Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals on climate emergency education to improve climate change education.

The National Curriculum already includes content on environmental and sustainability issues such as climate change, in both the science and geography curricula and GCSEs. From primary onwards, there is coverage of environmental matters in both the science and geography curricula.

Under the Key Stage 2 non-statutory guidance for citizenship, pupils are taught about the wider world and the interdependence of communities within it. Pupils are taught that resources can be allocated in different ways and that these economic choices affect individuals, communities, and the sustainability of the environment.

As the National Curriculum is a framework setting out the content of what the Department expects schools to cover in each subject, teachers have the flexibility and freedom to determine how they deliver the content in the way that best meets the needs of their pupils. They can choose to cover particular topics in greater depth if they wish and as knowledge of sustainability develops, teachers can adapt their school curricula for these subjects.

We have not brought forward further proposals as there is scope to cover these issues within existing teaching.