Fact Service January 2022

Issue 4

Unions want climate change better reflected in curriculum

Six education unions – the NEU, NASUWT, NAHT, UCU, UNISON and GMB, along with the NUS, charity SOS-UK, think tank The Edge, and the ThoughtBox organisation – have written to the secretary of state for education asking for the schools curriculum to better address the importance of sustainability and the effects of climate change.

They say they welcome a Department for Education strategy to sketch out the changes needed in the education system on this topic, but remain concerned that changes do not go far enough.

Instead, they recommend:

• embedding sustainability and environmental education throughout the curriculum;

• prompt action to tackle gender disparity within STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects;

• establishing, and keeping to, a target date of 2030 for the retrofitting of the school estate; and

• development of a detailed policy on green travel for students, staff, and parents.

https://neu.org.uk/media/19646/view