July 3rd 2023

Climate Action – Details of the Department for Education’s sustainability leadership and climate action plans initiative have been published on line.  The DfE strategy states: “By 2025, all education settings will have nominated a sustainability lead and put in place a climate action plan”. This includes early years settings, schools, multi-academy trusts, colleges, and universities.  Sustainability leadership could be a…

More from Natural England

Here’s a further update from Natural England by way of relevant evidence and reports, policy agenda developments, large scale delivery sector initiatives, resources and news items from the UK and abroad, with a focus on schools, education and learning. This supports the Strategic Research Network for People and Nature to develop better coherence and collaboration…

26th June 2023

NAAEE Conference 23 – Registration will be opening this week for the 2023 NAAEE conference which will be on-line and will focus on the importance of collaboration, creativity, and crossing boundaries to address the environmental and social issues we face.  NAAEE says: “We can’t address the systemic injustices that have marginalized so many unless we understand the…

Green Alliance Update

We’ve noted before the lack of interest from the Green Alliance in the work of schools, but that does not mean that schools should not be interested in what the Green Alliance does, as much of its work has a bearing on curriculum matters in upper secondary schools. Its Inside Track blog raises a range…

Natural England Research Update

Here’s an update from Natural England by way of relevant evidence and reports, policy agenda developments, large scale delivery sector initiatives, resources and news items from the UK and abroad, with a focus on schools, education and learning. This supports the Strategic Research Network for People and Nature to develop better coherence and collaboration in…

19th June 2023

GCSE and Climate – There are many opportunities for better climate change education within the current secondary school curriculum in England, say a report published by the Royal Meteorological Society.  The research reviewed the GCSE specifications across all subjects and exam boards and highlighted how many concepts already taught in schools are relevant to students’ understanding of climate…

Faustian Bargains : part 2– We the people

Today’s post by regular contributor, Richard Jurin, is a follow up to a recent post. Before his retirement, Richard led the Environmental Studies programme at the University of Northern Colorado, where he launched a degree in Sustainability Studies.  His academic interests are environmental worldviews and understanding barriers to sustainability. As ever, with our blogs, the…

12th June 2023

Connecting to Nature – The National Education Nature Park and Climate Action Award scheme is launching in the autumn.  Working with the Department of Education, the project aims to ensure every young person in England has opportunities to have a meaningful connection to nature.  You can take part. . Failing the Test – Teach the Future has published its report into exam boards and the…

Green Steel

A while back NAEE published a feature on ways of making steel without using so much carbon. It noted that currently steel production makes up around 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions. The article explored the use of hydrogen as the reductant instead of coke. To be ‘green’, of course, the hydrogen has to be…

The Climate Book

The Climate Book, which was “created” by Greta Thunberg, weighs in at a hefty 1.4kg so you might need to reinforce that coffee table.  It has 5 sections: How climate works How our planet is changing How it affects us What we’ve done about it What we must do now Each of these is sub-divided into…

COP 27 and a half

Each week subscribers to The Times can receive an environment-themed email newsletter. This one is about preparations for COP 28 in Dubai. It’s reproduced in full here with acknowledgement. As we reach the halfway point between Cop27 and Cop28, the prospects for success at the summit in Dubai this December are looking increasingly uncertain. Yesterday…