Geografilärares och niondeklassares syn på undervisningen om klimatförändringen<br />Climate change education: Geography teachers’ and ninth-graders’ views

Abstract

It has been increasingly recognised that education plays a key role in addressing human-induced climate change. The ultimate goal of climate change education (CCE) is positive impacts on the climate through both individual and collective actions. The aim of this study is to investigate geography teachers’ and their ninth-graders’ views about CCE. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with geography teachers (N = 13) and questionnaires for ninth-graders (N = 549) at eleven secondary schools from all parts of Swedish-speaking Finland. The results show that although the students’ attitudes to CCE is positive, it does not supply them with action competence. The geography teachers in this study largely miss the ultimate goal of CCE, pointing at the need for more effort to be made in the process of developing CCE at secondary school.