Climate change education in Polish and British national curriculum frameworks
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Date
2021
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Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej (Lublin)
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Abstract
Introduction: The presence and the content of climate education in national curriculum frameworks gain the growing attention of researchers all over the world. Climate education addresses the challenges of the climate crisis and is an important part of ecological transformation in advanced economies. Research Aim: The study aimed to compare the Polish core curriculum and the English national curriculum, in terms of the presence of climate change education in the curricula’s content. Method: The material of the study was 2 documents: the Polish core curriculum and the English national curriculum. The study was limited to key stages 1–3 in the National Curriculum which corresponds with kindergarten and primary school level in the Polish core curriculum. Content analysis was conducted using a categorisation key, with a set of words characteristic of a climate change concept. Results: Climate change is absent in studied curriculum standards. Only 3 out of 19 keywords were present in the Polish core curriculum, whereas in the English national curriculum – 5 of them. In both cases, keywords did not demonstrate direct reference to climate change. Conclusion: Both studied documents are devoid of climate change education. The National Curriculum seems to be better at meeting the challenge of climate education, but differences are minor. The result may be caused by centralisation and politicization of the procedure of constructing both the studied documents, which may be an obstacle to introducing new aspects of knowledge and attitudes. The political context of the omission of climate change education in the national curriculum needs further studies under the concept of the null curriculum of Elliot Eisner.
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national curriculum, climate education, environmental education, education policy
Citation
Lubelski Rocznik Pedagogiczny, 2021, Vol. 40, No 3, p. 103-118.