The Department for Education has dropped plans to directly provide climate training to all schools to support them to develop action plans.
The carbon literacy training was going to be designed to support the work of sustainability leads in every nursery, school and college in building an understanding of climate change and sustainability.
The DfE had pledged in its sustainability and climate change policy paper last April to begin rolling out carbon literacy training to all settings by 2023 and to reach all settings by 2025.
However, in new guidance published today, the department said that after carrying out user research and policy development since the ambition was announced, it understood that each setting would have “different support requirements and a single training offer would not be appropriate”.
Instead, the DfE has said today that it will roll out a programme of support for the sector from December this year.
Schools will have access to a sustainability leadership digital hub, which will signpost to training, guidance and support offered by “quality assured organisations working in this space”.
The department said that settings that require this specific training will be able to access carbon literacy training via this hub.
Schools will also have access to a network of local experts and support to assist them in establishing their sustainability leadership structure, and in developing and implementing an action plan.
The strategy states that by 2025, all education settings will have nominated a sustainability lead and put in place a climate action plan.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We haven’t ‘dropped’ our school climate change training plan. We have, based on extensive user research, published fresh plans for our sustainability leadership and climate action plans initiative to make sure it is as effective and helpful as possible.
“All education settings, from early years provisions to universities, will have free access to a digital support hub and a regional sector engagement and support service, helping them to build towards a greener future.”
Tes had previously asked the DfE how many schools had received carbon training so far under the initiative in a Freedom of Information Act request but was told that “the disclosure could undermine the policymaking process and this may result in a less effective rollout of the policy”.
Last April, the DfE also announced that it would back a new GCSE in natural history from 2025 as part of its new sustainability strategy.
