Towards climate justice education: views from activists and educators in Scotland
University of Edinburgh
Description
In the context of a resurgence of civic activism to address climate change, we present findings from an exploratory research project on climate justice education (CJE). We conducted deliberative focus groups and interviews with activists, advocacy workers and educators in order to address three broad aims: to consider the ways in which different stakeholders conceptualize climate justice; to examine how teachers and activists perceive challenges to, and opportunities for, developing climate justice education; to explore the potential for recognizing activism and civic engagement as an educational process, considering both activists’ views on education and educators’ views on activism in this context. Activists recognized the potential for CJE which is connected to social movements (especially youth-led movements), local communities, and addresses the affective dimensions of the climate crisis. Although our teacher participants shared some of the analyses of the activists, they were less well informed about climate justice as a concept and were more ambivalent about the prospect of learning through and from activism.