Teaching climate change and sustainability in England: committed individuals and the prevalence of 'self-taught' professional learning

Abstract

This paper provides fresh insight into the nature and extent of teacher professional learning focused on climate change and sustainability in England. An analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data from a survey of teachers (n = 870) suggests that there is a cohort of committed individuals who recognise the importance of incorporating these topics into their teaching practice, but that the most common type of climate change and sustainability-related professional learning is ‘self-taught’. In a context where meaningful educational responses to environmental and climate emergencies have been hampered by policy shortfalls over a prolonged period and where the need for responses is increasingly urgent, the results indicate that school students are reliant upon individual teachers choosing to incorporate these issues into their subject teaching and teaching themselves how to do so. We explore how incorporating ‘self-taught’ approaches into established frameworks of professional learning could enhance future work to support teachers. Opportunities to strengthen current practice centre on supporting new initiatives focused on collegiate professional learning, engaging with external experts, and policy change. We argue that these are essential if more teachers are to have the knowledge, skills and confidence to incorporate climate change and sustainability into their teaching.