Tips and guidance
The Impartiality Guidance issued by the DfE makes clear that climate change denial has no validity and teaching about climate change, the scientific facts and evidence behind it, does not constitute teaching about a political issue.
Schools do not need to present misinformation, such as claims that climate change is not occurring, to provide balance.
The Climate Schools Programme is designed so you can spend time teaching about the solutions instead of debating the existence of human-made climate change.
However, these arguments may arise anyway. On request from teachers, we have developed a guide with practical techniques to counter climate change denial from a student.
Download the guides
Download the full guidance in a PDF document or PowerPoint to share with your colleagues. This includes examples of how to use the inoculation approach and further links to useful websites and documents that will help you address climate change denial in the classroom.
Set up an open classroom
Potentially disruptive conflict can often be avoided by establishing a classroom atmosphere that welcomes debate and dialogue. In many cases, friction arises when people do not feel respected or listened to. Be open to questions and have a willingness to explore more deeply.
The inoculation approach
Inoculation theory takes the concept of vaccination, where we are exposed to a weak form of a virus in order to build immunity to the real virus, and applies this theory to the field of knowledge. You can inoculate your students against climate misinformation by following this approach.
Inoculating requires two elements:
- it includes an explicit warning about the danger of being misled by misinformation
- you need to provide counterarguments explaining the flaws in that misinformation
The Climate Schools Programme English lesson on climate misinformation follows this approach.
Climate Schools Programme resources
Want to engage your students to explore solutions to tackling climate change? Explore the resources and lesson plans below and register for free to get everything you need to deliver engaging lessons.
Accreditation
The Royal Meterological Society (RMetS) quality control framework assesses the accuracy of climate content, pedagogy, and relevance to the curriculum. Our core English, geography, and science lessons have been verified by RMetS.
