School leavers have “very poor” understanding of key climate change concepts, a “concerning” government study has found, reigniting calls for the topic to be given greater coverage in the curriculum.
Year 11s were found to struggle with understanding the impact climate change could have on the UK, and how it is mitigated.
The findings are from the Department for Education’s 2024 climate literacy survey of 522 Year 11 pupils.
The Geographical Association, which represents thousands of teachers of geography, says the survey shows the need for climate change to be included in the curriculum for primary pupils, and for teaching to be strengthened at secondary schools.
‘Very poor awareness’
The DfE survey found just over half (55 per cent) of school leavers remembered learning about climate change in their final year. But 17 per cent could not remember ever being taught about climate change, and 24 per cent said they were last taught about it when they were 15 or younger.
The DfE survey found concepts such as net zero and the 1.5°C and 2°C climate change goals are “very poorly understood”. The DfE said the lack of understanding of the widely used ‘net zero’ phrase is “both surprising and concerning”.
It also found “very poor” awareness of the impacts climate change are likely to have on the UK.
It found “a substantial proportion” do not appreciate future global warming can still be limited. They largely underestimated the impacts having pets and eating meat have on greenhouse gas emission, but “overestimate” the effect of recycling and switching off lights.
“If climate education is to…increase hope in our ability to take collective climate action, increased awareness of mitigation and adaptation strategies is vitally important,” the DfE study said.
There was also a “substantial knowledge gap” about the level of scientific consensus on climate change. Most Year 11s believed agreement amongst scientists to be “notably lower than it is”.
The study found most school leavers (42 per cent) are “fairly concerned” about climate change, and 12 per cent were “very concerned”. But 35 per cent were either “not very concerned” or “not at all concerned”.
‘It’s not too late’
Steve Brace, chief executive of the Geographical Association, said the report was “heartening in terms of a broad level of understanding” of climate change, and said some of the questionnaire was on “sophisticated concepts”.
But he told Schools Week: “I think the DfE report just gives more evidence to the need to be doing more of this in the curriculum, and indeed beyond the curriculum.
“We want more explicit statements and coverage in the curriculum, within the exam specifications,” he said.
Across the DfE’s 105-page curriculum for all KS3 and KS4s subjects, “climate” is mentioned six times, and “climate change” or “change in climate” just twice.
The KS3 and KS4 geography curriculum requires pupils to be taught the key weather and climate processes, “including the change in climate from the Ice Age to the present”.
They must also be taught “how human and physical processes interact to influence, and change landscapes, environments and the climate”.
The chemistry syllabus also requires pupils to be taught about “potential effects of, and mitigation of, increased levels of carbon dioxide and methane on the Earth’s climate”.
But a Teacher Tapp survey found a third of secondary school teachers did not believe enough time was spent teaching the issue.
Climate change education important for all pupils
Not all school leavers surveyed by the DfE were geography pupils; current uptake at GCSE level is around 44 per cent. But Brace said climate change is a key concept for all pupils to grasp.
“The transition to net zero will touch every part of our economy,” he said. “There is an important need to develop young people’s green skills…Whatever sort of jobs they go into, these will be impacting on them.”
Nick Davies, head of climate policy at independent think tank Green Alliance, said: “We need to do more to show [young people] by acting now, we can avert its worst effects and have a better quality of life in the years to come.”
“The government has committed to a plan for involving the public around green policies next year: it clearly needs to prioritise informing and involving the next generation.”
Teach climate change in primary
Brace said the report findings corroborate recommendations the GA made last month in its consultation response to the DfE’s ongoing curriculum review, after surveying more than 400 teachers.
It recommends climate change should be introduced into the key stage 2 national curriculum for geography.
Brace said any such teaching “needs to be done in an age appropriate way…so primary school children can understand that our climate is changing and the impact humans are having on that change, and [that] it will continue to change for many years to come.”
The GA is also calling for teaching on climate change to be strengthened at key stage 3, and within GCSE and A-level geography.
It recommends the current section on the physical geography of the UK in the GCSE geography syllabus should be “repurposed” to explore key issues such as UK’s the potential for clean power, or the need to protect against flooding.
With 10,000 schools currently at risk of flooding – and this figure expected to soar to 15,000 by 2050 – pupils may not have to travel farther than the school gate to study this, points out Brace.
Government has launched a climate change strategy. But the previous government quietly slashed £85 million from the scheme, and it was heavily criticised by the National Audit Office.
Plans for a landmark new GCSE in natural history are also in limbo.
A DfE spokesperson said they are “determined that the curriculum and assessment system will change so that every child has the tools they need to achieve and thrive.”
