OPINION: ‘Circular economic principles need to be taught across the curriculum’

OPINION: The UK’s curriculum review is a win for sustainability – but without circular economy education, the UK risks falling behind in green innovation.

Imagine cycling for years on a heavy, three-gear bike, struggling up north London’s hills, when suddenly you’re gifted a 21-gear titanium road bike.

That’s how I feel about the new recommendations in the Government’s Curriculum Review. Finally, sustainability and climate science will shift up gears to take a central, lasting role in children and young people’s education.

The review recommends that sustainability and climate science are embedded through geography and science and are part of the statutory citizenship syllabus. For design technology to encourage students to think about the environmental impact in product design and to choose materials responsibly. For schools to be supported to provide innovative practice, locally tailored content, and enrichment activities. And for the introduction of vocational qualifications in green industries. It’s a big leap forward from the current curriculum.

But there is a critical gap in the review, which barely garners a mention: the circular economy and its principles of eliminating waste and reusing resources. After all, don’t we need to prepare young people not just to understand the climate crisis, but to inspire some of them to help solve it through innovation and enterprise? To design products in such a way that waste is minimised or even eliminated via closed loop systems. To build businesses where repair and reuse are the norm. To be the business leaders that create the green jobs to support UK’s future prosperity.

It’s already happening in our universities. Imperial College’s I3-Lab is a “lighthouse” for research into the circular economy and in particular the development of digital tools to promote circularity. Cambridge’s Circular Economy Centre is helping business move away from the linear toward the circular economy. While the National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research Programme based across UK universities is focused on bringing five industrial sectors towards circularity: chemicals, metals, mineral-based construction materials, technology metals, and the textile industry. Through research, innovation and evidence, the Programme aims to move the UK towards a resilient circular economy and to “reduce waste, increase circularity and to minimise the environmental impact of [those] sectors.”

However, circular economic principles need to be taught across the curriculum well before a student decides on their degree or post-grad. As The Ellen MacArthur Foundation says, “The education sector, from primary school to postgraduate study, plays a vital role in ensuring students of all ages are equipped with the key skills and knowledge to apply circular thinking in their chosen careers.”

Other countries are ahead of the UK. In Finland, for instance, circular economy education is covered throughout schooling, even beginning with very young children in day care where they learn about food waste and how to sort waste correctly. EU initiatives like CicloSchools run hackathons, repair workshops, and reuse challenges to make circular thinking tangible for teenagers. While the initiative, Education Towards a Sustainable and Circular Economy, is aiming to “revolutionise the way secondary schools approach sustainability education” across the countries in the EU.

Teaching children throughout their schooling about the circular economy makes strong economic sense. According to a study by management consultants, McKinsey, a circular economy could be worth more than $1 trillion in Europe alone in 2050. McKinsey also advises, particularly consumer goods companies, which commit themselves to environmental, social and governmental metrics, stand to become the leaders of the future.

North London Waste Authority, meanwhile, is helping lead the way in the UK. In recent years we’ve developed a comprehensive education programme: one strand delivers in-school visits, while the other is based at our new visitor and community centre, EcoPark House in Edmonton. Education is a major priority of The North London Joint Waste Strategy 2025–2040, adopted by all seven of our boroughs: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. Co-developed with teachers for teachers, the in-schools programme seeks to embed a culture of sustainable consumption, while the EcoPark House programme aims to increase pupils’ understanding of the circular economy and why it’s important. This November, for instance, we welcomed Year 9 students from across north London to EcoPark House for the very first North London Student Sustainability Conference. Tackling issues including electrical waste, fly-tipping, food waste, recycling and textiles, the pupils spent the day researching, debating, and collaborating to find solutions. They then pitched their ideas to council leaders, who then presented the students’ action plans to the Deputy Mayor of London for the Environment and Energy, Mete Coban MBE.

It’s this type of inclusive education – where we value young people’s bold ideas, out-of-the-box thinking, and huge enthusiasm, that our education system must foster across all schools, both primary and secondary. The curriculum review is certainly heading in the right direction in terms of sustainability and climate science but without a focus on the circular economy the UK risks falling behind in green innovation. If the UK curriculum also ensures that pupils are taught about the circular economy and its potential, then, surely, we will be gifting the next generation the skills and mindset they need to create a more sustainable world.