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Science tube-Green World video

Environmental education has moved from a peripheral topic to a whole-curriculum expectation. Pupils growing up in the 2020s need to understand climate change, biodiversity loss, sustainability, and the systems that connect them — and the good pedagogy has moved well beyond "recycle more" posters.

About this video

The Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy published by the DfE in 2022 set out a whole-school approach: sustainability leadership in every school, natural history as a GCSE from 2025, and climate education woven through science, geography, and other subjects rather than treated as a single topic. Implementation has been uneven, but the direction of travel is clear.

The best climate teaching in UK schools tends to have three features. First, it takes the science seriously — pupils learn not just that climate is changing but how the greenhouse effect works, what the evidence for anthropogenic change looks like, and why the scientific consensus is what it is. Second, it engages with the political and economic complexity honestly — climate policy involves genuine trade-offs, and pretending otherwise infantilises pupils. Third, it fosters agency without magical thinking — action matters, but pupils shouldn't be told individual behaviour change alone will fix systemic problems.

The eco-anxiety point is worth taking seriously. Research suggests significant proportions of children and young people report feeling worried, sad, or angry about climate change. Good teaching acknowledges these feelings, gives pupils outlets (both individual action and collective political participation), and models honest hope — neither denialism nor doom.

Threads worth teaching

  • The science. The greenhouse effect, evidence for warming, the difference between climate and weather, feedback loops.
  • The systems. Energy, food, transport, materials — the systems that produce most emissions and where they might change.
  • The politics. Trade-offs, competing interests, why change is hard, how it happens when it does.
  • Biodiversity. Not just charismatic mammals but ecosystems, pollinators, soil, the interconnected web.
  • Agency. Individual behaviour, community action, political participation. All three matter; none alone is enough.

Discussion prompts

  • What is your school's current provision for climate and sustainability education? Where are the gaps?
  • How do you handle eco-anxiety when it comes up in your classroom? What has worked?
  • Which of your subjects is best placed to teach the systemic dimensions of climate change (economics, politics, geography, science, food tech)? Are they doing it?

Try this in your classroom

  • For your next unit that touches on climate or environment, include one lesson on the actual scientific evidence rather than jumping straight to "what can we do".
  • Invite pupils to research one local environmental issue and propose one specific action — individual, community-led, or political. Present to the class.
  • Read the DfE Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy summary. Discuss with colleagues what your school has implemented and what's still to do.

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