The views of teachers in England on an action-oriented climate change curriculum

Abstract

To inform current debate around climate change education (CCE) in the school curriculum in England, we surveyed the views of primary and secondary teachers (N = 626). In England, direct reference to climate change in the National Curriculum is confined to secondary Science and Geography but, unrelated to their subject area, teachers favoured a cross-curricular approach with most already communicating to their students about it. Feeling comfortable delivering CCE was correlated with reported resource availability, with most teachers considering only basic literacy was a greater funding priority. Teachers supported an action-based CCE curriculum including issues of global social justice, beginning in primary school with mitigation projects such as conservation, local tree-planting and family advocacy. Local campaigning (e.g. legal demonstration) was considered appropriate around the primary/ secondary transition, with most supporting inclusion of civil disobedience but indicating this should begin at secondary school (11+ years). Results are compared with a 2018 poll of US teachers.

Worcester Educator Climate Assembly: Promoting Sustainability Leadership through Participation. A Community Approach to Education in Climate Emergency

“…These answers align with the Pihkala [27] summary of eco-literature on strategies to minimize climate sorrow and the role of the educator in modelling vulnerability, complexity, ambiguity and also action and resilience. The responses resonate with Howard-Jones et al [15], in their nding of teachers supporting action-based family advocacy in climate change education, although this was in association with primary pupils and advocacy in secondary pupils, a movement of action beyond the school and into the community. All but one response agreed or strongly agreed that the climate emergency should be integrated into the primary curriculum, concurring with the Howard-Jones [15] ndings.…”

“…Participant scaled responses, in re ection of their levels of con dence in teaching about the climate emergency, were all fairly con dent, con dent or completely con dent. It could be assumed that con dence to undertake this work and adequate training to do so might be aligned, but it contrasts with the Teach the Future 'Teaching the Future' research [14] ndings of 70% of teachers feeling unprepared, potentially aligning more with the ndings from Howard-Jones et al [15] that the majority of UK teachers surveyed (73.7%) are already teaching or talking about climate change, perhaps doing so despite inadequate training.…”

“…In contrast, research by Howard-Jones et al [15] on the views from a sample of 626 teachers in schools in England on climate change education in the curriculum (as well as their opinions on a variety of approaches and funding), identi ed that a similar proportion of teacher participants (73.3%) are already directly teaching, or talking to, pupils about climate change. Their research also suggested participant support of an early introduction to climate change education in the curriculum, which the authors proposed in equal precedence with literacy and numeracy, with most responses supporting provision from primary school.…”

“…The disclosure or exposure of participant eco-anxiety/grief. Climate Assembly UK [26] acknowledge that the issues involved in a climate assembly are complex and Howard-Jones et al [15] discuss the political polarisation that characterizes climate change, along with its di cult connections to commercial interests. Some of these tensions and complexities might be reduced through logistical adaptions to sessions and facilitator training.…”

“…This is at odds with the mandated UK curriculum in which climate change education does not appear until key stage three (pupils aged 11 to 14) and then only in science and geography and which does not include reference to resulting social justice issues. Howard-Jones et al [15] draw attention to the nding that their participants did not consider climate change activities for social change to be too political for them to be involved in education, but also expressed that individual advocacy (active pupil participation) was favoured for older pupils, with family participation preferred for primary pupils.…”