Schoolchildren should be taught about climate change, Labour says

Labour will make climate change a core part of the national curriculum from primary school onwards, the party announces today.

As the UK Climate Strike Network holds further school strikes across the country, Labour’s education spokesperson Angela Rayner will reveal that the party wants young people to learn about the impact of the ecological crisis at school.

This initiative forms one of the four central demands put forward by the school strikers, who want climate change to be prioritised as a teaching subject. Adopting this policy – after backing a ‘green new deal’, declaring a climate emergency and keeping its promise to lower the voting age – means Labour has met all four demands.

Under Labour’s plans, a review of the curriculum undertaken by an expert panel will also cover the new skills required for work in renewable energy and green technology jobs. This aims to prepare the next generation for upcoming changes in industry and labour.

Speaking ahead of a visit to a primary school in Greater Manchester, Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said: “Today, young people are taking to the streets to send a clear message to the government that climate change will be a fundamental and defining feature of their adult lives, and we must take the action needed to tackle it.

“We need to equip people with the knowledge to understand the enormous changes we face, and skills to work with the new green technologies that we must develop to deal with them. That must be part of a broad education and that prepares pupils for adult life. Climate change should be a core part of the school curriculum, and under a Labour government it will be.”

“As well as teaching young people about the impact of climate change, their education must prepare them for the jobs of the future. As part of Labour’s green industrial revolution to create 400,000 skilled jobs across the country, young people will be taught the skills they need.”