By Asitha Jayawardena

Half of the parents picked “the need to protect our environment and climate” in a survey conducted among over 1000 UK parents in January 2022.

This result was published yesterday evening as the University College London (UCL) launched its new centre, called the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education (CCCSE).

A week before, the Department for Education of the UK unveiled the new GCSE in Climate Change, beginning in 2025.

The survey

In the survey conducted by Public First in January 2022, the parents had to select the three most important topics and that they had spoken to their child about the issue. The results are as follows:

• 50% on the need to protect our environment and climate, 42% talked about it with their child
• 31% on crime and violence, 29% said yes
• 27% on discrimination faced by people of a different race or ethnicity, 28% said in the affirmative

Only 8% of the parents selected the UK leaving the EU as one of the most important topics and 15% said they had spoken to their child about it.

A new UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education

Professor Nicola Walshe, the Executive Director of the UCL CCCSE, said it was quite shocking to learn that the environment overshadowed many other big issues.

The Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education at the UCL was launched on 26 April (yesterday) with the keynote speaker Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England. Other speakers were Aliza Ayaz (UN Youth Ambassador for the Sustainable Development Goals), Vibeke Jensen (Director of the Division for Peace and Sustainable Development, UNESCO), Professor Chris Rapley CBE (Professor of Climate Science, UCL), Richard Sheriff (CEO, Red Kite Learning Trust) and Professor Nicola Walshe herself.

According to Professor Walshe, eco-anxiety was real with younger generations and her 15-year-old daughter had recently asked her that, through climate change, is the world going to end in her lifetime?

Turning to the new UCL centre, she said that it would provide free, research-informed teacher education programmes for primary and secondary teachers, helping schools to weave the topic into every subject, including art, maths and history.

New GCSE on Climate Change

A week ago, the Department of Education in the UK launched a new GCSE on climate change. It will enable school children to learn about nature and how to conserve the planet.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: “The new natural history GCSE will offer young people a chance to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of this amazing planet, its environment and how to conserve it.”

More…

New Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education sets out bold vision at launch event https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2022/apr/new-centre-climate-change-and-sustainability-education-sets-out-bold-vision-launch-event

Children more worried about climate change than crime, racial inequality and Brexit, poll finds https://inews.co.uk/news/education/children-worried-climate-change-crime-racial-inequality-brexit-poll-1594051

New climate change GCSE will teach students ‘how to conserve the planet’ https://news.sky.com/story/new-climate-change-gcse-will-teach-students-how-to-conserve-the-planet-12592227