Examining Climate Change Education Policy in Federated Systems

• In Event: Research-Policy Collaborations for Climate Communication and Education

Abstract

While there is more research on CCE policy in centralized, national-level policy environments (e.g., McKenzie, 2021), less is known about the complexity of CCE policy in the world’s federated educational systems, which include many of the world's most populous countries (e.g., Brazil, China, India, US) . Given that these countries account for nearly half of all world inhabitants, we seek to better understand how CCE policy functions in these systems and what avenues exist for its improvement.

Drawing upon data available through the MECCE Project, we analyzed country profile and global indicator data for nine federated systems. We reviewed population data, GHG emissions data, sub-national governance structures and institutions, and relevant CCE policies among other sources. We examined the level of climate change integration into curriculum policies, students’ self declared knowledge, as well as overall CCE budgets. Initial analysis has included descriptive statistical analyses, to assess the feasibility of coordinating and implementing CCE policy within federated systems.

Prior research (Colston & Ivey, 2015; McKenzie & Aikens, 2021) suggests that CCE policy enactment is socially and geographically uneven given the political nature of climate change. We find a similar pattern at the sub-national level with the MECCE Project data. Given political and legal differences in the shaping of sub-national policy, we observe a highly variegated CCE environment whereby more politically conservative jurisdictions are less likely to treat climate change as an object of policy concern, while more liberal policy jurisdictions are more likely to treat climate change as a priority. During our initial analysis of the Country Profiles and Global Indicator data, we also observed NGOs acting as key national-scale policy actors in these to bridge the limitations of federalism.

We situate our analysis within the literature on environmental educational policy mobility (e.g. Aikens & McKenzie, 2021) to examine how policies emerge, move, change, and become realized across diverse contexts. We agree with Beech et al. (2023) that examining how distinct federalisms shape the development and enactment of international education policies is key, and take this as a focus in the current sub-project. In doing so, we pay attention to the sub-national “politics of scale” (McKenzie, 2012) to understand how CCE exists across variegated geographic, cultural, and political terrains.

Our results suggest that CCE implementation within federated systems is uneven and politically contentious in the countries examined. We also observed non-governmental actors’ attempts to overcome structural impediments in federated educational systems. Finally, we found that federated systems can engage more holistically with climate justice and Indigenous knowledge. The paper discusses strategies for national-scale CCE coordination within federated systems, and how policymakers might account for this dynamic under international climate change treaty obligations.

Authors

• Joseph A. Henderson, University of Vermont

• Ellen Field, Lakehead University

• Marcia McKenzie, University of Saskatchewan

• Kristen Bray Hargis, University of Saskatchewan