Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to educate children about exposure to air pollution in the area around their school or nursery.

The geography curriculum includes content to help pupils “understand how human and physical processes interact to influence, and change landscapes, environments and the climate”. In covering these topics, teachers may choose to explore levels of pollution and their impact within their local area.

There is also scope to teach about air pollution as part of the science curriculum. For example, in secondary schools, children are taught about the potential effects of increased levels of carbon dioxide and methane on the Earth’s climate and how we reduce these effects. Children in primary schools are taught topics including: changing environments, plants, and different materials.

Teachers could choose to explore the effects of pollution on health as part of the science content about how bodies work – including, for example, the circulatory system and gas exchange systems.

In addition, the Government is proposing to introduce compulsory health education in all primary and secondary state-funded schools. The focus of health education will be on teaching the characteristics of good physical health and mental wellbeing.