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UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education

Leading research into climate change and sustainability education which shapes the development of outstanding, free professional development for all teachers and school leaders.

Director: Professor Nicola Walshe

The importance of teacher development in the area of climate change and sustainability education is hard to overstate. This is the defining existential challenge of our time and the world that schoolchildren will encounter as adults will look different from our world today.

We aim to provide research-informed professional development for teachers and school leaders across all phases, subjects and career stages.

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About us

Focus

Teaching young people about climate change and sustainability must include but also go beyond the science of climate change and develop knowledge and values to help them to adapt to a changing world and to embrace the opportunities that more sustainable lifestyles might offer.

Teachers also need to know how to support young people with associated health and wellbeing concerns, including increasing levels of eco-anxiety. These are issues that need to be embedded across the school curriculum, but we know that many teachers lack confidence in this area.

We will work across faculties at UCL to ensure that this professional development is not only informed by our own research into current practice in schools but also by recent academic research to ensure that all our materials are up-to-date.

Team

Leadership Group

Steering Group

Research Fellows

Associate Fellows

Advisory Board

  • Professor Chew Hung Chang, National Institute of Education, Singapore
  • Helen Czerski, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UCL
  • Mark Maslin, Department of Geography, UCL
  • Chris Rapley, CBE, Department of Earth Scientists, UCL
  • Dr Ana Angelita da Rocha, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Dr Jess Tipton, Natural History Museum, UK
  • Richard Sheriff, CEO Red Kite Trust
  • David Lambert, Emeritus Professor of Geography Education, UCL
  • Naheeda Maharasingam, Headteacher, Rathfern Primary School
  • Morgan Phillips, Global Action Plan
  • Francesca Kilpatrick, Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL
  • Will Wale, Youth Focal Point for Sustainability and Climate Change, Department for Education

 If you would like to apply to be an Associate Fellow, please contact: climateeducation@ucl.ac.uk

 Our activities 

Research

Initial work by the centre will see academics conduct rapid research on teachers’ knowledge and preparedness to teach climate change and sustainability education across the UK.

Other upcoming work includes equipping teachers with the tools to develop the curriculum for more sustainable futures, and exploring how secondary schools' engagement with climate change and sustainability education in England varies.

Ongoing projects

Past events and engagement

Consultancy

Blogs

Events

Media

Publications

 

2024

  • Walshe, N., Moula, Z. & Cox-Condron, H. (2024) ‘The heart of the forest is here’: Reframing children’s disempowered relationships with once-familiar places through Eco-Capabilities. In Pike, S. & Rawlings-Smith, E. (Eds) Encountering Ideas of Place in Education, pp 39-52. Routledge.

2023

2022

2021

Would you like engage with our work?

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