By Abbas Nazil
Schools across the United Kingdom should be retrofitted to withstand extreme heat, while authorities consider changing school hours, extending summer holidays and rescheduling examinations to protect pupils and teachers from increasingly severe heatwaves, the leader of the country’s largest education union has said.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), called on the government to introduce a major school renovation programme, warning that many existing buildings were designed for a different climate and could no longer provide suitable learning environments during periods of extreme temperatures.
His appeal follows a summer of intense heat in which classroom temperatures reportedly exceeded 40C, forcing hundreds of thousands of pupils to miss lessons as schools closed or struggled to maintain safe conditions.
At least 760,000 schoolchildren in England and Wales missed lessons because of school closures during the June heatwave, according to figures cited in a report by The Guardian.
The disruption resulted in more than 15 million hours of lost learning, highlighting the growing challenge of maintaining education during extreme weather.
Kebede said the experience had caused considerable distress among teachers, many of whom contacted the union seeking assistance as temperatures rose and classroom conditions deteriorated.
He described the level of concern among education workers as comparable to the anxiety experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying teachers feared for their own safety and that of their pupils.
Teachers reported that the heat made concentration and classroom management increasingly difficult, with pupils becoming tired, uncomfortable and less attentive.
One primary school teacher described children sitting or lying on classroom floors with water bottles while complaining of sweating, headaches, nausea and exhaustion.
The teacher said staff also struggled to cope with the conditions, adding that lessons became less about learning and more about helping children endure the heat.
Kebede said the government should begin planning immediately for the next summer, warning that extreme temperatures could become a regular feature of the UK’s changing climate.
He suggested that schools could consider starting lessons earlier and finishing earlier in the day, when temperatures may be lower, as well as reviewing the timing of school holidays and examinations.
He also proposed considering a longer summer break, noting that some countries with hotter climates organise their academic calendars differently to reduce the impact of high temperatures.
However, he stressed the need for a broader national discussion on how to maintain educational continuity as heatwaves become more challenging.
The union leader said many UK schools occupy old Victorian buildings or structures built during the 1960s and 1970s, which he argued were not adequately designed for the extreme heat now being experienced.
He called for investment in improved school infrastructure to make buildings better suited to current and future climate conditions.
Such a programme, he said, could also create employment opportunities through construction work, skilled apprenticeships and other local economic activities.
Kebede warned that extreme heat was disproportionately affecting children from disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly those living in densely populated urban communities where homes may also be poorly equipped to cope with high temperatures.
When schools close, some children are sent back to homes that offer little relief from the heat, while parents and carers may be unable to work remotely or take time off to look after them.
He cautioned that unequal access to climate-resilient school facilities could deepen educational inequalities, with better-resourced schools more capable of managing extreme temperatures than those serving poorer communities.
The UK is not alone in facing the challenge, as severe heat and wildfires have affected several European countries this summer. In France, student protesters have also demanded improvements to classroom conditions during periods of extreme heat.
Kebede urged the government to develop a long-term plan to prepare schools for rising temperatures, arguing that urgent investment and practical adjustments to the academic calendar would help protect pupils, support teachers and reduce the disruption of education as the climate continues to warm.
