The Curriculum and Assessment review is out. Here’s our take.
“To acknowledge young people’s concern and appetite for climate action – and then fail to deliver emotionally literate, whole-curriculum climate and nature education – is to miss a huge opportunity, and to let down a new generation.” Caroline Lucas
The Department for Education has finally published its long-awaited Curriculum and Assessment Review. It acknowledges that climate change needs a stronger presence in the national curriculum – a step many of us have pushed for over years.
What’s proposed (and welcome):
- Stronger or updated content in Science, Geography, Design & Technology and Citizenship – with references to sustainability and climate justice (in Citizenship).
- An emphasis on media literacy (including tackling scientific misinformation like climate denial).
- An admission that current provision on climate education is “minimal or out of date” and that lack of guidance has held teachers back.
- Recognition that climate education is “critically important to the economy” and that young people want more of it.
- A call for 16–19 education to build on pre-16 content to help learners “rise to the challenges of a sustainable future.”
Where it falls short:
It’s telling that when the Education Secretary introduced the Review to Parliament earlier today, she didn’t mention climate once – despite citing artificial intelligence and misinformation as examples of the world “changing as never before”. The silence speaks volumes.
The Review too frames climate primarily as a technical or economic issue – preparing students for “green jobs” – rather than the all-encompassing context shaping every young person’s future. In doing so, it misses what’s really at stake. The challenges ahead are not only climatic but ecological, social and psychological – part of what many now call an Earth crisis. Responding to that requires capacity-based learning across every subject, as most experts agree: emotional resilience, systems thinking, collaboration and creativity – not just new facts about carbon and sustainable design.
The Review does recognise how worried young people are (it cites data showing 84% are concerned). But it doesn’t address what that means for how climate is taught. Knowledge on its own can increase anxiety; without the space and skills to process difficult feelings, more information can deepen powerlessness.
It’s certainly better than expected on future skills – a vital step if pupils are to be prepared for what’s ahead. But schools can only deliver that kind of curriculum if they also address the distress and overwhelm that the climate (and wider polycrisis) bring. The Review acknowledges eco-anxiety, but still treats knowledge and understanding of “the solutions” as the only remedy, leaving the inner dimensions untouched.
If the government truly wants young people to “adapt and thrive for the world and workplace of the future,” the next step is clear:
- Equip teachers not only to teach climate science, but to help students build the emotional resilience that can help young people move through anxiety about an increasingly uncertain future and into meaningful action.
- Back this with time, training and supportive school culture, not just updated content.
Even the Review concedes that “content isn’t enough – pedagogy matters” and praises schools already showing leadership. Yet with over 70% of teacher climate professional development still self-taught, this is precisely where policy must now move: towards time, training and culture that enable teachers to meet students’ emotional needs and turn knowledge into agency.
So, yes we’re seeing progress – but it’s painfully partial. The Review gives us a foundation; now we need emotionally literate, whole-school Earth-crisis education woven through every subject, supported by school leadership, teacher development, wellbeing frameworks and time to act.
What do you think? We’d love your take. Just hit reply!
From our network: ways to get involved
Across our growing network, people are creating space for hope, action and connection. Here are a few upcoming opportunities and events you might want to be part of.
Our friend Elena Lengthorn at Worcester is organising this brilliant event for senior education and sustainability leads across Early Years, Schools and FE. With schools now expected to appoint Sustainability Leads and start developing Climate Action Plans, it’s a timely moment to connect and prepare.
The day will explore both the practicalities – with input from Educational Psychologists and DfE Climate Ambassadors – and the emotional side of climate education. It also includes an update from the National Emergency Briefing and an invitation to join a new community of practice focused on resilience in education.
Free course on transformative climate resilience education
Our friends at The CLARITY Project have launched a fantastic free online course for teachers and non-formal educators – available now in English and Ukrainian, with more languages to come. The course helps educators support young people (ages 6–26) to move from climate anxiety towards wellbeing, resilience and creativity, and offers practical tools for building connection and regeneration in the classroom.
It’s self-paced but supported – once you register, you can access the materials straight away and join a growing community of practice across Europe.
Call for participants: research on the emotional dimensions of climate education
Our friend and Climate Courage volunteer Tim Coxon at the University of Sussex is looking for primary teachers involved in climate and ecological education to take part in his PhD research. The study explores how teachers experience and navigate the emotional side of their work – and what might better support them and their students.
Participation involves two reflective interviews (each up to an hour), with a small honorarium and travel costs covered. If you’re interested, or you know someone who might be, contact Tim at t.coxon@sussex.ac.uk.
What we're reading
- This thoughtful post from Charlotte Bonner, calling out how climate education too often overlooks SEND and Alternative Provision learners. She argues that unless inclusion and justice are built in from the start, sustainability efforts will keep missing the mark.
- A fascinating study of early childhood teacher trainees in Finland and Sweden explores what drives them to teach for sustainability. It finds that hope and care – for children, each other and the world – are core motivators, and argues that teacher training must nurture ethical, emotional and relational skills, not just factual knowledge.
- Drawing on interviews from a climate-mental health program in Canada, this study shows how collective grieving helps transform eco-grief into solidarity and purpose. Participants found that processing loss together strengthens both wellbeing and the ability to act.
Thanks again! Till next time,
Josephine
