Credit: Lucy Pope for UCL IOE.

23 April 2025

By Rupert Higham and Alison Kitson

“What do I do? Save the environment or let children go hungry?” So said one of ten secondary school headteachers who participated in case study research led by UCL’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability (CCCSE). This stark question reflected two key findings from our newly published article in the International Journal of Leadership in Education:

1. Heads in England recognise the importance of climate change and sustainability education (CCSE) and their moral responsibility to do more.
2. Heads can feel powerless to prioritise this over many other pressing aims, which leads them to feel frustrated and disheartened.

Crisis? What crisis?

We interviewed headteachers in the summer of 2022, shortly after the Department for Education (DfE) in England published its Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, which encouraged all schools to identify a Sustainability Lead by 2025. But it did not require those lead teachers to have senior roles in the school, nor to contribute towards strategic aims or development plans. Further, the strategy is not statutory or supported with any resources, which limits its impact. In policy terms, sustainability remains an optional add-on to schools’ core aims and responsibilities.

There is little more encouragement at a systems level. Climate change is minimally addressed in the national curriculum, exclusively in science and geography, with no cross-curricular focus. There are no references to CCSE in Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework, nor in national frameworks setting out content for initial teacher education, teachers’ early careers or leadership qualifications. Collectively, the English education system simply overlooks the profound, existential threats to our biosphere and societies.

Under pressure

Systemic and cultural change in schools requires committed, skilled leadership. But headteachers in England are already overstretched: an NAHT report in 2022 found that 80% believe their role is negatively affecting their mental health. An increasing focus on competitive performance and reduced budgets are reducing their scope for action. Our previous research has suggested that heads may lose sight of “…their own deeply held commitments, motives and values and… of themselves as moral actors.”

Our findings: limits to headteachers’ responsibility, priority and agency

 “It’s educating everybody… not just the students”

Headteachers recognised that CCSE must be embedded in, across and beyond the formal curriculum. Some thought teachers have as much to learn as students, and that their lack of knowledge was a problem: “Students are great at seeing through people reading the PowerPoint.” Many focused on students learning to lower their personal carbon footprint, but recognised that the responsibility must be shared. All heads wanted to make school estates more sustainable, but felt financially constrained.

“There’s no league table for how green your school is”

Headteachers felt overwhelming pressure to focus on high-stakes performance measures and inspection. They knew they should prioritise CCSE higher, but the “reality is… we just haven’t had time”. Most heads recognised that their approach wasn’t coordinated and relied on enthusiastic individuals; several talked of incorporating CCSE aims into their strategic plans.

“The children see us working towards sustainability targets”

In pointing out their achievements, most heads focused on changes to the school site, like lower-impact food sourcing and planting wildflower meadows. One said they were using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a framework to link up learning across the curriculum. But many felt under-equipped, wanting “pre-made materials… or ambassadors that are doing it quite effectively already”.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve got 15 A-levels and 26 GCSEs if the world’s falling apart”

Finally, some heads seemed defensive or disheartened in response to our questions – which we didn’t expect. It was clear these dilemmas were causing them genuine personal, professional and moral discomfort.

Recommendations

First, we need changes to policy and incentives that encourage schools to work in new ways to embed CCSE within, across and beyond the school curriculum.

Second, networks of schools can overcome the challenges of limited expertise, resources and energy through mutual support, engaging with their local communities, and building collective voice.

Together, these changes could free school leaders to bring their moral and professional responsibilities into alignment, creating schools that both embody sustainable communities and inspire children to take that mission into the wider world.