Looking at Climate Education through the Lens of Participatory Justice.

Recap of Sustainability Problem

Knowledge is often considered the key to action, with inaction often being attributed to ignorance/lack of information. In the case of climate education however, knowledge can only go so far as to creating sustainable citizens. This is due to both the lack of skills-based learning that ensues within these curricula, along with the impact that consistent exposure to problem-based learning can have on the mental wellbeing of a student, and how these two factors hamper the translation of knowledge into action (Khalaim and Budziszewska, 2024).

Defining Participatory Justice

Participatory justice emphasises actively inclusive practices, whereby those affected by decisions have a genuine role/voice in shaping outcomes that directly affect them. This justice concept is rooted in the belief that engaging diverse perspectives results in more equitable and effective solutions to a problem. In education, participatory justice highlights the importance of allowing students and educators to contribute their insights, aligning the educational content with their lived experiences and potential concerns (de Souza, 2021).

Applying Participatory Justice to Climate Education

Analysing the impact of climate education on the wellbeing of students through the lens of participatory justice reveals a critical process gap in how climate education is designed and implemented. While education is a goal in itself within the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework, seen in SDG 4 “Quality education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (United Nations General Assembly, 2015 p. 14), climate education contributes to SDG 13 “Climate action – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” (United Nations General Assembly, 2015, p. 14), by  providing students with the skills, values and attitudes necessary to go forth and become “sustainability-changemakers” (UNESCO, 2017, p.7) to promote a sustainable and inclusive future (de Souza, 2021).

Current educational practices often adopt a top-down approach, where curricula are created without significant input from students (Barth et al., 2015); and although some forms of education request student feedback post-teaching, the students are not meaningfully involved, and do not see any of benefits imposed from their feedback due to it being a process conducted after the fact (Skedsmo and Huber, 2019; de Souza, 2021). This can oftentimes result in curricula that heavily focuses on the severity of climate change without adequately balancing this with actionable solutions and/or emotional support (Jones and Davison, 2021; Eriksson et al., 2022; Khalaim and Budziszewska, 2024). Consequently, students may experience eco-anxiety through indirect exposure to the climate crisis – a feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the crisis through education (Jarrett et al., 2024). This can be compounded by direct exposure to the climate crisis, for those who have first-hand experience with the impacts of the climate crisis (Jarrett et al., 2024; Heinz and Brandt, 2024).

While eco-anxiety has been found, in some cases, to promote pro-environmental behaviour (Innocenti et al., 2023; Edwards et al., 2024); it has also been found that eco-anxiety can impact people’s perceived self-efficacy, reducing students’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviours due to feeling helpless, burnt-out, or even distanced from the topic as a way of coping with the emotional burden of climate education (Pihkala, 2020; Jones and Davison, 2021; Innocenti et al., 2023). Hence, hampering the intended outcomes of climate education in creating socially responsible citizens (Fernández-Manzanal et al., 2007). It is, therefore, imperative that the creation of climate curricula is re-imagined to include students in the process, while also providing emotional support systems to empower students (UNESCO, 2017; Eriksson et al., 2022).

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Reference List

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