DfE ‘Climate literacy amongst school leavers’ report

The DfE released a research report ‘Climate literacy amongst school leavers’ on 17 December 2024 presenting the findings of the ‘Climate Literacy Survey’, which looked at the level of climate literacy among school leavers in England.

The findings reinforce the need for the recommendations that the Geographical Association made in its consultation response to the Curriculum Review, including:

• the need to add a requirement to teach about climate change alongside weather and climate within the KS2 geography National Curriculum
• the need to strengthen teaching about climate change (and sustainability and green skills) at KS3 and within GCSE and A level geography
• and within GCSE geography, our recommendation that the current requirements covering the physical geography of the UK are repurposed to explore the landscapes of the UK with reference to a key issue, for example, the potential for clean power and/or the need to protect lives and livelihoods from flood and coastal erosion.

Taken together these recommendations would help address:

• misconceptions around weather (what we get), climate (what we expect), and climate change (how changes in long term averages impact on weather conditions)
• the nature, complexity, cause and impact of climate change
• how we might mitigate against it and adapt to the current and future changes.

Download the DfE ‘Climate literacy amongst school leavers’ PDF here