ASE welcomes the UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education report, highlighting the important role of subject associations in supporting climate change and sustainability education. 

This recently published report came out of an event in the summer of 2024, which brought together subject associations, including the ASE, and the Natural History Museum, to discuss the roles that they and their respective subject areas play in climate change and sustainability education in schools. 

The key recommendations of the report are:    

1. The revised school curriculum should build on the existing subject requirements in geography, science and citizenship that support climate change and sustainability education.  
2. The revised school curriculum should identify new opportunities for teaching about climate change and sustainability across the curriculum by including clearly defined and specific teaching requirements in every subject.  
3. High quality professional development about climate change and sustainability education is urgently needed for all teachers, tailored by subject and age phase and focused on subject knowledge and appropriate pedagogies.  
4. Subject associations should continue to make climate change and sustainability education one of their priorities and be supported to help develop subject specific exemplification and guidance for teachers. 

ASE’s work on climate change and sustainability in science education 

Policy and resource development  

The ASE believes science education plays a crucial role in equipping students with the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking needed to understand the science of climate change, evaluate evidence, and explore solutions. ASE supports educators in delivering accurate, balanced, and impactful climate education, ensuring that young people are empowered to engage with this global challenge. We advocate for high-quality professional development, robust curriculum content, and collaboration across disciplines to strengthen climate literacy and action. The ASE engages in a range of activities, including developing resources, publishing journal articles, providing professional development, and collaborating with partners to enhance climate education. 

As part of our response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review (available at https://www.ase.org.uk/our-policy-work), we included recommendations around the coherence and consistency of teaching of climate change, the environment and sustainability, working towards better coordination across science disciplines including geography and citizenship education.  As engagement continues with the review process, we will continue to lobby. 

ASE sits on the advisory group for science CPD at UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education (from which this report comes).  

ASE worked with the Natural History Museum on a set of resources, for primary science and KS4 science for the National Education Nature Park.   

ASE has also been working in collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry on strengthening climate change and sustainability in their curriculum framework.  

ASE is a member of the Climate Adapted Pathways for Education (CAPE) Alliance - a charity that is committed to making sure that all children and young people have the knowledge and skills to protect the planet. 

Other joint working includes collaboration with the Geographical Association, the Association for Citizenship and the Royal Meteorological Society on various initiatives including resource development, addressing climate science misconceptions, climate literacy and sustainability education benchmarks.  

Climate change and sustainability CPD  

ASE’s 2025 Annual Conference featured climate change and sustainability as one of our themes. We hosted talks from a wide range of speakers from education and health sectors. You can access the programme, and any additional resources provided by the speakers at:

ASE is committed to offering high quality CPD to support teachers, technicians, teacher developers and all those working in science education in their approach and delivery of climate change and sustainability education. We will be continuing to develop our CPD programme in this area.  

Publishing research and practice  

Our journals regularly feature insights and developments in the area of climate education.