Student perspectives on education and the climate and nature emergency - a snapshot
Make it accessible and interesting.
Here at Global Action Plan, we believe it is vitally important to listen and learn from young people. We are particularly interested in their perspectives on how the education system is responding to the climate and nature crisis.
In our new report, “Make it accessible and interesting”, we share the thoughts, views and perspectives of 55 sixth form students surveyed at the 2024 Our Earth Our Future conferences. While a sample of 55 is not likely representative of all sixth formers, powerful themes emerged.
The insights we’ve gathered are highly instructive for sustainability educators and policymakers. See below for the key findings and dive deeper by downloading the full report.
Key findings
It is clear from the results that the students surveyed want to see more climate and nature education, with a greater emphasis on climate action. Many also called for more pedagogical variety in how they are being taught about environmental issues. They expressed a keenness to have more autonomy over their learning, and more freedom to explore key issues - like climate change - that are impacting their future. Students also want to study more than just the science of the climate and nature emergency; they recognise the political challenges and want to understand and engage in this dimension in more depth.
I would give students more opportunities to talk to their local politicians about potential policies and environmental problems, to involve them more into potential solutions for their future emerging problems.
It is noteworthy that more than half of the students surveyed are prioritising ‘making a difference’ over ‘making a lot of money’ when thinking about their future, and that only a third of students prioritise ‘making a lot of money’. It is equally notable that student perceptions of each other’s motivations do not seem to match reality, with many assuming that their fellow students prioritise personal wealth over making a difference. This is the ‘values-perception gap’, which studies show has the negative effect of making people, including young people as young as 11, feel alone in their concerns about the climate and nature emergency, and therefore less motivated and prepared to take action to tackle it.
Teach us about how climate change is going to affect our personal future.
The Our Earth Our Future 2024 conferences were held during a General Election period (June and July 2024). The climate and nature emergency was not a prominent campaigning issue, with climate scientists airing their frustration about how little media attention it was receiving during the campaigning period. This may have impacted on student perceptions on how politicians are engaging with climate and nature issues. However, the results clearly show that the students we surveyed feel that too few politicians are treating climate change as an emergency.
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