Advocacy

SEEd is a strong advocate for the better implementation of sustainability and climate education in the system. The urgency of addressing the climate crisis and other global challenges is something that we consider as a focus in all that we do.

You can find out more about the policies we are advocating for and our ideas for how systematic change – at organisational and policy level – could be implemented in the purpose and undertaking of education in this short video. In 2017 we attended the Four Nations Education for Sustainability Conference hosted by the Manchester Environmental Education Network, and are still pushing and advocating for the policies and ideas discussed here to be implemented.

Part of our advocacy work to achieve these aims involves close working with the Department for Education – offering insights for their consultations and being invited to in-depth discussions around the current curriculum.

The following message comes from Dr Jonathan Dewsbury, Director for Education Estates and Net Zero at DfE, discussing some of the recent changes made with the advice of organisations including ourselves:

“In many of the areas that we are trying to see change, the DfE Sustainability Strategy and the DfE Education Estate Strategy has given the framework, initiatives, or permission to drive action; but it has been you and your teams doing the on the ground delivery that has made the difference and the change. However, the framework remains, stronger than ever:

  • Inspiring a connection with nature – DfE’s National Education Nature Park and supporting curriculum materials (Home | Education Nature Park) is now in over 10,000 nurseries, schools and colleges, with a further commitment to this programme out to 2030 in the Education Estate Strategy
  • All schools and colleges are to have a holistic climate action plan that is developed as a community and sets out an approach to: adaptation and resilience, biodiversity and nature, climate education and green skills, decarbonisation and net zero (Sustainability leadership and climate action plans in education – GOV.UK). The need for which has been reinforced in the Education Estates Strategy.
  • DfE School and College Building Standards – The new standard based on a pattern book prioritises spaces for outdoor learning, resilience, net zero and high-quality outdoor space, alongside quality indoor space. All designed with nature in mind. (Design standards: employer’s requirements – GOV.UK). This will mainly be delivered by School and College Rebuilding programme at ~ £20BN. This will target approximately 750 schools therefore reach is limited but does set a precedent for how the estate needs to be adapted.
  • Established and continued to fund Youth Focal Points (Now called Youth Sustainability Champions) to feed youth voice directly into our policy making.

But there are also upcoming levers or schemes of change:

  • DfE Forest – details of which will come out in the next few months. It proposes to use surplus land in the education estate to teach and train students to plant trees, cultivate and maintain healthy woodlands, fell and harvest timber and engineer timber into construction products.
  • The Estates Management Standard reinforces the need for all schools and colleges to have a Climate Action Plan and Sustainability Lead in place. From Autumn 2026, Trusts will be held to account against these standards/frameworks and offered support to meet them. There is space in Autumn to also think about what role the Trust Inspection Framework has in assuring sustainable leadership and embedding sustainability through the system.
  • Renewal and Retrofit Programme Launching in April 2026 gives £710m to holistically consider how to adapt the estate including prioritising outdoor space/bringing nature back onto school/college sites. We have also included in this Biogenic Stored Carbon Quotient Certification (BSCQ) to encourage a circular economy approach to our supply chain and moving towards regenerative material/embodied carbon targets thus promoting the use towards timber structures: Design standards: employer’s requirements – GOV.UK
  • National Curriculum Changes (based on curriculum review). The Curriculum review offers some positive changes, with implementation over a number of years: (1) Climate education content will be enhanced in geography, science and citizenship (including at primary). Climate Education will be added to design and technology (D&T) programme of study. (2) New statutory requirement to teach citizenship in key stages 1 and 2 (and hence climate education). (3) A new core enrichment offer that every school and college, in every community, should aim to provide for all children – beyond the statutory curriculum and will cover nature and the outdoor.

DfE Structures going forward.

To consolidate this change we have decided to bring some of the key sustainability policy experts alongside the Sustainability Support delivery experts under Gayle Boulton, whilst also embedding experts into the relevant policy teams across DfE. For example, we introduced two climate education policy experts into the curriculum team to help develop the approach following the curriculum review. Equally we have created a nature policy lead in Gayle’s team (Juanita Shepherd). We have also reviewed how DfE approaches Sustainability as a corporate organisation, compared with how it supports the sector. With Gayle the lead for how we support the sector, we have appointed Andrew Thomas (Director of Corporate, Assurance and Restructuring) as the Chief Sustainability Officer to make sure we as a corporate organisation are doing what we are asking of the sector.”

Our Shared World logo

SEEd co-chairs the Our Shared World coalition of 500 members. Our Shared World brings together a large network of actors seeking to advocate for and support the successful realisation of SDG 4.7 across England by 2030, equipping our society to create a more sustainable, fairer, peaceful and resilient world.

The urgency of addressing complex and interrelated global challenges such as climate justice, the COVID-19 pandemic and racial and economic justice cannot be overstated. The student climate strikes, #MeToo movement, COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter have revealed the pressing need – and opportunity – to ensure both formal and non-formal education systems include stronger elements of active citizenship. SDG 4.7 outlines the high-quality education for sustainable development and global citizenship that is needed to support and motivate people – especially young people – to tackle these global challenges.

Set within the wider framework of the SDGs, SDG 4.7 emphasises the connections between global challenges – for example, to address the climate emergency we also need to understand its connection with other issues such as poverty or girls’ education.

Our Shared World Research and Evidence report

The report gathers evidence of the extent to which the themes of Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.7 are being engaged with within schools in England, examining how they are being delivered, areas of success, identifiable gaps, and what the priorities for policymakers should be in the future.

The biggest change that we need to do right now is to change our mindsets, instead of seeing the earth and nature as something to own and to exploit.
Greta Thunberg

About the network

Convened in 2019, OSW is a broad and growing network of nearly 300 organisations including universities, INGOs and local NGOs, teacher and student unions, subject associations and UNICEF. It is one of the largest and most diverse coalitions working on supporting the successful implementation of SDG4.7 in the Education Act in England.

All share a common vision based on the educational themes of SDG 4.7 and recognise that how we educate is as important as what we educate about. Co-chaired by SEEd, ThoughtBox Education and the Universities of Worcester and Oxford Brookes, OSW is a directed network with distributed organisation involving a dynamic governance structure. In 2021, the network is focussing on the first two of its objectives: shifting the narrative on the purpose of education and sharing evidence about successful approaches to SDG 4.7.