Over the years I’ve been employed in many different roles, most recently as a science teacher, and it is unquestionably in the classroom where I have found the most job satisfaction. I gained my PGCE in 2010, at the age of 40, and began teaching with the aim of enriching the lives of my students. For 14 years it’s kept me engaged as I’ve had unusually high levels of autonomy. According to the regional STEM Hub, in 2023 I was the ‘most inspirational secondary school teacher in the North East’ and my pupils themselves have won a staggering array of awards. Nonetheless, well before I’m due to retire, I’m one of thousands of teachers leaving the classroom this July.
The reason for my departure is not dissatisfaction with education itself, teaching can be incredibly fulfilling. Although the pay for experienced staff has not increased in line with inflation, starting salaries are improving and the holidays provide recovery time for the demands of the role. It’s not that I had an eight week-long chest infection last winter yet only missed a day of school because there is an expectation to set work when absent which makes it worthwhile to go into the virus-laden classroom rather than taking rest. It’s also not due to the fact I’ve been the focus of Department of Education monitoring as evidenced by my subject access request (SAR) last year.
Climate changing faster than the education system
No, the reason I’m leaving is because our climate is changing far faster than the education system. The DfE aims to be a ‘world leader in climate and sustainability education by 2030’ but, according to a survey by Reboot the Future, 85% of teachers in England doubt the current system is adequately preparing pupils for the future and only 1% think the department’s vision on being a leader is currently achievable. Of course, there is some mandated content on the causes and consequences of climate change in Geography and Science but nowhere near enough to reflect the suffering already being felt in the Global South, the scale of challenges ahead, or which gives an realistic understanding of how to mitigate emissions and adapt.
Unbelievably, there is no mention of the term ‘climate change’ before students start GCSEs even though 80% of 11-18 year olds are concerned by it according to an InterClimate Network survey. Be under no illusion, education policy in England has been influenced by interconnected networks of people including right-wing academics, journalists, politicians and think tanks. Last year the House of Lords Committee on Education suggested the ‘overloaded’ curriculum urgently requires improvement and it has ‘left our young people with heads full of data committed to short-term memory, a diet perfect for examinations but wholly inadequate for life.’
Despite embedding climate, nature and sustainability across my schemes of work I have finally decided it’s not enough. Pushing for change from the chalkface is exasperating. Although the scientific consensus is that we urgently need drastic action on both climate and biodiversity loss in order to prevent an existential crisis, my mantra has always been that there is “no room for doom in the classroom”. Children haven’t caused these planetary scale problems, the most wealthy in society did, empowered by politicians and lax legislation.
Education ministers and short termism
I entered the classroom just as Michael Gove, then Secretary of State for Education, embarked on a campaign to “cut the green crap” from the curriculum. In the past 14 years I’ve watched ten further Education Ministers fall by like green bottles; Morgan, Greening, Hinds, Williamson, Zahawi, three days of Donelan, a couple of months of Cleverly, seven weeks of Malthouse and most recently Gillian Keegan going to war on mobile phones and attendance. Maybe if the curriculum was relevant and engaging young people might be more enthusiastic to spend time focusing on their studies. But, although the political landscape may soon be changing, I don’t have the energy to wait for the next Secretary of State for Education to instruct DfE to conduct curriculum review or even longer for the Climate Education Bill to be passed. Short termism in politics is damaging the long-term prospects of the younger generation.
Failing to prepare young people for the future
The situation is serious. Global warming has reached ~1.5oC and my role as a teacher for an outdated curriculum is no longer tenable. I make no apology for contributing to the ongoing and escalating retention and recruitment crisis. I lay this firmly at the feet of the Department for Education as it is responsible for failing to prepare young people for the future. Besides, the Government is still investing in oil and gas which makes talking of their failure to decarbonise or invest in renewables potentially in contravention of teacher impartiality guidance. The IPCC states that investments into fossil fuels must be stopped as “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”. If we really care about young people we need to urgently stop the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.
Some might think that a change in curriculum is the last thing needed in our overstretched, underfunded schools but, over the coming years, climate is going to dominate our lives. We don’t need to reject everything, there are ways in which sustainability can be easily woven through key stages and subjects to spread the load; the Teach the Future tracked-changes curriculum documents are fantastic and I’m delighted to support the Ministry of Eco Education approach. To drive change I’ve worked with children, my peers, senior leadership teams, charities, academics, politicians and helped my local Conservative-led council to support sustainability education. The recently proposed national service for 18-year-olds in the military is a heinous idea but I’d wholeheartedly support an intergenerational programme of citizen science or community gardening. We are missing countless opportunities to make education meaningful and send ripples out beyond the school walls.
On social media, I get called out by deniers for causing ecoanxiety by teaching children about climate change and, with no hint of irony, by doomers for talking about education for sustainable futures when ‘collapse is nigh’. It’s difficult to push for system change when you’re constrained within the system. I don’t want to be the whistle-blower or to play politics. I simply want to ensure young people get a forward-facing education and I’ll work with anyone who wants the same.
So, my philosophy is now to focus on sustainability initiatives, to only work with people who appreciate the urgency with which we need to act and, given that I’m not getting any younger, to try to have (low-impact) fun. I’m most definitely not giving up on environmental education as it’s an essential aspect of the just transformation we need. I’m already working with organisations to support teachers to adopt education for sustainable futures, to lift the Youth Voice and to enable young people to become agents of change. It is a better way to spend my time than staying at the chalkface trying to make, in a single word judgment, an ‘inadequate’ curriculum fit the needs of my pupils. Undoubtedly, I’ll miss the daily contact with incredible children, who are the antithesis of snowflakes, but I don’t think I’ll regret my decision. If we’re looking for true change, education is key.
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