The state of environmental, sustainability and climate education in UK schools and effective practice in the classroom.
This report, commissioned by the UK National Association for Environmental Education (NAEE), explores effective practices in delivering environmental, sustainability and climate education in schools across the United Kingdom. Drawing on a comprehensive review of academic and grey literature, as well as relevant case studies, the report identifies key factors that contribute to high-quality educational experiences for young people in the UK.
The importance of environmental, sustainability and climate education is clear, as it fosters positive environmental attitudes, critical thinking skills, student engagement, and personal development. In the UK, recent policy developments, such as the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy in England and curriculum reform in Wales and Scotland, have highlighted the growing emphasis on this area of education.
Key effective practices for teachers to apply in their teaching include:
- Implementing cross-curricular integration of environmental topics across subjects such as maths, languages, and physical education to facilitate a holistic understanding of sustainability issues.
- Providing hands-on activities, real-world problem-solving, engagement with local sustainability issues, and political participation to support experiential, action oriented learning and foster youth agency.
- Utilising community and outdoor learning opportunities, such as field trips, nature connection activities, and partnerships with local organisations, to ground environmental education in the natural world, improving educational outcomes and students’ mental and physical well-being.
- Engaging with international case studies and cultural perspectives, especially in terms of the interconnectedness of local lifestyles with ecological systems, to expand learners’ global perspectives.
- Addressing the social dimensions of environmental challenges, including issues of justice, equity, and power dynamics, to empower students to design equitable solutions.
- Linking environmental education with STEM subjects through hands-on experiments and sustainable design principles to increase exposure to ‘green’ career pathways.
- Cultivating partnerships with environmental charities, conservation agencies, outdoor learning centres, and sustainability-focused businesses to enhance expertise, resources, and local context.
- Adopting whole-school approaches to sustainability and utilising resources supporting school climate action planning to build environmental awareness into both the curriculum and school operations.