Half of teachers feel unable to deal with student eco-anxiety

Half of teachers feel ill-equipped to deal with student anxiety around climate change, according to new research from environmental charity Global Action Plan. 

Climate-anxiety is proving to be a key challenge in today’s in school environment, adding to the stress levels of teenagers and teachers who feel ill-equipped to help their students.

40 per cent of the teachers surveyed feel that their senior leadership team is not engaging in climate change as an issue. Teachers can find themselves trapped in a cycle of inaction, as they have a lack of knowledge on how to respond and limited resources (or training) to help them discuss the issue with their students. With so many teachers feeling ill-prepared to deal with eco-anxiety this can lead to paralysis and a feeling that the subject is just too tough to tackle.

This lack of action by schools compounds the problem and creates a cycle of anxiety among young people, who feel this critical issue is not seen as important by their schools.  

91 per cent of the students surveyed would like to see their school doing more to engage with them about the issues around climate change.

A new campaign called Turning anxiety into action from online teacher resource hub, Transform Our World, can help. Hub coordinators Global Action Plan, working with a specialist psychologist, have designed an Introductory Guide called Turning anxiety into action, which will be hosted on the Transform Our World site. The Guide is for teachers to help them manage student eco-anxiety and to facilitate conversations about climate action engagement with school leaders.

Luke Wynne, Head of Youth and Schools at Global Action Plan said: “We work closely with teachers and have listened to what they are telling us – that they are worried and unsure of how to respond to climate anxiety. We’ve worked with partners across the Transform Our World hub to both design and curate a collection of resources to help teachers feel resilient and ready for the challenges ahead.“

The Transform Our World online teacher hub has been launched with support from the #iwill Fund to help achieve the #iwill campaign’s goal of making youth social action the norm for as many young people as possible. It empowers young people to tackle the root causes of the climate breakdown and biodiversity loss through social action.