Labour is tomorrow (Friday) announcing that climate change will
be a core part of the curriculum from primary school onwards. The
announcement comes on the same day that the UK Climate Strike
Network hosts more school strikes across the country.
Under plans set out by Shadow Education Secretary , the next Labour government
will ensure all young people are educated about the ecological
and social impact of climate change.
The review will also make certain that the curriculum
focuses on the knowledge and skills that young people need in a
world that will be increasingly shaped by climate change,
particularly in renewable energy and green technology jobs.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation will drastically
increase future demand for the knowledge and skills required for
the green jobs on the future, with these skills severely
underrepresented in the current curriculum.
As part of a review of the school curriculum to ensure that
it provides young people with the knowledge and skills they will
need as adults, an expert panel will consider how climate change
and its impact from primary school onwards.
One of the key demands of the climate school strikes is
that the national curriculum is reformed to address the
ecological crisis as an educational priority. Currently, teaching
climate change is restricted to Chemistry and Geography in Key
Stages 3 and 4.
Under the Conservatives, the curriculum has narrowed, with
scrapping the last Labour
government’s plans to start teaching children about the
environment and climate change when they are in primary
school.
Speaking ahead of a visit to a primary school in
Greater Manchester, Shadow Education Secretary, said:
“Today, young people are taking to the streets to send a
clear message to the government that climate change will be a
fundamental and defining feature of their adult lives, and we
must take the action needed to tackle it.
“We need to equip people with the knowledge to understand
the enormous changes we face, and skills to work with the new
green technologies that we must develop to deal with
them.
“That must be part of a broad education and that prepares
pupils for adult life. Climate change should be a core part of
the school curriculum, and under a Labour government it will
be.”
“As well as teaching young people about the impact of
climate change, their education must prepare them for the jobs of
the future. As part of Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution to
create 400,000 skilled jobs across the country, young people will
be taught the skills they need.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
-
UK Climate Strike Network will be hosting another
school strike Friday 24th May.
-
Adding climate change to the school curriculum is one
of the UK Climate Strike network’s key demands. Labour has
met all four of the young people’s key demands https://ukscn.org/demands
-
Currently climate change is taught at Key stage 3 and 4
Chemistry and Geography.
-
The last Labour government commissioned a review of the
primary curriculum by Sir Jim Rose, which was published in
2009. The review suggested that the primary curriculum should
incorporate the teaching of the environment and climate
change from primary school onwards.http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2009-IRPC-final-report.pdf,
p173, (47)
-
However, the review was not implemented following the
change of government in 2010, when was appointed Secretary of
State. This meant that climate change was not a formal part
of the primary school curriculum.
-
Labour has committed to establishing a commission of
experts to determine the content of a National Curriculum
that meets this objective, while protecting the curriculum
from the practice often followed by Conservative Education
Secretaries of politicians directly setting the curriculum in
line with their own views. (Labour Party 2017 Manifesto,
p37,https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/labour-manifesto-2017.pdf)
