New York City Educators’ Perceptions of Students’ Engagement with Climate Change

• In Event: Politics and Practice of Climate Change Education

Proposal

Although BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities are more concerned about climate change, the global youth climate justice movement is disproportionately White. In this study we focus on the role of teachers and schools in shaping climate activism. Specifically, we explore educators’ perceptions of students’ engagement with climate change. Applying a mixed methods approach, we used survey data from New York City (n=1,358) and found that most educators do not perceive their students as engaged with climate change. Multivariate analyses reveal that disparities in educators’ perceptions favored White students and students from advantaged backgrounds over others. Then, we facilitated eight focus groups with educators from various backgrounds (n=40) to further explore those results. We find evidence of variation across levels of education and educators’ attitudes. We discuss the implications of our findings for advancing equity through climate change education.

Author

• Noa Urbach, Columbia University Teachers College