It is time for DfE to back up the work of its own sustainability and climate change unit

"Schools are not bystanders in the climate crisis" (Climate Ambassadors Scheme, 2025)

These are strong words from the DfE funded Climate Ambassador scheme. Strong words, but appropriate and welcome. I also love the 'bring in local farmers' advice - done well, this could be very powerful.

We are in crisis. EVERY TEACHER, EVERY SCHOOL LEADER, EVERY EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL, should be supported to design and deliver Climate Change and Sustainability Education (CCSE) and action. We have a joint-publication coming out soon that proposes an elegant way to build CCSE into all subjects [WATCH THIS SPACE]. The 'climate brief' shouldn't be left to the Geography teacher, the Science teachers, or the lone Sustainability Lead (if the setting even has one). The need is urgent and is only going to grow, and grow fast - all hands to the pump.

DfE do recognise this... to an extent. The Climate Ambassador Scheme, along with the Sustainability Support for Education hub, and the National Education Nature Park that has sprung out of the DfE's Sustainability and Climate Change Unit are all useful and welcome initiatives. None of them, however, have budgets big enough to serve every education setting and every education professional - not even close. They can also struggle for relevance in a system that focuses SLT attention elsewhere.

So, DfE needs to bolster and back up the unit and these initiatives by weaving climate change and sustainability into more and more of what they do. This isn't about throwing more budget at the problem, in fact it doesn't have to cost them anything, except maybe some political capital.

It is easy for me to say something like this: "The development of teacher's climate literacy and their ability to design and deliver effective and appropriate CCSE should now be core to both in-school CPD programmes and initial teacher education" and I strongly believe this. But, it's not me you want to hear saying this, it is Stephen Morgan MP, the DfE Minister who holds the CCSE brief. We want him to spend some of his political capital.

Until he does, most schools, MATs and ITE providers will leave CCSE a long, long, way down their priority lists. To be clear: schools, MATs and ITE institutes are not to blame for this situation, the policy environment they are operating within makes it almost impossible for them to put CCSE higher up the list, but it clearly needs upping and fast.

The Department for Education has the power to make this happen. To use one illustrative example, it could make it clear in the imminent tender specification for the seven year £150m contract to deliver the Future HPITT Programme, that all future 'high potential' trainee teachers are trained in (i) CCSE, (ii) Climate Action Planning, and (iii) how to develop and sustain high levels of Climate Literacy throughout their careers.

The simple insertion of that requirement would give permission to the likes of Teach First, Reed in Partnership, UCL Institute of Education, United Teaching (and whoever else might tender for the contract) to build modules or mini modules on sustainability and climate change into their bids and into their initial teacher education programme (their prospective HPITT programme). I suspect most of them would want to - they're not in denial that there is a need.

Arguably, of course, they should take a stand and build CCSE in anyway, whether DfE require it or not, for they too have power.

I should conclude by saying that Global Action Plan Education stands ready to partner and support ITE providers, MATs and schools to embed training on CCSE into their work. Please get in touch.