Climate change education challenges from two different perspectives of change agents: Perceptions of school students and pre-service teachers
Abstract This study explores how climate change education (CCE) can support a climate-just transition by empowering students and preservice teachers (PSTs) as change agents. Based on qualitative questionnaires from 80 secondary students and 18 PSTs, findings show both groups feel underprepared for climate action. Participants reported limited time spent on CCE, inadequate engagement with practical examples, and a lack […]
Geographical Process or Global Injustice? Contrasting Educational Perspectives on Climate Change
Abstract This exploratory study investigates how educators, student teachers, and environmental specialists understand climate change, climate justice, and climate change education. Thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups reveals two contrasting perspectives: teachers and student teachers tend to view climate change as a geographic issue solvable through individual action, while environmental specialists frame it as […]
Storying Climate Change: Discursive Possibilities for Teaching Climate Justice Literacies
Abstract The paper focuses on teaching climate change in literacy education, highlighting the need for critical global literacies that intersect with local, place-based realities and prioritize ecojustice. It suggests that climate literacies can be effectively taught in conservative contexts by focusing on local issues and inviting students to engage critically with texts Keywords: Climate change education Literacy […]
Secondary Science Teachers’ Views and Approaches for Teaching for Climate Justice and Action
Abstract The paper explored teachers’ views and apporaches for teaching climate justice. Teachers framed climate change as a global social issue, but few addressed racial injustices or taught collective adaptation actions. They often prioritized mitigation actions over adaptation efforts and rarely connected climate justice to action. Additionally, teachers were more likely to teach about individual pro-environmental actions rather than […]
Linguistically and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Sustainable Futures: Learning from a European Teacher Education Project
Abstract One of the challenges of climate justice education is how to shift attention to local classrooms and schools where there are risks of reducing teaching to environmental education focusing on injustices happening elsewhere. The study addresses this problem is by connecting education for susutainable futures (ESF) with Linguistic and Cultural Responsive Pedagogies (LCRP). The connection is made by situating linguistic and cultural inequalities […]
Understanding ecojustice education as a praxis of environmental reconciliation: Teacher education, Indigenous knowledges, and relationality
Abstract This chapter explores environmental education (EE) as a praxis of environmental reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Canada. Through a critical review of ecojustice education literature, the authors examine both its potential and its limitations in supporting Indigenous education. Drawing on qualitative findings from teacher candidates participating in a voluntary practicum in an Indigenous community, […]
Practice or theory : Situating science teacher preparation within a context of ecojustice philosophy
Abstract The paper highlighted the tension between theory and practice, with preservice teachers expressing a desire for a prescriptive approach to teaching rather than a theoretical one. The preservice teachers struggled to connect their knowledge of citizen science (used in this study to express ecojustice philosophy) to the practice of teaching, Keywords: Pre-service teachers (PSTs) Theory–practice tension […]
Bridging the Knowledge–Practice Gap: Assessing Climate Change Literacy Among Science Teachers
Abstract The study identified that science teachers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, exhibit a strong understanding of climate change concepts. While most teachers include climate change in their curriculum and teaching practices, there is a weak correlation between their knowledge and actions in addressing climate change topics. The authors suggest that factors beyond understanding influence their teaching practices, such as available resources, […]
Deferral, Agency, and Hope: Pre-Service Social Studies Teachers Making Sense of the Pedagogical Demands of Engaging Climate Crisis
Abstract The paper examines how pre-service social studies teachers conceptualise the complex knowledge of the climate crisis. By analyzing a small group discussion following a pedagogical encounter with climate crisis in a teacher education program, and employing the notion of difficult knowledge, the author theorizes through the discourses of deep pessimism, deferral and hopefulness in the sense-making processes. The […]
Towards Climate Justice Education: Views from Activists and Educators in Scotland
Abstract This article focuses on the findings from an exploratory research project on climate justice education (CJE) in Scotland. The results from the focus groups and interviews with activists, advocacy workers and educators, demonstrate three broad aims: (1) to consider the ways in which different stakeholders conceptualise climate justice; (2) to examine how teachers and activists perceive challenges to, […]
Putting climate change at the heart of education: Is England’s strategy a placebo for policy?
Abstract The paper sought perspectives from youth, teachers, and teacher educators on how climate change can go beyond providing resources and opportunities for teacher training. These areas for action include: (1) government; (2) school leadership; (3) curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; (4) teacher education and CPD; and (5) community partnerships. Moreover, the stakeholders call for recognition for climate change education […]
Climate Injustice: How Should Education Respond?
Abstract This book chapter discusses how the climate injustices are experienced by poor and weak states today, particularly in the African context. The injustices lie in the long-term historical emergence of a modern (and increasingly global) world order framed by a hegemonic Westphalian state system. This state system privileges exclusive, undivided sovereignty over a bounded […]
Gesturing not acting : Searching for policy guidance for Australian climate educators
Abstract Australia’s lack of national approach to climate change education is rooted in political inaction and interference from carbon-intensive industries. The study also identifies the importance of international frameworks, such as those provided by the United Nations, in guiding policy development for adult climate justice education The problems lie in the translation of words to material realities. Social science and education research shows that personal […]
Introduction: Teaching About Climate Change
Abstract The paper discusses the challenges of teaching about climate change, the importance of addressing the systemic issues that contribute to it, and the role of educators in promoting awareness and action. It focuses on extending ecolinguistic approaches to environmental discourse, with a particular focus on how the storying of climate change can inhibit and ena-ble the possibilities for action in how teachers conceptualize and enact ecoliteracies teaching. […]
In-Game Uncertainties and Climate Change Challenges as Identified by Pre-Service Teachers
Abstract The paper explored how pre-service teachers can identify various uncertainties in climate board games, including the occurrence/impact of catastrophes and the behavior of players, and that they can relate these uncertainties to reality, discussing issues such as climate justice, political dilemmas, and environmental activism. Keywords: Pre-service teachers (PSTs) Climate board games Uncertainty and risk Catastrophes […]
Petro-pedagogy: Fossil fuel interests and the obstruction of climate justice in public education
Abstract This article elucidates the discursive strategies through which fossil fuel interests reach into schools and to identify how climate and energy education is shaped by these hegemonic discourses. It analyzes how teaching practices and resources work to centre, legitimize, and entrench a set of beliefs relating to climate change, energy, and environmentalism that align with the interests of fossil fuel industry […]
Climate Change Education: Mapping the Nature of Climate Change, the Content Knowledge and Examination of Enactment in Upper Secondary Victorian Curriculum
Abstract The authors developed theoretical tools for evaluating climate change curriculum and applied frameworks for examining: the nature of CC conceptualisation, the comprehensiveness of CC contents, and the integration of CC, within the Victorian (Australian) upper-secondary curriculum. Overall, the findings suggest that a fundamental conceptualisation gap prevails throughout thestudy designs in regard to the nature of CC. These lags may be attributed to which include lack of […]
Climate Justice Literacy: Stories‐We‐Live‐By, Ecolinguistics, and Classroom Practice
Abstract The paper addresses the problem that climate change remains a deeply divisive and politically partician issue and that teacher working in communities where where climate change denial is more prevalent are likely at greater risk of being sanctioned. An approach to address political polarization is to bring local issues and related stories into the classroom. Positioning teaching with through a local environmental issue can shift the story to children’s lives and […]
Climate Change Education and the Manitoba K-12 Curriculum: A Content-Analysis
Abstract In the Manitoba K-12 curriculum, there are very few explict references to cliamte change, which are limited to grade 7 social studies and grade 10 science. There is limited alignment between grade 7 soical students and science curriculum, indicating that instruction on climate change science needs to go beyond curriculum learning objectives. Grades 10 social studies and science curriculum, and grade 12 global issues provide better alignment for […]
Climate Change Education in Ireland: A Crisis in Need of a Meaningful Cross-Curricular Response?
Abstract The lack of available curricular resources for teachers may be a factor in teachers’ reliance on outside sources for information on climate change and, consequently, on the accuracy of the information being relayed to students. However, there emerged one key enabler: the flexibility of the curriculum, which allows teachers to include climate change themes if they wish. Parental, community, […]
Nurturing a global ecojustice consciousness among preservice teachers through critical place-based learning
Abstract The paper explores how critical place-based learning experience impacted preservice teacher meaning-making of an international human and environmental crisis, shifting their conceptions of self, citizenship, and responsibility towards a more global, ecojustice consciousness. Keywords: Critical place-based learning Pre-service teachers (PSTs) Meaning-making International human and environmental crises Citizenship Responsibility Global consciousness Ecojustice […]