This article is written by Juanita Shepherd, Policy Lead, UK Department for Education.

  • The problem: Biodiversity loss in the UK.
  • Why it matters: A reduction in species and disappearing ecosystems exacerbate climate change and create problems for people.
  • The solution: Use the education estate to improve biodiversity.

Biodiversity loss and climate change are intimately linked. The National Education Nature Park and Climate Action Awards is now rolling out across England to tackle these wicked problems whilst giving children and young people the agency they have been asking for and delivering a plethora of co-benefits to them.

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This programme is one of the flagship, public-facing initiatives outlined in the Department for Education’s (DfE) Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. I wrote about our intentions in an article, published in March 2023. Since then, we’ve been delighted with the excitement and interest created in nurseries, schools and colleges around the country.

Creating green career pathways will become even more important as we strive to achieve net zero emissions and support the recovery of nature.

We began rolling out on 4 October with an invitation to participate in the Hidden Nature Challenge. At the time of writing, over 2,800 photos of nature discoveries had been uploaded to the live map. It paints a fascinating picture of the signs of nature that mainly go unnoticed on education sites on a daily basis. It also mapped the children and young people’s emotional responses to what they saw. This is all part of a package of evolving resources aimed at creating greater nature connectedness for children and young people. Greater nature connectedness leads to more pro-environmental behaviours. With over 16 million children, young people and adults in education in England, that’s a lot of individuals whose behaviour we can change to benefit our natural environment.

Developing green skills

Education settings are now signing up in large numbers to become part of the Nature Park. Their journey begins by delineating their site boundaries before mapping the habitats that already exist on their sites. They can then choose from a range of grey to green interventions that will improve the biodiversity of their sites but also create a more aesthetically pleasing outdoor learning environment. Importantly, children and young people will be leading the way on this, working with their education setting’s staff, whilst developing green skills. These skills are crucial to prepare young people and learners for our changing world and tackling the skills gaps and awareness outlined in this addressing the green jobs deficit article. Creating green career pathways will become even more important as we strive to achieve net zero emissions and support the recovery of nature.

From little acorns mighty oak trees grow and children and young people in England are now able to make a difference to their own and nature’s future.

Evaluation of the benefits of the Nature Park is crucial to understanding how this programme will develop in the future. In 2022, Natural England published an evidence briefing that examined the research on children and young people engaging with the natural environment. The results so far have shown positive outcomes including in educational, social, developmental and health areas such as:

  • higher achievement in reading, maths, science and social studies
  • improved intrinsic motivations and behaviour
  • improved attendance rates
  • higher rates of physical activity and better mental health
  • accumulation of social capital
  • fostering of pride, belonging and involvement in the community.

A greater amount of natural space in or around the learning environment (i.e. the school) is also associated with better emotional, behavioural and learning processes and outcomes. Our evaluation will add to this research and we envisage participation in Nature Park activities will be one method in the toolkit that education settings are using to improve pupil mental health and wellbeing.

This programme has the potential to produce globally important research. From little acorns mighty oak trees grow and children and young people in England are now able to make a difference to their own and nature’s future.

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(Image credit: Unsplash)