In recent years increasing numbers of children have reported distress and anxiety linked to climate change and environmental catastrophe narratives. While public debate often focuses on environmental policy, far less attention has been paid to the role played by institutions responsible for educating and safeguarding children.
This report by developmental psychologist Clare Rowe provides an important and overdue examination of how climate-related anxiety is being addressed in clinical and educational settings. Her analysis raises serious questions about emerging psychological responses that depart from established evidence-based treatment for childhood anxiety and may inadvertently reinforce distress rather than alleviate it.
Educational institutions have a duty of care not only to protect children’s physical safety but also their psychological wellbeing. As evidence of climate anxiety among children grows, the risks associated with alarmist or catastrophist messaging in classrooms are no longer merely theoretical but increasingly foreseeable.
Protecting children’s wellbeing requires restoring both educational integrity and clinical standards.
Schools, regulators, and curriculum authorities should be aware that the systematic exposure of children to emotionally distressing narratives may raise serious legitimate questions about whether reasonable safeguards and duty of care obligations have been adequately exercised. Rowe advocates for a return to established evidence-based approaches to childhood anxiety treatment and greater accountability where psychological interventions or classroom practices risk reinforcing anxiety rather than alleviating it.
The reforms outlined later in this report propose practical steps for schools to ensure that environmental issues are taught in developmentally appropriate ways. Rowe provides clinical recommendations intended to safeguard children from unnecessary risk of psychological harm.
The classroom and curriculum recommendations outlined in this report reflect my role as Director of the IPA Education Programs and the Institute of Public Affairs’ longstanding work examining the Australian National Curriculum and its impact on children’s wellbeing.
