A coalition of leading education and climate bodies has set out a sweeping ten-point plan to turn curriculum reform into meaningful climate education in classrooms across the country.
Published today, the report argues that recent changes to the national curriculum – while welcome – will fall short without a coordinated programme of support spanning teacher training, exams, school inspections and learning resources.
The recommendations follow discussions with more than 40 professional bodies and teaching organisations and come in response to the government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review.
From Curriculum Change to Classroom Reality
Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez, climate scientist at the University of Reading and chair of the National Climate Education Action Plan, said the challenge now is delivery.
“Climate change touches every part of our lives, so it makes sense that it should touch every part of the education young people receive,” he said. While reforms to Science, Geography and Design and Technology are positive, he warned there is still “distance left to travel to ensure that the education system can deliver on these reforms.”
The report calls for climate and sustainability to be embedded across subjects – not siloed – and for inspection body Ofsted to reflect schools’ sustainability efforts within its framework.
The Ten Priorities
The plan identifies ten areas requiring urgent action:
- Quality-controlling classroom resources – making sure materials from major publishers are accurate, up to date and adaptable for local use
- Reforming exam specifications – ensuring climate and nature are examined across multiple subjects, with specifications that can be updated as the science develops
- Expanding enrichment opportunities – ensuring all students have equal access to climate-related activities outside the classroom
- Supporting teachers – better training and resources across all subjects, including guidance on handling controversial issues in the classroom
- Defining essential content – making the basics of climate change causes, consequences and solutions compulsory for every student
- Keeping the focus on solutions – more emphasis on renewable energy, nature restoration and green careers in lessons, training and exams
- Improving coherence and sequencing – clearer links between subjects and year groups to avoid repetition and build on prior learning
- Embedding green skills – weaving data, digital and critical thinking skills into climate and nature teaching across all subjects
- Strengthening the wider community – closer working between publishers, subject experts, industry and young people
- Applying a climate lens to every subject – bringing climate and nature into subjects beyond the obvious ones, and ensuring it is covered in teacher training from the start
A 2031 Vision
The report concludes with a vision of what a fully reformed system could look like by 2031 – one where climate literacy is universal, teaching is consistent and young people are equipped with the knowledge and skills to navigate a low-carbon future.
Contributors include the Royal Meteorological Society, University College London, the Royal Geographical Society and Cambridge University Press & Assessment, among others.
Their message is clear: curriculum reform is only the first step. Without sustained, system-wide backing, climate education risks remaining an aspiration rather than a lived reality in schools.
