This research from The Royal Meteorological Society shows that despite around half of school leavers (54%) saying they have had education on climate change in the past year, confusion and misunderstanding prevail - revealing an opportunity for better climate education in schools in Great Britain.
Just over half of pupils in their final academic year (aged 15 to 16 years old) can recall being taught about climate change in the past year, with one in five (20%) believing that they either have never been taught about it or cannot recall when they were taught about it. This comes as student campaigners are putting pressure on the government to include compulsory teaching about climate change and its impacts.
When asked how much the climate of the Earth had warmed since 1850, school leavers tended to overestimate, saying, on average, +2.5°C. According to the IPCC, the true value is closer to +1.1°C. However, 40% of those asked said that they did not know how much the climate had warmed and could not give an answer.
Pupils were also unsure which sources had contributed the most to global warming, with only 18% correctly identifying that industry, electricity and heat production had the biggest impact. Positively, almost half (48%) correctly identified that natural changes (such as volcanoes and variations in the Sun and Earth’s orbit) contributed the least to global warming.
Despite mixed knowledge about climate change and its causes, 6 in 10 (62%) school leavers said they were very or fairly concerned about climate change. This rises to 74% amongst students who reported that they felt they were doing well at school. Furthermore, 59% of pupils think that climate change will impact them personally a great deal or quite a bit in their lifetime, with one in five (19%) saying it would impact them a great deal. On