Broad climate and nature education for everyone across the UK.
The government must implement comprehensive solutions-centred education on nature and climate across all subjects. Teachers need training on how to effectively deliver this to students, and all vocational courses need to be providing students with essential green skills. Alongside this, educational buildings must be retrofitted to ensure they are both structurally safe and achieve net-zero emissions.
Teach students about climate and nature.
Students need to be taught about the climate emergency and ecological crisis, as well as the importance of preserving and connecting with the natural world. This includes understanding the causes of these crises, ways to mitigate them, and how they will shape our future lives and jobs. Sustainability, climate and nature need to become core content across all subject areas. Educators need to be trained on how to teach about these difficult topics in a way that empowers teachers and students alike, and they need the funding and resources to be able to do this.
Include green and nature-focused skills in many vocational courses.
Students should be taught practical skills not only for adapting to the climate crisis, but also for fostering a healthy relationship with nature. This involves building green skills for sustainable industries and careers that value our natural world. These essential skills are key to creating a workforce prepared to address environmental and conservation challenges as young people enter the job market.
Make educational buildings climate and nature-friendly.
Our schools should reflect the sustainable, nature-rich future we envision. That means rebuilding and retrofitting educational buildings to meet net-zero emissions standards while also creating spaces that foster connection with the natural world, such as outdoor learning areas, green spaces, and nature-based design. Teaching sustainability becomes far more meaningful when students see it in action in their everyday school environment.
