Current Issues in Comparative Education

Between Urgency and Uncertainty: The Challenge of Being a Human and an Educator in the Age of Climate Change

Oren Pizmony-Levy — 2025-06-16

The window in which we may act to avoid the most extreme impacts of anthropogenic climate change is rapidly closing. Addressing this crisis requires immense collective action and political will. Climate Change Education (CCE) is a global movement and a long-term strategy to empower all members of society to engage in climate action. Educators are the heart of this movement; they are tasked with appropriating CCE frameworks to the reality of their own context and classroom. In this study, we use survey data from a research-practice partnership between <name removed> and New York City Public Schools to explore educators’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices around climate change and education. Our findings paint a complex picture. Educators show high levels of concern and negative emotions about climate change, as well as confusion and underestimation about climate change causes and impacts. Educators support comprehensive CCE in schools, and are overall aligned with international frameworks. While we find growing instructional time dedicated to climate change, the data also point to the important sociological barriers (e.g., perception and labeling of climate change as mostly relevant to the STEM curriculum). We discuss the implications of our findings and offer strategies to enhance CCE in New York City and beyond.

Teacher Resilience in the Aftermath of the 2022 Balochistan Floods: Coping Strategies and Educational Continuity in Primary Schools

Muhammad Arif — 2025-06-16

This study analyzes teacher resilience in light of the 2022 floods in Balochistan, Pakistan, as teachers were displaced. It explores the challenges primary school teachers faced during this climate-induced displacement, how they coped, and the role of community and institutional support in continuing education. Using semi-structured interviews and focus groups (n=15), the study reveals how teachers adapted to teaching methodologies, negotiated emotional and psychological challenges, and utilized community resources to overcome the devastation brought about by floods. The findings show that teachers employed several adaptive strategies: remote teaching, collaborating with colleagues, and enacting personal resilience mechanisms such as emotional regulation and social support networks. The study revealed stark differences in how urban teachers experienced the floods compared to that of rural teachers, including hurdles imposed on teachers in rural areas due to a lack of resources, infrastructure, or both. The results are critical in guiding future educational policies and teacher development programs in disaster-prone areas in Pakistan, informing the operational needs of educators during post-disaster recovery, and urging a long-term approach to enhance the resilience of educational systems.

Migration, Climate, and Education: Proposing Human Rights-Based Education for Internally Displaced Learners in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries

Tien Pham — 2025-06-16

The growing impacts of climate change are forcing families in low- and middle-income countries to migrate to urban areas, resulting in widespread internal displacement. Despite the significant disruptions this causes to children’s education, its educational consequences remain underexplored in climate change research. This study addresses the gap by adopting a Human rights-based approach (HRBA) to education and integrating insights from the Education in Emergencies framework while examining the impact of climate-induced displacement on education. Through a literature review of academic and policy documents, the research examines educational vulnerabilities of internally climate-displaced learners, including restricted access to schooling, declines in academic performance, and difficulties adapting to new learning environments. The challenges are pronounced for girls, reinforcing pre-existing gender disparities in education. Based on the findings, the study proposes targeted policy interventions, including climate-responsive education frameworks and economic protection measures for affected households.

New Jersey Teachers’ Professional Learning About Climate Change

Lauren Madden — 2025-06-16

During the 2022-23 academic year, New Jersey became the first state in the United States to adopt learning standards that support climate change education K-12 across all subject areas, offering an ideal context for exploring the relationship between education and climate change. Although New Jersey has provided financial funding to support teachers in teaching about climate change, little is known about teachers’ preparedness to implement developmentally appropriate climate change instruction in K-12 settings. This study utilizes interviews from 50 New Jersey teachers who participated in a classroom observation study conducted during the 2023-24 academic year to describe their professional learning related to climate change. Though professional learning varied considerably across the dataset, most respondents indicated that self-directed learning was their primary mode of professional development about climate change, followed by attendance at workshops or webinars. Several participants reported having no access to professional development provided by their school or district on the topic, despite the introduction of standards. When asked about plans for future professional development related to climate change, the majority of interviewees asserted that they had plans, but these varied with their grade bands. The findings suggest that more coherent professional learning opportunities are needed to support teachers in integrating climate change into their teaching. More mechanisms should be implemented to acknowledge teachers’ self-directed learning on climate change.

Bridging Worlds, Healing Scars: A Student-Teacher Journey Toward Climate-Just Education

Sarah Marie Kistner — 2025-06-16

Our paper is a collaborative autoethnography exploring the intersection of environmental crises, personal experiences, and education through the narratives of two educators, Maha Shoaib and Sarah Kistner. Reflecting on the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and the 2021 Texas Freeze, we explore how systemic inequities and inadequate preparedness exacerbate the impacts of disasters on marginalized communities, disproportionately disrupting educational systems. We argue for climate-just education as a restorative and healing approach, addressing inequities at the school, community, and individual levels. Climate-just education proposes a holistic framework for trauma-informed and climate-responsive education, emphasizing preparedness, mutual support, and the creation of open spaces for teachers and students to share, heal, and rebuild. At the individual level, practices such as the Butterfly Hug Technique, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and Yoga Nidra are presented as tools for fostering self-healing and mutual healing among students and teachers. Concluding with a vision for climate-just education, we advocate for reimagining schools as transformative spaces that empower communities to adapt to and recover from environmental crises while fostering emotional resilience, equity, and sustainability.

Evaluation of the Impact of the 1.5 MAX Initiative on Climate Change Education (CCE) in Malawi Secondary Schools: An Education for Sustainable Development Framework Approach

天书陈 — 2025-06-16

This qualitative case study evaluates the impact of the 1.5 MAX initiative on Climate Change Education (CCE) in Malawian secondary schools through the dual lens of Education for Sustainable Development and decolonial theory. Malawi’s curricula prioritize Western agricultural models over Indigenous knowledge, resulting in fragmented implementation due to teacher training gaps, resource shortages, and a stark divide between students’ climate knowledge and actionable engagement. While the 1.5 MAX initiative enhances climate awareness and practical skills through interactive methods, its effectiveness is constrained by limited teacher preparedness, curricular misalignment, and systemic resource limitations. The research highlights the importance of integrating Indigenous knowledge and adapting content to local contexts for greater relevance and effectiveness. By applying a decolonial lens, this research critiques the dominance of Western epistemologies in global educational initiatives and advocates for the co-creation of knowledge that centers local agency and context-specific solutions. While demonstrating the potential of international educational initiatives to complement local curricula, the study underscores the need for sustainable support systems and expanded teacher training. Future research should assess the long-term impacts of such interventions and explore strategies for aligning global practices with local needs, while dismantling colonial legacies to foster a more equitable and inclusive educational landscape.

Book Review of "Educating for the Anthropocene: Schooling and Activism in the Face of Slow Violence"

debojyoti das — 2025-06-16

It is a book review.

Book Review of "The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions" A Critical Pedagogy and Decolonial Analysis

Jun Kajee — 2025-06-16

In "The Ages of Globalization," Jeffrey D. Sachs presents a critical examination of the historical interactions between geography, technology, and institutions, challenging conventional narratives of global development that often prioritize Western perspectives. This book review engages with Sachs' work through the lenses of critical pedagogy and decolonial critiques, exploring how his insights can inform more equitable and contextually responsive educational practices. By delineating seven distinct ages of globalization, Sachs provides a framework for understanding the implications of global processes on education, particularly in the context of sustainable development and international partnerships. The review highlights the importance of recognizing diverse epistemological foundations and the need for educational systems to adapt to the complexities of a globalized world. Additionally, it discusses the accompanying course, "Ages of Globalization," which aims to deepen students' understanding of these themes through interactive learning experiences. The review underscores Sachs' call for education to serve as a catalyst for equity and sustainability, inviting educators and policymakers to foster innovative practices that empower future generations to address pressing global challenges.

Editorial Introduction Climate Change, Migration, and Conflict: Lessons in Education

Sara Pan Algarra — 2025-06-17

Rethinking Climate Change in Education: From Climate Coloniality to Decolonial Educational Ecologies in Comparative and International Education

Benjamin Scherrer — 2025-06-16

We present methods to examine the relationships between climate change and education while rethinking educational approaches that do not rely on endless economic growth, extraction, and accumulation through dispossession. At this historical moment, which is focused on transitions toward a greener future, it is essential to consider how the roles of those most affected by climate change are often overlooked in narratives about “climate solutions.” The paper highlights what is absent from and erased within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and prevalent approaches to climate change education. It does so by focusing on a longer historical arc, as well as Black and Indigenous knowledge systems and cosmologies, alongside ongoing and historical injustices. Utilizing the framework of a decolonial educational ecology, we reimagine climate change in education within interconnected global contexts, emphasizing historically marginalized knowledge systems, confronting power imbalances, and creating alternative pathways toward more sustainable, just futures that transcend universal Western epistemic frameworks.

Climate Policies and Financing for Conflict and Displacement-Affected Contexts: Closing the Capacity and Education Gaps

Catherine Wong — 2025-06-16

New data streams highlight the low levels of access to climate finance by the most climate-vulnerable countries, which struggle with conflict and displacement and call for more effective financing mechanisms. While such measures are urgent, their effectiveness and impact depend on investments in capacity development and education. In exploring recent international policy trends in climate, conflict, and displacement, this article argues for greater attention to endogenous capacities and implementation of science-informed approaches. It highlights the key role academia and the education sector can play in addressing these gaps. In contexts where conflict and displacement are ongoing, and climate and insecurity jeopardize sustainability, this paper argues that strengthened capacities can represent a critical adaptation measure and a no-regrets investment opportunity.

Ecopedagogy as a Lever for Climate Justice Towards a Just Transition

Radhika Iyengar — 2025-06-16

The article explores critical learning pedagogies focusing on ecopedagogy and emphasizing the importance of adopting a Freirean approach to learning as a lifelong commitment to promoting civically engaged and responsible climate action. It moves beyond the conventional standardised methods of environmental education taught in formal institutions with structured syllabi and courses. The article highlights ecopedagogy as a learning philosophy integrated through grassroots actions. We discuss selected global issues, threatening biological, social, and environmental marginalization, as case studies to inform the article’s dialogue. We examine the definition and interpretation of ecopedagogy in the context of Paulo Freire's vision. We conceptualize ecopedagogy as a pathway to achieving a Just Transition, described as a framework that ensures workers and communities are not left behind as economies shift to sustainable practices. It focuses on fair wages, new job opportunities, and social support for those affected by changes like the move away from fossil fuels. The article proposes a framework that connects ecopedagogy with Just Transition through humanization and critical consciousness. To inform the non-existence of a uniform vision for what just transition entails (Cha & Pastor, 2022), we provide practical applications of this framework in policy and practice, offering recommendations for reconstructing education by implementing ecopedagogy in community-based settings to reconstruct policy aligned to Just Transition.

Does One Future Matter More Than the ‘Other(ed)’? A Brief Critical Analysis of the UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development 2030 Framework

Srinitya Duvvuri — 2025-06-16

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Education for Sustainable Development roadmap (ESD 2030) is a policy document that reiterates the urgency of the climate crisis and affirms the central role of education in ensuring the survival of the planet. Building on nearly two decades of international policy on education for sustainable development, ESD 2030 highlights priority areas and recommendations for integrating education for sustainable development at all levels of society. Despite its urgent call to action, there is little to no attention paid to systemic issues such as capitalism and racism and their role in accelerating the climate crisis. This essay critically analyzes the ESD 2030 framework and makes a case for reckoning with past and present systemic injustice to combat the climate crisis effectively. It examines how modernity has functioned as a justification for colonial conquests and exploitation, and the role of racism in perpetuating the dehumanization that makes such activities possible. While ESD 2030 implicitly attempts to integrate empathy and relationality in its approach to sustainability education, this essay draws from Black critical theorists to argue why relationality should confront racism and racialized violence for it to have an enduring impact in education. The essay spotlights ways in which environmental education is taking a more critical and race-inclusive approach while honoring the principles that ESD 2030 proposes.