Climate Change Education Challenges from Two Different Perspectives of Change Agents: Perceptions of School Students and Pre-Service Teachers

Veronika Winter, Johanna Kranz and Andrea Möller
Additional contact information
Veronika Winter: Austrian Educational Competence Center for Biology (AECC Biology), University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Johanna Kranz: Center of Excellence for Climate Change Impacts, Research Institute of Forest Ecology and Forestry Rhineland-Palatinate, 67705 Trippstadt, Germany
Andrea Möller: Austrian Educational Competence Center for Biology (AECC Biology), University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-29

Abstract: Climate change education (CCE) can play an essential role in pushing forward a climate-just transition. However, educational institutions seem to be challenged to equip students and their prospective teachers with what is necessary for them to become multipliers for climate action. This study aims to provide actionable insights on how to harness the untapped potential of CCE, overcome obstacles, and draw conclusions on which adaptations are necessary to improve current CCE settings. We conducted a qualitative questionnaire study using the example of 80 secondary school students (grade 12) and 18 pre-service teachers (PSTs). The results indicated that both cohorts feel inadequately prepared for their role as possible “change agents”, stating that climate change as a topic is given too little time, engagement with practical examples on taking climate action is inadequate, and a superficial examination of the topic takes place. Students as well as PSTs as change agents are not sufficiently supported by educational institutions to exercise their transformative potential due to numerous identified challenges that have to be confronted at a systemic level. Results indicate that especially teacher training programs need to increasingly focus on the professional development of educators in this field.

Keywords: climate change education; climate literacy; secondary school students; pre-service teachers; change agents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/6081/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/6081/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:10:p:6081-:d:817413

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().