Currently, students only carry out an in-depth study of climate change if they take GCSE Geography. Experts, teachers and students have all claimed that this is not enough. Students across the UK have been campaigning for a change in the Education Act, as they feel that they are not being taught enough about climate change in schools. They also strongly believe that they have not been prepared to live in a warming world.
Students strongly believe that they have not
been prepared to live in a warming world.
Scarlett Westbrook, an 18-year-old student, is an example of how these students are campaigning towards better climate change education in schools. She has significant ideas on how the UK Government should change their Education Act and she has become one of the first ever students who have come together to write a parliamentary bill outlining several proposed changes. The bill which states that the education of climate change should occur throughout primary and secondary schools has been read for a second time in parliament.
In an interview with BBC News, Scarlett stated that, “Climate change isn’t just about natural history. It’s about people, it’s about economics, politics, history and arts – and we need to learn that too”.
Many students are behind her, agreeing that climate change will affect many parts of their lives and therefore should be taught within a range of subjects.
Students in Liverpool have issued a warning that they are going into the world ‘blind’ to the full extent of climate change and that more must be done to prepare them and teach them so they can understand and work towards preventing its impacts.
The students are not the only ones that believe there isn’t enough being taught about climate change in schools. According to a recent study carried out by Teach the Future, a youth-led campaign group, 51% of teachers believe that their subjects don’t teach their students in a meaningful or relevant way when regarding climate change.
