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

• Climate action and sustainability for schooling in Egypt (CLASS)
• Teaching climate change and sustainability: A survey of teachers in England
• Branching Out: Tackling mental health inequalities in schools with community artscapers
• Eco-capabilities: Supporting children’s wellbeing through participatory art in nature
• Sustainability Across Subjects (SAS) – David Mitchell, Alison Kitson, Alexis Stones, Emma Newall
• Learning and teaching of local knowledge for climate action through school-community collaboration

Completed projects

• Secondary schools' engagement with climate change and sustainability education in England

Publications

2025

• Leading English schools at a time of climate crisis (23 April 2025) – Dr Rupert Higham & Dr Alison Kitson

2024

• Walshe, N.; Sheldrake, R.; Healy, G.; Edwards, RC; Wale, W.; Hargreaves, E.; (2024) Climate Change and Sustainability Education: A survey of students in England. IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society: London, UK
• Greer, K., Walshe, N., Kitson, A. & Dillon, J., (2024) Responding to the environmental emergency through education: the imperative for teacher support across all subjects. UCL Open Environment 6(1)
• 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

• Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (2023) Artscaping: A guide to establishing arts-in-nature opportunities in your schools. Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination and University College London
• Dillon, J. (2023) Climate change education. In J. Dillon & M. Watts (Eds). Debates in Science Education (2nd edition) (pp. 59–72). Routledge
• Dillon, J. (2023) Environmental and science education: Overlaps and issues. In S. Faircloth (Ed.). Oxford Bibliographies in Education. Oxford University Press
• Dillon, J. & Herman, B. (2023) Environmental education. In N. G. Lederman, D. L. Zeidler & J. S. Lederman (Eds). Handbook of Research on Science Education, Volume 3. (pp. 717–748). Routledge
• Dillon, J. & Watts, M. (2023) Debates in science education. In J. Dillon & M. Watts (Eds). Debates in Science Education (2nd edition) (pp. 1–9). Routledge
• Greer, K. & Svennevig, H. (2023) Citizenship education in the context of climate change: Two research frameworks that can support teaching, Teaching Citizenship, 58
• Greer, K, King, H. & Glackin, M. (2023) ’Standing back or stepping up?’ Exploring climate change education policy influence in England. British Education Research Journal, 49(5), 1088–1107
• Kitson, A. (2023) Climate change teaching for sustainable futures, Teaching Citizenship, 58
• Mitchell, D. (2023) Teaching for Sustainable Futures: A research-informed professional development course, Geography, 108(3), 147–151 
• Moula, Z. & Walshe, N. (2023) How arts-in-nature experiences can boost the wellbeing of children and young people. The House, 17 April
• Moula Z., Walshe N., Lee E. (2023) “It was like I was not a person, it was like I was the nature”: The impact of arts-in-nature experiences on the wellbeing of children living in areas of high deprivation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 90, 102072
• Owens, J., Greer, K., King, H., Glackin, M. (2023) Conceptualising HE educators’ capabilities to ‘teach the crisis’: Towards critical and transformative environmental pedagogies. Frontiers in Education, 8
• Reiss, M. J. (2023) ASE Presidential Address: Science education at a time of existential risk. School Science Review in Depth, 105(389), 5–10
• Rushton, E., Sharp, S. & Walshe, N. (2023) Global Priorities for Enhancing School-based Climate Change and Sustainability Education. British Council
• Rushton, E. A. C., Sharp, S., Kitson, A. & Walshe, N. (2023) Reflecting on climate change education priorities in secondary schools in England: Moving beyond learning about climate change to the emotions of living with climate change. Sustainability, 15(8), 6497
• Scaramanga, J. & Reiss, M. J. (2023) Evolutionary stasis: Creationism, evolution and climate change in the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 18, 809–827
• Walshe, N. & Perry, J. (2023) Nurturing eco-capabilities for transformative learning and wellbeing. Primary Geographer, 110(1), 7–9
• Walshe, N., Bungay, H. & Dadswell, A. (2023) Sustainable outdoor education: Organisations connecting children and young people with nature through the arts. Sustainability, 15(5), 3941
• Walshe, N., Perry, J. & Moula, Z. (2023) Eco-Capabilities: Arts-in-nature interventions for supporting nature visibilisation and wellbeing in children. Sustainability, 15, 12290

2022

• Dunlop, L. & Rushton, E. A. C. (2022) Putting climate change at the heart of education: Is England’s strategy a placebo for policy? British Educational Research Journal, 48(6), 1083–1101
• Howard-Jones, P. & Dillon, J. (2022) Climate Change education: A “world-leading strategy” would benefit from being research-informed. PolicyBristol
• Kitson, A. (2022) What does climate change and sustainability have to do with me? Educate
• Reiss, M. J. (2022) Learning to teach controversial topics. In: Handbook of Research on Science Teacher Education, Luft, J. A. & Jones, M. G. (Eds), Routledge, pp. 403–413
• Rushton, E. A. C. & Walshe, N. (2022) Climate change, sustainability and the environment: The continued importance of biological education. Journal of Biological Education, 56(3), 243–244
• Walshe, N. & Perry, J. (2022) Transformative geography education: Developing eco-capabilities for a flourishing and sustainable future. Teaching Geography, 47(3), 94–97
• Walshe, N. & Sund, L. (Eds) (2022) Developing (Transformative) Environmental and Sustainability Education in Classroom Practice. MDPI
• Walshe, N., Moula, Z. & Lee, E. (2022) Eco-capabilities as a pathway to wellbeing and sustainability. Sustainability, 14(6), 3582

2021

• Walshe, N. (2021) How can we meet the pledge to put climate ‘at the heart of education’? Schools Week
• Walshe, N. & Moula, Z. (2021) Eco-capabilities: Supporting children’s wellbeing through arts in nature. Environmental Education, 126, 16–17

Blogs

• Reflections on international climate change and environmental policy engagement (11 December 2023) – Dr Kate Greer
• Action for Climate Empowerment: why this ‘policy glue’ needs a cross-government approach (30 November 2023) – Dr Kate Greer
• Educating for Sustainable Futures in Secondary Education (29 November 2023) – Prof Nicola Walshe
• The potential of infrapolitical dissent for influencing climate change education policy (4 October 2023) – Dr Kate Greer et al