Putting climate change at the heart of education: Is England's strategy a placebo for policy?

Abstract

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‘Standing back’ or ‘stepping up’? Exploring climate change education policy influence in England

“…Yet questions remain about the effect that this policy might have or, more specifically, the extent to which the policy text is likely to result in a meaningful educational response to climate change. Indeed, a critique by Dunlop and Rushton (2022) finds that the shortfalls that were identified in the policy landscape prior to the new strategy's release (see Greer et al, 2023) continue to reverberate. That is, the new strategy quietens the crisis and is dominated by discourses prioritising economic growth over environmental protection and improvement, and the activities it promotes are positioned as optional or extracurricular.…”

A Green Manifesto for Art, Craft and Design Education

“…For instance, when talking of climate justice, we must acknowledge that the behaviour of the global North – for example, excessive energy consumption – contributes to the many environmental issues experienced by the global South (Hickel 2022). Children and young people are greatly concerned about these issues, which makes it more problematic that the Department for Education (DfE) 1 (2022) strategy on education for sustainability and climate change is lacking in many areas and fails to address students’, teachers’ and teacher educators’ priorities (Dunlop & Rushton 2022). My own critique of this policy includes the following observations: there is mention of the role of STEM but not of STEAM; science teachers will receive continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities, but not art teachers; carbon literacy is mentioned but not environmental literacy.…”

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

“…Climate change and environmental education has a low profile in education policy-making in England, for example, it is not featured in education inspection frameworks [14] or in recent policy-making related to teacher education, including the Early Career Framework (ECF) [15] and the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework (CCF) [16]. In terms of the secondary national curriculum, climate change and the environment are featured in subjects such as design and technology, geography and science, but with an emphasis on subject knowledge-learning about the environment rather than for the environment [17,18]. This emphasis on learning about the science of climate change contrasts with the views of many UK-based teachers, teacher educators and young people who support climate change education that is action-based and includes issues of global social justice, enabling young people to learn for the environment [7,8,19].…”

“…Following the announcement of a draft strategy for sustainability and climate change for education and children's services systems in England at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, the Department for Education published a final version in April 2022 [13,33]. Whilst increased attention on the role of education in responding to climate change is to be welcomed, in their analysis of the strategy, Dunlop and Rushton [18] highlighted a range of issues: Firstly, the government's proposals for climate change and sustainability education have economic concerns in the foreground; secondly, there is continued over-reliance on increasing and developing young people's science-focused knowledge and skills; and thirdly, educational priorities are framed and driven by the 'net zero' policy agenda. Furthermore, Dunlop and Rushton [18] highlighted an absence of attention on the political dimensions of climate change within the strategy, which is inconsistent with the idea that effective climate change education should include social, ethical and political complexities [20].…”

“…Whilst increased attention on the role of education in responding to climate change is to be welcomed, in their analysis of the strategy, Dunlop and Rushton [18] highlighted a range of issues: Firstly, the government's proposals for climate change and sustainability education have economic concerns in the foreground; secondly, there is continued over-reliance on increasing and developing young people's science-focused knowledge and skills; and thirdly, educational priorities are framed and driven by the 'net zero' policy agenda. Furthermore, Dunlop and Rushton [18] highlighted an absence of attention on the political dimensions of climate change within the strategy, which is inconsistent with the idea that effective climate change education should include social, ethical and political complexities [20]. This is problematic because, whilst some teachers, teacher educators and young people advocate for more opportunities to engage with the social and political dimensions of climate change and sustainability [8,18,19], other teachers in England have reported concerns about teach-ing climate change and sustainability as they can be viewed as controversial topics [34].…”