Today's school students are faced with complex and harmful global challenges that they will need to address. The ability to think critically and creatively, to work in interdisciplinary teams and to understand the importance of a healthy planet for all life will be key to success. Education, including school education, has a major role in helping humanity achieve this. We argue that transformations in both the curriculum and teaching are required. We draw upon Young's (2008) 'powerful knowledge' and the rather different approach of an 'aims-based curriculum' found in Reiss and White (2013) to propose curricula and associated pedagogies that can potentially address the global challenges of our times. We offer examples of what learning might look like to achieve these aims, paying particular attention to school science education, as science will need to play an important role if these global challenges are to be successfully met.