Educating for a Climate Changed Future
Description
This open access book offers a comprehensive, systems-level examination of how schooling and climate change shape one another. Drawing on insights from climate science, comparative education, education policy and implementation research, it distinguishes between first-order effects-how climate hazards and slow-onset changes disrupt learning-and second-order effects-how education systems respond through curriculum, teacher preparation, infrastructure, operations and community engagement. It maps five major narratives of climate change education-climate literacy, climate action, green economy skills, education for sustainable development and critical/decolonial approaches-and shows how they coexist and interact in global frameworks and national policies. Moving from policy to practice, it analyzes national case studies of policy reform, case studies of transformation at the school level and examines the role of educator networks and of eco-systems supporting climate change education efforts. Using a complexity science perspective, it explains why many systems remain in "low climate learning traps" and outlines realistic strategies to escape them and achieve systemic policy coherence, offering guidance for researchers, policymakers, practitioners and graduate students working toward climate-ready education systems.
More details
Persons
Fernando M. Reimers is Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA. An elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Education and the International Academy of Education, he served on UNESCO's International Commission on the Futures of Education. His research and over 50 books examine how education systems can advance inclusion, sustainability, democracy and global citizenship. He has led comparative research and curriculum design projects on education for the SDGs and climate change across multiple world regions.
Margaret Wang-Aghania is an Ashoka Fellow and the Co-founder and Executive Director of SubjectToClimate, a nonprofit supporting over one million users to teach climate change. A former high-school teacher and product manager, she holds a M.Ed. in International Education Policy from Harvard University, USA and works at the intersection of climate education, ed-tech, and teacher professional learning.
Content
Introduction education and climate.- Mapping the terrain perspectives on education and climate change.- How do national governments support climate ready education systems.- Beyond government the role of networks supporting climate change.- Climate change education in practice how schools teach for a warming world.- What do students around the world know about climate change and what should be taught and how.- Thinking systemically and multidimensionally about climate change education.- Schools as anchors of community climate resilience a social and ecological perspective.- Conclusion reorienting education in a warming world.