LtL responds to the Curriculum and Assessment Review Interim Report

Mary Jackson, Head of Education at Learning through Landscapes, reflects on the release of the England Curriculum and Assessment Review Interim Report and what it means for the future of climate education and outdoor learning.

March 2025 saw the publication of the England Curriculum and Assessment Review Interim Report. This first report draws upon over 7,000 responses to its Call for Evidence, together with being informed by research data, input from experts, stakeholders and members of the public. This included LtL.

At first reading, AI and technology seem to dominate thoughts on how the curriculum needs to be updated for the future, with references to sustainability and climate harder to find. However, dig down a bit deeper and there are signs of a broader approach.

There are references to sustainability and climate science, environmental challenges and to a rapidly changing world as well as the new opportunities and challenges that these will bring. This includes considering whether change is needed to the curriculum to cover the knowledge and skills required for the future of children and young people.

In December last year the Education Policy Institute published a report, ‘Climate and education: strategies for adaptation, learning and play’, following round table events hosted by the EPI and LtL and bringing together some of the key organisations already working in this field. The consensus was that climate change education needs to run throughout all curriculum subjects and not be limited to science and geography. We therefore hope that, when the panel looks at curriculum content, it will identify where climate education can fit across all areas of the curriculum.

We also hope that, whilst it might not be specifically highlighted, outdoor learning can be enabled and supported through both the new curriculum and assessment processes to ensure that learning is engaging, meaningful and relevant for all learners.

Finally we hope that potential cuts in curriculum content will provide teachers with more opportunities to decide what and how they teach, using their own professional judgement to decide which pedagogical approaches will work best for their pupils. We believe that outdoor learning should be one of those approaches.

In conclusion we propose:

• That climate change education is embedded across the curriculum and not restricted to science and geography.
• That the curriculum focuses on both knowledge and skills to ensure that pupils are prepared for future career opportunities as well as everyday decisions that relate to a changing climate.
• That curriculum and assessment, including the proposed Natural History GCSE, encourage and enable outdoor learning to be part of knowledge and skills development across a wide range of subjects for every pupil.

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