Opinion: Policy

Labour must put sustainability at the heart of its opportunity mission

A promised curriculum review must ensure what results is equal to the challenge of adapting to climate change and our net zero ambitions

A promised curriculum review must ensure what results is equal to the challenge of adapting to climate change and our net zero ambitions

16 Jul 2024, 12:01

Teachers’ focus might well be on the new government’s education plans for recruitment and a school accountability, but other policies that will shape the educational landscape need to be considered too.

For example, the government has made commitments on clean power; making London the world’s green finance capital; promoting biodiversity and protecting landscapes; building 1.5 million new homes and protecting our lives and livelihoods from coastal erosion and flooding.

If these commitments are to be achieved, they will require a new generation of workers with the skills needed to work in such green careers. As a former secretary of state for education has said, these will make up 50 per cent of new jobs.

But what do young people think? A survey of young people by the Royal Geographical Society showed that the most important considerations for their subject and career choices were earning a good salary and finding the ‘right’ job. Wider considerations, such as making a difference by addressing environmental or social concerns in their careers, were lower priorities.

This is perhaps unsurprising. There is little existing evidence for how green skills have been mapped against the Gatsby benchmarks. In addition, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has identified a lack of awareness of the green economy. It says it will be a ‘huge task’ to educate the public about – and for – the path to net-zero. 

The Geographical Association are seeking positive progression in the post-16 phase through relevant apprenticeships and T Levels. But it is now time for schools to more fully address the need for young peoples’ green knowledge and skills.

Coverage of sustainability and climate change should be strengthened through the forthcoming curriculum review. A recent analysis by Teach The Future has shown how this might be more firmly embedded in, for example, art, business, design and technology, economics, English, geography, history, maths, modern foreign languages, and science.

It is time for schools to fully address green knowledge and skills

Of course, we should not overlook the contribution of subjects which already have strong curriculum coverage. For example, geography requires study of how the climate has changed and how peoples’ interactions with the natural world create changes to our climate, environment and landscapes. 

Geography’s contribution is well recognised and supported.  For example, a YouGov survey last month identified that “70 pre cent of all UK adults agree that young people need to study geography to prepare them with the skills and knowledge needed to work in ‘green’ jobs”.

That said, we do need to go much further in geography’s distinctive use of fieldwork and geo-spatial technologies. These two geographical techniques give a hands-on experience of recording, monitoring, and evaluating key environmental issues and develop familiarity with the technology that is vital to deciding where 1.5 million homes will be built.

Beyond the curriculum, teachers should also foreground green careers within their schemes of work. In this way, pupils can see green jobs contextualised in a meaningful way through profiles of real people who are already working in the sector.

An example of this approach is the Geographical Association’s work with the Environment Agency to publish schemes of work that embed green careers within case studies about understanding, preventing and, when necessary, responding to flooding.

This is particularly relevant when over 10,000 schools are currently at risk of flooding, with this figure projected to rise to between 13,000 and 16,000 schools by 2050 according to the DfE’s own climate change and sustainability strategy. That same strategy is clear: “Green jobs will not be niche.”

The UK’s green economy is worth £200 billion, employs 1.2 million people and is one of the fastest growing economic sectors. Yet in our curriculum and in our classrooms we are not sufficiently addressing the green skills needed for these roles. 

The development of young peoples’ green skills now needs a national-scale, mission-driven approach. The Labour government must make it central to their plans for education, or they will be doing a disservice to our children’s and all of our futures.  

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