Climate change is expected to be dropped from the English curriculum for under 14-year olds which has been described by environmental groups as 'alarming'.
This comes as the Secretary for Education, Michael Gove MP, launched a consultation on the new draft National Curriculum, scheduled for release later this year.
"Climate change is the biggest challenge we face as a society. Future generations will need the knowledge and the skills to build innovative, resilience-based solutions to survive future shocks, extreme weather events, and resource depletion.
"How can they even begin if they’re not taught?" the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) said.
Yet this week, the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir John Beddington, said that the climate variability and extreme weather events similar to those experienced in the past year will only increase in the coming decades.
He said that such variability is the face of a changing climate, stemming from greenhouse gases that are already embedded in the atmosphere.
CIWEM Executive Director, Nick Reeves, said: "Removing climate change and sustainable development from the school curriculum for under 14-year olds looks like political meddling and is ideologically driven.
"Climate change is the biggest challenge we face and requires urgent action. It will fall upon the upcoming generation of young people to be as well equipped as they can be to meet and mitigate the challenge, and to secure their future. The government must re-think its plans and put climate change and the environment at the heart of education in schools."
