Compulsory climate education bill to be discussed in parliament

Current education system ‘failing to prepare young people’, Labour MP says

A bill on greater climate education is set to go before parliament for its second reading (Getty Images)

A bill that would make climate education compulsory across the curriculum is set to go before parliament for its second reading.

MPs will have the opportunity to debate a proposal to integrate this topic in all school subjects on Friday.

Labour MP Nadia Whittome, who proposed the new bill, said the education system is “failing to prepare young people” for the “biggest challenge of their lifetimes”.

“The Climate Education Bill would ensure that learning about the climate and ecological crises is woven through every subject, for every student in primary and secondary school and those on vocational courses,” she said.

“It would also guarantee that teachers have the time and resources to integrate these issues across the curriculum, which the new data reveals they lack.”

It comes after a poll found most teachers`believe the climate crisis is not currently taught “in a meaningful way”.

Last year, a group of education unions called for a “comprehensive review of the entire curriculum” to make sure it prepares society for a “sustainable future”.

The bill - which has received cross-party support including from the Tory chair of the education select committee - is understood to be the first written by students to go before parliament, with youth climate education group Teach the Future helping to draft it.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said she “warmly” welcomed the bill. “When the climate emergency is the greatest challenge facing us and future generations, it is vital that it has a central role in the curriculum,” she said.

MPs can either decide to debate the general principles of the bill in its second reading or progress it to the next stage without doing so.

When the bill was proposed last year, a Department for Education spokesperson said the climate crisis was already “firmly established” in the curriculum at both primary and secondary school.