Climate Change, Sustainability, and Education: Conceptions of Teachers of Geography in England
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Policy Context
2.2. Teachers’ Conceptions in Relation to Climate Change and Sustainability
3. Research Design
- I think of climate change as…
- I think of sustainability as…
- I understand climate change education as…
- I understand sustainability education as…
4. Results
a moral and ethical requirement, involving the teaching of knowledge about climatic change derived from inquiries stemming from the Scientific method, at the same time as being an opportunity to incorporate other methods, other ways of knowing and traditions of thinking human-environment relations (Indigenous knowledges etc.). (Teacher of geography)
5. Analysis and Discussion
5.1. Teachers’ Conceptions of Climate Change and Climate Change Education
5.2. Teachers’ Conceptions of Sustainability and Sustainability Education
5.3. Connections between Teachers’ Conceptions of Climate Change Eeducation and Sustainability Education
5.4. Limitations of This Research
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Theme | Count | Indicative Response 1 | Indicative Response 2 |
---|---|---|---|
Characterising climate change as a threat or disaster or crisis | 78 | in today’s terms a crisis happening in front of our eyes. | the greatest threat of our time. |
Outcomes of climate change in terms of changes to Earth (e.g., climate patterns, extreme weather, changes to ecosystems) | 74 | the ongoing change in weather systems and environmental conditions, that has an adverse effect on natural ecosystem. | the alteration of global temperatures and rainfall and the consequences this has on life systems on earth. |
Focus on anthropogenic causes | 28 | a reality we are now facing as a humanity, thanks to our anthropogenic contributions to the enhanced greenhouse effect, primarily through the burning of fossil fuels. | humans damaging our planet. |
Action required by society and/or individuals (including a sense of hope that mitigation and adaptations are possible) | 18 | an area that we must act upon before it is too late. | a focus for action in immediate future. |
Natural process involving additional changes due to anthropogenic causes (e.g., enhanced greenhouse effect) | 15 | a natural cycle of the earth’s climate system which in the post-industrial era (Anthropocene?) has experienced extreme change due to greenhouse gas emissions linked to human activity. | climate change is the term for natural climate cycles but human enhanced CC is led by humans. |
An issue of social justice (including injustices in relation to causes and impacts of climate change, and the contribution of capitalism) | 9 | a wicked problem that is caused by the rapacious desire for resources that fuel an economic system premised on accumulation for the few and dispossession for the many; an outcome, in part, of colonial practices and mindsets; a socially and ecologically derived hazard whose vulnerabilities are unevenly distributed. | a disgraceful calamity exacerbated by corporate and government greed and individual reluctance to alter a lifestyle dependent on fossil fuels and plastics. |
Focus on natural problem | 2 | a natural process. | a natural process which occurs over a prolonged period of time and has different stages of a cycle. |
Misconceptions related to the ozone layer | 2 | a change in the climate due to destruction of the ozone layer. | the planet heating up partly due to tears in the ozone layer due to human activity. |
Theme | Count | Indicative Response 1 | Indicative Response 2 |
---|---|---|---|
Future dimension of sustainability | 93 | the ability to protect our future generations. | a model for a better future. |
Environment focus | 70 | essential to be good stewards of the Earth. A way to live your life with minimal impact on the planet. | living in a way which doesn’t damage the environment for the future. |
Resource use | 35 | using resources responsibly. | doing what we can as individuals and nations to reduce the impact of climate change by finding alternative solutions (such as for energy and resources) to avoid depleting the earth’s natural resources. |
Crucial to allow hope for future | 34 | a shimmer of hope but that we will all need to work towards. | a small hope for future generations. |
Brundtland definition (similar) | 33 | the ability to maintain/use “things” i.e., resources for current consumption, without harming the future security of it for future generations. | a way of ensuring the needs of future generations are met. |
Brundtland definition (almost exactly) | 23 | meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generation’s needs. | meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the needs of future generations. |
Social focus (e.g., quality of life for people) | 22 | to develop and improve quality of life for people without causing long-term negative impact for future generations. | living or developing in a way that meets the current needs of a population, but always leaves the social, economic, environment and political landscape in a way that enables future generations to meet their own needs. |
Focus on taking action | 19 | a way to raise awareness of climate change and take action. | actions in which we can take to slow down the warming of our planet. |
Critical perspective, including cynicism about how sustainability is used as a term by governments and corporations | 12 | often talked about by politicians and companies but in practice rarely implemented. Become a platitude to pretend action is being taken. | desperately needed, but facing an uphill battle against large organisations/countries which will not change their ways. |
Economic focus | 12 | the aim to work together socially, and in an environmentally informed way, whilst making enough money to get by and function. | an imperative approach that needs to be applied to all areas of life and put at the heart of economic systems. |
Theme | Count | Indicative Response 1 | Indicative Response 2 |
---|---|---|---|
Causes, effects, and responses to climate change | 96 | teaching students about the causes, effects and responses to CC. | essential to pupils. It should educate them on the causes, impacts and solutions to climate breakdown, the latter to be considered on an individual, national/governmental and global scale. |
Identified as crucial for young people | 51 | one of the most important aspects of the school curriculum. | vital to understanding the future and preparing students appropriately for their adult lives (both socially and in work). |
Teaching about the ways students can take action | 31 | teaching students how to be sustainable. Helping students understand their carbon footprint and ways that they can reduce their carbon footprint. | working with students to ensure they know what climate change is and how they can get involved to take action to prevent it. |
Education to support young people making informed choices | 18 | we should be educating students about changes to the climate, why they are happening and how they can help by giving them the information they need to make informed choices (not telling them what they should/shouldn’t do). | being informative to students to make informed choices in the future. |
Identified as crucial to be taught across the curriculum and multiple subjects | 13 | being important across all key stages and curriculum areas. | teaching students the scientifically accurate causes of climate change and then thinking about its impact on people around the world—so it would involve education in different subject lessons. |
Teaching with hope and avoiding fear/anxiety | 9 | giving our children the knowledge that the Earth is changing, mostly through human actions, without instilling fear and anxiety in them. | presenting children with global and local issues that have contributed to climate change, empowering them to understand the political and economic reasons behind the issues, and teaching them ways people are dealing with this socio-scientific issues—to reduce climate anxiety and increase future hope. |
Addressing climate change as a complex problem that requires an understanding of complexities (including climate injustice and climate change politics) | 5 | climate change education involves an opportunity to induct young people into ways of seeing the world anew, reading concepts and current affairs against the grain, thinking otherwise about climate change politics and economics. | helping children to understand the issues around climate change, and the proposed solutions—from new technology to resilience options. It should include an understanding of climate justice. |
Lack of and limitations to climate change education | 4 | non-existent in schools for the level of impact and change that is necessary! | crucial and completely underplayed in 99% of schools. |
Teaching about structural changes required and actions from governments and corporations | 2 | thus we should dismiss unfounded individual guilt and lay the blame squarely where it belongs: with governments and corporations. I believe individual action should mostly focus on holding those in power to account, not on micro-consumerist ‘tips’ like ‘remember to recycle’ | a move away from giving both sides of a debate in terms of human vs natural causes of climate change towards an emphasis on the climate emergency and the need for structural changes in order to mitigate future climate change. |
Theme | Count | Indicative Response 1 | Indicative Response 2 |
---|---|---|---|
Education for young people’s future decision making and/or focussing on actions that can be taken by young people themselves | 109 | teaching how to prepare students how to make good decisions for the future taking into account environment, economic and social factors on a range of issues at a range of scales. | equipping students with the knowledge, understanding and character-traits to make wise choices with respect to stewardship of our planet and its resources, and their responsibilities as part of society. |
Knowledge related to definitions of sustainability | 48 | ensuring that students understand the three pillars of sustainability. | how we can produce and consume without damaging the environment and future generation’s ability to have a similar ability to meet their needs. |
Identifying sustainability education as crucial | 20 | essential. | extremely important for students to understand what it is. |
Requiring a whole school approach and to be taught across subjects | 7 | a key topic which should be discussed across all subjects. | not a specific lesson to be taught but something that is infused though curriculum in every subject and embedded in the behaviours, values and processes in educational settings. It enriches knowledge as well as informs the compassionate values that guide ethical ways of being and living so all (human and non human) can be and live well together in the present and future. It takes into account social, economic and environmental sustainability. |
Teaching about recycling | 6 | using recycled materials, teaching how to use items for one or more purposes. | teaching the children, the benefits of being sustainable and being able to recycle things instead of just throwing them away. |
Offering a critical perspective on the limitations of sustainability education | 6 | a particular approach to climate change education that has potential, but is also often rooted in ways of thinking that aren’t adequate to the challenge of the problem. Too often sustainability involves a lack of thought about systemic changes. | teaching kids to do as we say and not as we do, they listen, they look around at the schools they are in and see a total failure to live up to any single requirement of making their school sustainable for society, economy or environment. |
Teaching about how humans can mitigate the impacts of climate change | 5 | teaching how we can mitigate against future impacts of climate and use the resources on our planet without exhausting them. | teaching and learning about the things that people are doing and that we can do to slow climate change, conserve resources and protect natural environments and wildlife. |
Underpinning concept—sustainability as an underpinning concept for geography | 4 | something that should underpin teaching of economics/business and sociological subjects as well as traditional ‘home’ in geography etc. | a key part of the human and environmental geography curriculum that is, learning about the impacts that human activities have on the earth. |
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Healy, G.; Mitchell, D.; Walshe, N. Climate Change, Sustainability, and Education: Conceptions of Teachers of Geography in England. Sustainability 2024, 16, 7213. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167213
Healy G, Mitchell D, Walshe N. Climate Change, Sustainability, and Education: Conceptions of Teachers of Geography in England. Sustainability. 2024; 16(16):7213. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167213
Chicago/Turabian StyleHealy, Grace, David Mitchell, and Nicola Walshe. 2024. "Climate Change, Sustainability, and Education: Conceptions of Teachers of Geography in England" Sustainability 16, no. 16: 7213. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167213
APA StyleHealy, G., Mitchell, D., & Walshe, N. (2024). Climate Change, Sustainability, and Education: Conceptions of Teachers of Geography in England. Sustainability, 16(16), 7213. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167213