What do secondary school children across the four UK nations learn about resolving climate change? Comparisons, implications, and recommendations

The UK government has set an ambitious target of reaching net zero carbon by 2050. Supply-side actions enabled early interim targets to be met but meeting future targets will be more challenging. A key impediment is a lack of clear and cohesive public engagement strategy.

In the context of the urgent need to empower and enable all in the UK to make and support green choices, this policy brief focuses on how resolving climate change is presented to secondary school pupils across the UK. More specifically, it explores in which subjects in the curriculum climate change content is included and whether there are differences across the four nations. It also examines which discourses about resolving climate change are presented in at-16 exam revision guides. 

It finds that, at secondary level, content about climate change is largely limited to Science and Geography curricula. What and how much pupils learn about resolving climate change is dependent upon their at-16 exam choices and (in England) their schools’ choice of exam board.

With regard to the dominant discourses presented in at-16 exam revision guides, the focus is primarily on incremental reform. Technological fixes are seen as the solution, while social or institutional change is hardly considered. Individuals are confined to a consumer role; the many other relevant roles they may occupy (e.g. citizen, professional) are not presented.