King’s Group Academies is a network of state-funded schools across England with a curriculum focus on international learning and global citizenship (1). That international dimension shapes much of the approach to curriculum and student collaboration across its schools.
“We want students to see themselves as global citizens,” said Louisa Perkins, International Director for King’s Group Academies.
For many participating schools, air quality had rarely been part of classroom discussion before the project began. King’s Group Academies is using air quality data to help connect classrooms across countries through its implementation of the Air We Breathe program, developed in collaboration with EarthMuseum Learn and IQAir.
The project combines classroom learning with IQAir AirVisual Outdoor air quality monitors installed at participating schools. Students use the monitors to follow changes in local air quality and compare those readings with partner schools in other parts of the world. Those readings also become part of IQAir’s global air quality network, allowing schools to place local observations within a broader environmental context.
Connecting classrooms through shared data
Many of King’s Group Academies schools already collaborate with classrooms in other countries through joint educational projects.
According to Perkins, the Air We Breathe program fit naturally into that broader model: “We could actually connect schools through shared learning and shared data,” she said.
King’s Group Academies is currently piloting the program across schools in England alongside partner schools in the United Arab Emirates, Spain, India, and Thailand. Some participating schools already had experience discussing air quality because of local pollution concerns. Others had rarely considered it part of classroom learning before.
“In the UK, air quality isn’t really something schools have talked about very much,” Perkins said. “But once students start looking at the data themselves, the conversation changes.”
Each participating school receives an air quality monitor and access to EarthMuseum Learn’s educational resources. Schools are able to adapt the material to fit their own curriculum structure and teaching approach.
Some schools have integrated the lessons into geography and sustainability units. Others have organized environmental focus days or schoolwide project weeks tied to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Learning through comparison
Alongside classroom activities, schools collect and share monthly air quality readings through a collaborative reporting platform.
Students compare measurements such as PM2.5 levels, temperature, and other local conditions with partner schools in other regions. Those comparisons often become the starting point for broader discussions about pollution sources, geography, transportation, infrastructure, and daily life.
One school in Portsmouth, England is currently partnered with a school in Abu Dhabi. Students in both schools follow the same lesson structure while comparing the air quality conditions around them.
The schools meet virtually to compare observations and discuss what may be contributing to the differences in their readings. Local air quality readings often lead to broader discussions about environmental conditions across regions.
That ability to compare and discuss observations across locations is a central part of the project. Rather than classrooms working independently, schools join a connected system built around collaboration and environmental data.
Air quality becoming visible in schools
In several schools, students have already begun noticing patterns in the data on their own. One primary school in southern England observed that air quality readings regularly increased during morning drop-off and afternoon pickup periods.
“They’re already planning posters telling parents they should walk to school instead of idling their cars,” Perkins said.
Schools have approached the project differently depending on age group and curriculum focus. Younger students often engage through practical activities and classroom discussions. Older students have connected the project more directly to sustainability, climate, and public health topics already present in their coursework.
“What’s been really positive is seeing schools take the framework and then start building their own ideas around it,” Perkins said.
Expanding the network
King’s Group Academies is using its existing international partnerships to gradually expand the network into additional schools and regions. Schools in Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Spain, and India are all in different stages of implementation, with additional schools and educational networks expected to join over time.
Perkins said schools with existing sustainability initiatives were often the first to express interest. In some cases, local air quality concerns already played a visible role in everyday life.
Schools in Bangkok, for example, were already familiar with pollution alerts severe enough to keep students indoors during parts of the year. “In Thailand, everybody knows what PM2.5 is,” Perkins said. “People check the air quality every day.”
In contrast, several UK schools initially questioned whether air quality was something students needed to focus on at all. That changed once monitors were installed and students began following the readings themselves.
Participating schools within the King’s Group Academies network submit monthly measurements through a reporting system that allows classrooms to compare conditions across locations over time. As additional monitors come online, the dataset continues to grow.
Over time, King’s Group Academies hopes to expand the project into a broader international network of schools contributing and comparing air quality observations together.
Several participating schools are already contributing publicly accessible air quality readings through IQAir’s AirVisual platform, including King's Academy Gomer, King's Academy Meadow Vale, and King’s Academy Ringmer. Their stations can be viewed alongside thousands of monitoring locations worldwide.
Expanding beyond the pilot stage
King’s Group Academies currently has monitors installed across most participating school sites, with additional installations continuing throughout the year.
“My aim for all of the schools in our group is that this becomes an annual fixture on their curriculum,” she said. For King’s Group Academies, the long-term goal is not simply monitoring air quality but using shared environmental data as part of a broader international learning framework.
The project has already gained recognition outside the classroom. Several participating schools referenced their involvement with Air We Breathe in applications for international education and sustainability awards, including the UK International School Award program and the Global Schools Prize.
For Perkins, the long-term value of the project extends beyond environmental monitoring itself. It is also about giving students opportunities to collaborate internationally while learning to interpret real-world information together.
“A lot of our students have never left their hometowns,” she said. “This gives them opportunities to connect with students in other countries and start seeing the world a little more widely.”
Conclusion
King’s Group Academies is building a model where schools in different parts of the world contribute to a connected network of shared observations. Discussions between classrooms are already expanding into broader conversations about pollution, public health, infrastructure, and everyday life in different regions.
As the network grows, students are beginning to see how air quality conditions connect communities across borders.
