Students of Stokesley School say the classroom is too hot to concentrate
Paul Outhwaite and his students tell us they can't focus in the heat.
Paul Outhwaite is an English teacher at Stokesley School near Middlesbrough, in the north of England.
He and some of his pupils shared their experiences of intense heat in classrooms, saying it causes headaches and nausea and makes them constantly tired, meaning teaching and learning are more challenging.
Paul: “I've been educating teenagers for 30 years, and while it's rewarding, it's an exhausting job at the best of times. Climate change is definitely adding to that exhaustion. Pupils are struggling to learn when the mercury rises. And teachers are struggling to teach.”
In the summer of 2024 Paul was involved in a Round Our Way project, with other teachers from across England. They placed data-gathering thermometers in their classrooms for four weeks, which recorded the temperature every hour. The results were alarming. For, despite the summer often feeling pretty cool, with plenty of rain, when it was hot it was very hot.
“Sometimes it was hotter inside than outside, with the heat trapped in due to lesson after lesson in a confined space, and windows often not open - or open very little - because of safety concerns on higher floors. There is no air conditioning - it's expensive to install and run, and obviously also not good for the environment.”
On June 24th, 2024, the thermometer in Paul’s classroom registered a peak of 27.7 degrees, when the outdoor temperature was 25.9 degrees.
That was not as bad as some days in the summer of 2022 - when UK temperatures passed 40 degrees for the first time - but nevertheless still has an impact.
“It’s difficult to concentrate and difficult to stay awake, with the overall impact very disruptive. The kids wilt, they put their heads on the desks, they become grumpy and less patient. As do the staff.
Hot weather, which is happening more and more frequently, can be really hard to navigate in schools. Tempers are more easily frayed and lessons are interrupted by the need to refill water bottles.”
A teacher in Dorset, in the south of England, also part of the temperature-gathering project with Round Our Way, spoke of pupils fainting and vomiting, an asthmatic colleague feeling unwell, and another colleague falling asleep.
“Classrooms being far too hot is an issue in schools up and down the country. That is a fact. But what are the solutions if we are to ensure our children are educated, and our teachers can teach, as climate change continues to bite?”
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Stories From Round Our Way. Everyday conversations with people impacted by climate change.