How will the climate and nature crises impact education?

This paper outlines the ways in which the environmental crises impact the education of young people in the UK. It also looks at the way the environmental crises disproportionately impact those from social groups that are typically less advantaged.

The impacts on education of the environmental crises include:

• Disruption to education, for example:
  • when schools are forced to close due to flooding or heatwaves.
  • due to environmentally exacerbated conditions such as asthma or poor mental health.
  • due to pandemics such as Covid-19 caused by zoonotic diseases (a growing risk because of the environmental crises).
• Pupils’ readiness to learn in the school setting is impacted by rising temperatures and environmental impacts on health and wellbeing.
• Lower academic performance rooted in exposure to heat, air pollution, or food insecurity.
• Impact on young people’s mental health through lack of access to green spaces in schools and eco-anxiety.
• Skills and preparation for future jobs are not aligned with the demands of the environmental crises, leading to young people being ill-equipped to get jobs at the end of their education. This also results in green jobs not being filled as people do not have the skills needed or career advice that ensures they are aware of the opportunities. Young people from ethnic minority communities are particularly missing out on information about opportunities.

This publication, written as a part of consultancy work completed in early 2024, has been possible thanks to the generous support of the Monday Charitable Trust.