Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to ensure children are being educated about the environmental challenges faced by the UK and the rest of the world.

All schools are required to offer a balanced and broadly based curriculum which promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development; and prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life. The new curriculum is compulsory in state maintained schools. Academies and free schools do not have to follow the National Curriculum, but may use the curriculum as a benchmark.

The National Curriculum includes content on the environment. For example, in Key Stage 3 geography curriculum, introduced in 2014, pupils are taught about the change in the Earth’s climate from the Ice Age to the present day and how human and physical processes interact to influence, and change landscapes, environments and the climate. Additionally, the new Key Stage 4 science curriculum, introduced in 2016, pupils are taught about climate change as part of atmospheric and Earth science.