This Cambridge Global Perspectives Survey shows that students globally have singled out climate change as the most important issue facing the world today, with over a quarter (26%) placing it ahead of issues like poverty and pollution.
This is even more pronounced among students surveyed in the UK, where almost half (45%) believe that climate change is the single biggest issue, followed by poverty and economic equality (12%) and pollution including plastic waste (11%).
The findings showed that students’ appetite to learn about these issues is not reflected in their education. Almost all (99%) UK students who responded to the survey said it is important to learn about global issues in school, yet more than a quarter (27%) aren’t given this opportunity.
Over half of students in the UK (52%) said that having dedicated time within their school day to learn about global issues would enable them to be more active in raising awareness of them, but less than half (45%) take part in class discussions led by a teacher on these issues.
Students are also turning to sources outside of school for their information on global issues. Almost a third (31%) of UK students said organisations or charities dedicated to a particular issue were their most trusted source of information, followed by websites (17%) and the media (17%) and social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube (12%).