Reinvigorating Climate Change Education in Universities a Social Transformative Agenda

Abstract

The global community is faced with environmental threats due to climate change. The problematic process of societal transformation involved in responding to climate change. Reviving climate change education in educational institutions can provide a strong impetus for societal change.  Future leaders, professionals, and citizens are significantly shaped by the knowledge, attitudes, and abilities they acquire in universities. This paper then sought to unpack strategies employed by universities to advance climate change education. Transformational paradigm and social change theory are the underlying philosophical view for this paper. Curriculum integration, a holistic approach, experiential learning, community engagement, faculty development, campus sustainability, policy advocacy, developing student leadership, partnerships, and collaborations are some approaches to reviving climate change education that came to light from the paper. By implementing these approaches, universities may position themselves as hubs for climate change education, research, and action, raising a generation of conscious, involved, and equipped individuals ready to lead societal transformation in the direction of a sustainable future.

Full text article

Generated from XML file

References

Alasuutari, P. (2011). The governmentality of consultancy and competition: The influence of the OECD. In Mapping out the research-policy matrix: Highlights from the First International Forum on the Social Science-Policy Nexus (pp. 147-65). Paris: UNESCO.

Anderson, A. (2012). Climate change education for mitigation and adaptation. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 6(2), 191-206.

Bodolica, V., Spraggon, M., & Badi, H. (2021). Extracurricular activities and social entrepreneurial leadership of graduating youth in universities from the Middle East. The International Journal of Management Education, 19(2), 100489.

Cinner, J. E., Adger, W. N., Allison, E. H., Barnes, M. L., Brown, K., Cohen, P. J., ... & Morrison, Tang. H. (2018). Building adaptive capacity to climate change in tropical coastal communities. Nature Climate Change, 8(2), 117-123.

Corner, A., Roberts, O., Chiari, S., Völler, S., Mayrhuber, E. S., Mandl, S., & Monson, K. (2015). How do young people engage with climate change? The role of knowledge, values, message framing, and trusted communicators. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 6(5), 523-534.

Damoah, B. (2023). Reimagining Climate Change Education As a Panacea to Climate Emergencies. International Journal of Environmental, Sustainability, and Social Science, 4(4), 977-987.

Damoah, B., & Adu, E. O. (2022). Environmental Education in South African Schools: The Role of Civil Society Organizations. Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 7(3), 1-17.

Damoah, B., & Omodan, B. I. (2023). Tracing The Footprints of Environmental Education in Teacher Education: A Review of Pre-service Teachers’ Training in Universities. DOI: 10.47750/jett.2023.14.05.020

Damoah, B., Keengwe, S., Owusu, S., Yeboah, C., & Kekessie, F. (2023). The Global Climate and Environmental Protest: Student Environmental Activism a Transformative Defiance. International Journal of Environmental, Sustainability, and Social Science, 4(4), 1180-1198.

Damoah, B., & Omodan, B. I. (2022). Determinants of effective environmental education policy in South African schools. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 3, 100206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2022.100206

Damoah, B., & Adu, E. O. (2019). Challenges teachers face in the integration of Environmental Education into the South African curriculum. American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, 3(10), 157-166.

Damoah, B. (2021). Assessing the implementation of environmental education school policy in Buffalo City Metro Education District South Africa.

Damoah, B. (2023). Ramifications of Violent Protest on the Environment. International Journal of Environmental, Sustainability, and Social Science, 4(3), 652-663.

Feola, G. (2015). Societal transformation in response to global environmental change: a review of emerging concepts. Ambio, 44(5), 376-390.

Gillard, R., Gouldson, A., Paavola, J., & Van Alstine, J. (2016). Transformational responses to climate change: Beyond a systems perspective of social change in mitigation and adaptation. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 7(2), 251-265.

Hou, Y. W., & Jacob, W. J. (2017). What contributes more to the ranking of higher education institutions? A comparison of three world university rankings. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 16(4), 29-46.

Huckle, J., & Wals, A. E. (2015). The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: business as usual in the end. Environmental Education Research, 21(3), 491-505.

Kelly, C., Ferrara, A., Wilson, G. A., Ripullone, F., Nolè, A., Harmer, N., & Salvati, L. (2015). Community resilience and land degradation in forest and shrubland socio-ecological systems: Evidence from Gorgoglione, Basilicata, Italy. Land use policy, 46, 11-20.

Ketlhoilwe, M. J., Silo, N., & Velempini, K. (2020). Enhancing the roles and responsibilities of higher education institutions in implementing the sustainable development goals. Sustainable development goals and institutions of higher education, 121-130.

Kiehle, J., Kopsakangas-Savolainen, M., Hilli, M., & Pongrácz, E. (2023). Carbon footprint at institutions of higher education: The case of the University of Oulu. Journal of Environmental Management, 329, 117056.

Kromydas, T. (2017). Rethinking higher education and its relationship with social inequalities: past knowledge, present state and future potential.

Palgrave communications, 3(1), 1-12.

Læssøe, J., & Mochizuki, Y. (2015). Recent trends in national policy on education for sustainable development and climate change education.

Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 9(1), 27-43.

Leal Filho, W., Shiel, C., do Paço, A., & Brandli, L. (2015). Putting sustainable development in practice: Campus greening as a tool for institutional sustainability efforts. In Sustainability in higher education (pp. 1-19). Chandos Publishing.

Leal Filho, W., Shiel, C., do Paço, A., & Brandli, L. (2015). Putting sustainable development in practice: Campus greening as a tool for institutional sustainability efforts. In Sustainability in higher education (pp. 1-19). Chandos Publishing.

Leal Filho, W., Shiel, C., Paço, A., Mifsud, M., Ávila, L. V., Brandli, L. L., ... & Caeiro, S. (2019). Sustainable Development Goals and sustainability teaching at universities: Falling behind or getting ahead of the pack?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 232, 285-294.

Leal Filho, W., Sima, M., Sharifi, A., Luetz, J. M., Salvia, A. L., Mifsud, M., ... & Lokupitiya, E. (2021). Handling climate change education at universities: an overview. Environmental Sciences Europe, 33, 1-19.

Lin, P. M., Kim, Y., Qiu, H., & Ren, L. (2017). Experiential learning in hospitality education through a service-learning project. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 29(2), 71-81.

Mezirow, J. (1994). Understanding Transformation Theory. Adult Education Quarterly, 44(4), 222–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/074171369404400403

Mifsud, M., ... & Lokupitiya, E. (2021). Handling climate change education at universities: an overview. Environmental Sciences Europe, 33, 1- 19.

Mochizuki, Y., & Bryan, A. (2015). Climate change education in the context of education for sustainable development: Rationale and principles. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 9(1), 4-26.

Molthan-Hill, P., Blaj-Ward, L., Mbah, M. F., & Ledley, T. S. (2022). Climate change education at universities: Relevance and strategies for every discipline. In Handbook of climate change mitigation and adaptation (pp. 3395-3457). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Monroe, M. C., Plate, R. R., Oxarart, A., Bowers, A., & Chaves, W. A. (2019). Identifying effective climate change education strategies: A systematic review of the research. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 791-812.

Niles, M. T., Brown, M., & Dynes, R. (2016). Farmer’s intended and actual adoption of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Climatic Change, 135(2), 277-295.

Ojala, M. (2015). Hope in the face of climate change: Associations with environmental engagement and student perceptions of teachers’ emotion communication style and future orientation. The Journal of Environmental Education, 46(3), 133-148.

Owen-Oliner, L. (2021). Climate Change Education through a Social Justice Framework: A necessary first step towards solving the climate crisis. Parsons, T. (1951). The Social System. Glencoe (Ill.): Free Press.

Pee, S., & Vululleh, N. (2020). Role of universities in transforming society: challenges and practices. International Perspectives on Policies, Practices & Pedagogies for Promoting Social Responsibility in Higher Education, 67-79.

Pucciarelli, F., & Kaplan, A. (2016). Competition and strategy in higher education: Managing complexity and uncertainty. Business horizons, 59(3), 311-320.

Reimers, F. M. (2021). Education and climate change: The role of universities (p. 201). Springer Nature.

Reimers, F. M. (2021). The role of Universities building an ecosystem of climate change education. Education and climate change: The role of Universities, 1-44.

Richlin, L. (2023). Blueprint for learning: Constructing college courses to facilitate, assess, and document learning. Taylor & Francis.

Saeed, B. B., Afsar, B., Hafeez, S., Khan, I., Tahir, M., & Afridi, M. A. (2019). Promoting employee's proenvironmental behavior through green human resource management practices. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26(2), 424-438.

Smith, Z. A., & Jacques, P. (2022). The environmental policy paradox. Taylor & Francis

Takahashi, K., Sato, M., & Hijioka, Y. (2016). Trends and issues of climate change education in Japan. Implementing Climate Change Adaptation in Cities and Communities: Integrating Strategies and Educational Approaches, 303-320.

Tang, K. H. D. (2019). Climate change in Malaysia: Trends, contributors, impacts, mitigation and adaptations. Science of the Total Environment, 650, 1858-1871.

tevenson, R. B., Nicholls, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2017). What is climate change education?. Curriculum Perspectives, 37, 67-71.

UNESCO (2020, February 27). The Role of Higher Education Institutions in Achieving the SDGs: A National Workshop in Syria. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/role-higher-education-institutions-achieving-sdgs-national-workshop- syria?TSPD_101_R0=080713870fab2000b08daf42e895744f89f955722eb6c8b814af33e9137814cd9211a026a8411e09088a5b95921430008

de7ed712599152ff70634aac9edf15a7bd0053ee7965ec84d7e28498ee2d8ebc51290e3513d8615f5c9e0e8670d140c

Weir, T., Dovey, L., & Orcherton, D. (2017). Social and cultural issues raised by climate change in Pacific Island countries: an overview. Regional Environmental Change, 17, 1017-1028.

White, D., & Delaney, S. (2021). Full STEAM Ahead, but Who Has the Map for Integration?--A PRISMA Systematic Review on the Incorporation of Interdisciplinary Learning into Schools. LUMAT: International Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education, 9(2), 9-32.

Williams, A., Kennedy, S., Philipp, F., & Whiteman, G. (2017). Systems thinking: A review of sustainability management research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 148, 866-881.

Wynes, S., & Nicholas, K. A. (2017). The climate mitigation gap: Education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions. Environmental Research Letters, 12(7), 074024.

Authors

Dr. Khalo
Dr. Damoah
[email protected] (Primary Contact)
Khalo, xolani, & Damoah, B. (2023). Reinvigorating Climate Change Education in Universities a Social Transformative Agenda. Environmental Science & Sustainable Development, 8(4), 19–26. https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v8i4.1013

Article Details

Received 2023-08-31
Accepted 2023-09-26
Published 2023-09-30