieties that many young people are experiencing about climate change (and other issues). How themes of climate change and sustainability can be framed in classrooms in ways that are honest but also empowering and hopeful will be an important dimension of our work. We also recognise that these are in large measure whole-school issues that extend beyond individual classrooms.
Over the next twelve months we will consult widely on the principles which should underpin our work with teachers and school leaders, drawing on the views of young people, as well as school staff and other stakeholders. We will also draw fully on UCL-wide disciplinary expertise, including the work of the Climate Action Unit which brings together climate scientists and psychologists to change how society engages with climate change in ways that mitigate anxiety. To demonstrate our commitment to embedding climate change and sustainability across the school curriculum, we will begin our work with a focus on geography and history, the latter being a less common but relevant context to explore the relationship between humans and the natural world.
2. Without curriculum reform, teachers are short of time
Teachers and school leaders are under a wide range of pressures, including the demands of the current curriculum. We support the recommendation in the report for curriculum change but we also recognise that such change takes time. Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the very clear need to address it in schools, the Centre must support teachers to embed issues of climate change and sustainability within existing school curricula in imaginative ways. We will also support teachers and school leaders to signpost and connect existing work about climate change and the environment more explicitly.
Over the next twelve months we will gather and publish further evidence of what teachers are currently doing and what further support they want through a large-scale national survey. This survey, alongside the Public First report, case study research already underway and the wide range of expertise across UCL, will shape the Centre’s professional development programme and specifically our focus on geography and history in the first year.
3. Teachers want a simpler way to access relevant resources and support
We acknowledge and understand teachers’ desire for a single place to look for guidance and resources on these issues. Our aim is to provide high quality support for all teachers and school leaders over time. We recognise the excellent contributions made by many organisations, the breadth of whose work it would be foolish to replicate. By undertaking the training offered by the Centre, we believe that teachers will have greater confidence to engage with support and resources offered more widely.
Over the next six months we will continue to strengthen our links with stakeholders and undertake a detailed analysis of support currently available for teachers in our first two subjects: geography and history. This will support us developing a programme that complements existing provision and builds on best practice in those subject areas and in the more general field of climate change and sustainability education.
4. Headteachers and other senior leaders have a responsibility to embed climate change and sustainability in their school
Climate change is the defining issue of our time and responding to it is an ethical imperative. We are mindful that teachers need support within their school communities to maximise their impact and we will work with school leadership teams and UCL’s Centre for Educational Leadership to identify the best ways to engage with school leaders and help them to embed climate change and sustainability into their school curricula and ethos.
Over the next twelve months the Centre will promote and support practical, attainable ways to embed climate change and sustainability as part of the ethos of a school by sharing case studies and building networks.
5. We must continue to listen to young people, teachers and school leaders
The most valuable aspect of this report is the voice it gives to young people, parents, teachers and school leaders. There is little point providing support for teachers that they do not want or need, and which does not meet the needs of young people. We will build on this report in the next phases of our research and ensure that young people, teachers and school leaders are represented in our strategy and advisory groups.
Over the next four months the Centre will convene an Advisory Board and two specialist subject groups in geography and history, both of which will have teacher and school leader members. We will also convene a Youth Panel to ensure that young people are able to shape the strategic direction of the Centre.
There will be an online event on Monday 4 July at 4.30pm where a panel of experts will consider the implications of the report for priorities in climate change and sustainability education.