Climate change and sustainability education can be understood as broad, pluralistic approaches to education that aim to generate understanding of the wide-ranging, interconnected, environmental and social issues that are defining our time, and that support peoples’ capabilities for acting in response to those issues. Climate change education in particular is a ‘hyper-complex’ concept (Læssøe et al., 2009) as it brings two independently complex concepts of ‘education’ and ‘climate change’ together. Greer and Glackin (2021, pp.16-17) set out six qualities of a meaningful educational response to climate change, arguing that quality climate change education should: ‘offer and be open to alternatives’; ‘accept and embrace complexity’; ‘develop ecological worldviews’; ‘re-orient towards justice’; ‘incorporate multiple types of knowledge’ ; and ‘recognise and support students as agents of change’. The final quality requires students to be repositioned from mere recipients of knowledge to recognising them as ‘collaborators in society’s transformation’. Therefore, the development of climate change and sustainability education (CCSE) ought to engage with young people’s perspectives and experience in meaningful ways.

In 2022, the Department for Education (DfE, 2022) launched the Sustainability and climate change strategy for the education which sets out the UK Government’s commitment to providing CCSE for children and young people in England which “Makes a difference to children and young people all over the world”. While this is a laudable aim, research suggests teachers do not currently feel equipped to provide the CCSE required by the strategy; for example, Greer et al. (2023) found there was lack of initial teacher education (ITE) and professional development related to CCSE (e.g., less than half of teachers reported any formal professional development). Dunlop and Rushton’s (2022) analysis of the DfE’s strategy identifies differences between priorities of the strategy and those of teachers. Whilst this teacher survey provides one lens on CCSE, there remains a need to find out directly about young people’s perceptions and understandings of CCSE in order to provide a more comprehensive youth-led contribution to policy and practice in England and globally.

Our research was designed to connect an understanding of young people’s perspectives on CCSE, with their feelings about climate change and connections to nature, which have been typically focussed upon within separate research studies or surveys. For example, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH, 2023) published a report on ‘young people’s perspectives on how to tackle climate change’ which represents the views of over 95,000 children and young people, showed that children globally are experiencing “eco-anxiety” fuelled by climate change concerns. Whilst the Climate of Change (2021) poll conducted by Ipsos surveyed more than 22,000 people aged 15-23 years old across 23 European countries and found that 84% of young people were worried about climate change and 65% considered that it will affect them directly.

The development of the survey was guided by the following research questions:   

1. What are young people’s understandings of climate change and sustainability? To what extent do they align with scientific consensus?
2. What are young people’s perceptions of how climate change and sustainability education is, and should be, taught in schools?
3. In what ways are young people engaging with climate change and sustainability education in schools?
4. How do young people feel about climate change?
5. In what ways are these perspectives related to young people’s feelings of connection with nature?

Whilst this research is anchored by the contributions of the young people, we decentred the human as we have taken a posthuman approach to questioning the ways in which entanglements with the more-than-human lifeworlds are visible, underdeveloped or absent in broader perceptions of CCSE.

To answer these research questions, we undertook a survey of children and young people in school years 7-9 (aged 11-14) in England. National surveys that incorporate questions on climate change (e.g., Climate of Change (2010) poll; European Social Survey (2020)) typically only include young people over the age of 15 years old. It is noted that earlier in childhood could be a critical point to seek young peoples’ perspectives given that children from age 11 are seen to become interested in societal and global issues (Holden, 2007). Key principles guiding the administration and layout of the survey were that it would be easy to complete, attractive and uncomplicated. The development of the questionnaire was an iterative process that involved research team discussion, literature review, item drafting, peer review and piloting, and concurrent development of analysis methods. The questionnaire was peer reviewed by teachers with expertise across secondary education. We then conducted a formal pilot with a class of Year 8 (age 12-13, n=30) students in a school to ensure coherence and useability. The final questionnaire comprised questions organised in four sections: i) students’ understandings of climate change and sustainability; ii) students’ perceptions of and engagement with climate change and sustainability in school, iii) students’ pro-environmental behaviour; iv) students’ connection with nature; and v) demographic information, including gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. Questions included a combination of matrix, multiple choice questions and free text or open-ended questions. The final questionnaire was administered using Qualtrics software and took 20-30 minutes to complete via an electronic device. The questionnaire was open to students in England for nine weeks, predominantly administered by class teachers in school. We used non-probability, convenience sampling; the questionnaire was promoted across a range of networks, including through our network of 600 partnership schools. Incentives were offered in the form of two randomly drawn prizes (£30 Amazon voucher each) for students. This project followed BERA (2018) ethical guidelines and was awarded ethical approval by the University Ethics Committee. Data analysis was undertaken for quantitative data using descriptive and inferential statistics. All qualitative data were transcribed and coded using thematic content analysis. Thematic content approach drew upon both inductive (revealing common themes as emerging from the data and their prevalence) and deductive (considering whether/how existing themes are present within the data) approaches.

The survey was administered in Spring 2024, allowing us to present results in the Summer at ECER. The data brings together a rich data-set on young people’s perceptions of CCSE in England, particularly with regard to their experience of the formal, school-based curriculum, and their engagement with nature. Whilst some data about student attitudes exist from informal surveys, we address the lack of a national picture; collection of demographic data, including gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status, allows us to further understand patterns of young people’s perceptions in relation to these characteristics. The survey of young people is further paired with our survey of teachers in England undertaken in 2022 (Greer et al., 2023), thereby enabling us to bring together data from those responsible for the education of the next generation and the next generation whose lives are inextricably entangled with the effects of and efforts to address climate change and sustainability. This brings insights into the connections between young people’s sense of agency and possibilities of constructive hope that exist between educators and young people (Kelsey, 2016; Ojala, 2011) Our analysis of the survey data provides a foundation for international dialogue about the priorities for meaningful CCSE grounded by young people’s perspectives and experiences. Through this, we additionally address the unrealised potential for cultivating nature-connectedness to shape future trajectories of educational practices that bring attunement between teachers, young people and more-than-human lifeworlds.

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