Email this article 
Hide
Show all
Climate Change Education in Polish and UK National Curriculum Frameworks
Abstract
Introduction The presence and the content of climate education in national curriculum frameworks of Poland and UK gains growing attention of researchers all over the world. Climate education addresses challenges of climate crisis and is an important part of ecological transformation in advanced economies.
Research Aim The aim of the study was to compare Polish core curriculum and The National Curriculum of UK, in terms of presence climate change education in curricula’s content.
Material and Methods Material of the study were 2 documents: Polish core curriculum and British the National Curriculum. The study was limited to Key Stage 1-3 in the National Curriculum and kindergarten and primary school in the core curriculum. Content analysis was conducted using a categorisation key, with a set of words characteristic for a climate change concept.
Results Climate change is absent in studied curriculum standards. Only 3 out of 19 key words were present in Polish base curriculum, whereas in the National Curriculum – 5 of them. In both cases key words’ presence emerged without direct reference to climate change.
Conclusion Both studied documents are devoid of climate change education. The National Curriculum seems to be better in meeting the challenge of climate crisis, 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 for introducing new aspects of knowledge and attitudes. Political context of the results needs further studies under the concept of null curriculum of Elliot Eisner.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Attfield, R. (2018). Environmental Ethics. A very Short Introduction (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Budziszewska, M., Kardaś, A., & Bohdanowicz, Z. (2021). Klimatyczne ABC. Interdyscyplinarne podstawy współczesnej wiedzy o zmianie klimatu (1st ed.). Warszawa: Wyd. UW.
Chang, C.-H. (2016). Climate Change Education. Knowing, doing and being. (1st ed.). London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Eisner, E. (1985). Five basic orientations to the curriculum. In In the educational imagination: on the design and evaluation of school programs. (pp. 61–86). New York: Macmillan.
European Commission. Education for Climate Coalition. (n.d.). Retrieved on 21, June, 2021 from: https://education-for-climate.ec.europa.eu/_en
European Commission. Energy, Climate Change and Environment. European Climate Pact. (n.d.). Retrieved on 21, June, 2021 from https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/eu-climate-action/pact_en
European Commission. The European Green Deal (2019). Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved on 22, June, 2021 from: https://eur-lex.europa.en/resource.html?uri=cellar:b828d165-1c22-11ea-8c1f-01aa75ed71a1.0002.02/DOC_1&format=PDF
Forging a climate-resilient Europe - the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change (2021). Brussels: European Commission.
Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W. (2017). The environment. In: A. Giddens & P. W. Sutton (Eds.), Sociology (VIII, pp. 152–199). Cambridge: Polity Press.
González-Gaudiano, E. J., & Meira-Cartea, P. Á. (2019). Environmental education under siege: Climate radicality. Journal of Environmental Education, 50(4–6), 386–402. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2019.1687406
Hicks, N., Ward, B., & Lester, S. (2013). Climate change in the National Curriculum in England: Submission to a consultation by the Department of Education. London: Graham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
IPCC. (2019). Summary for Policymakers. In V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, H.-O. Portner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, & E. Calvo Buendia (Eds.), Climate Change and Land. An IPCC Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. (pp. 1–36). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved on 23, May, 2021 from: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/4/2020/02/SPM_Updated-Jan20.pdf
ISAP - Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych. (n.d.). Retrieved on 7, January, 2021 from: https://isap.sejm.gov.pl/
Kelly, A. V. (2009). The Curriculum. Theory and Practice (VI, Vol. 1). Lo Angeles, London: SAGE.
Kolleck, N., Well, M., Sperzel, S., & Jörgens, H. (2017). The Power of Social Networks: How the UNFCCC Secretariat Creates Momentum for Climate Education. Global Environmental Politics, 17(4), 106–126.
Kozlowska, A. (2021). Edukacja ekologiczna w podstawie programowej (Environmental education in Polish base curriculum). Rocznik Pedagogiczny, 44, accepted for printing.
Maslin, M. (2014). Climate Change. A very Short Introduction (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nicholls, J., & Stevenson, R. B. (2015). Queensland Teachers ’ Understandings of Education for Climate Change. Education Graduate Student Symphosium, 1, 21–27.
Ochwat, M. (2020a). (Współ)myslenie w humanistyce. Literackie ekokształcenie w epoce antropocenu. Polonistyka. Innowacje, 12, 31–51. https://doi.org/10.14746/pi.2020.12.3
Ochwat, M. (2020b). Edukacja polonistyczna wobec kryzysu klimatycznego - rozpoznania i rekomendacje dydaktyczne. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Sklodowska. Lublin-Polonia, V, 185–204. https://doi.org/10.17951/en.2020.5.185-204
Portney, K. E. (2015). Sustainability and the roots of controversy. In Sustainability (pp. 57–85). Cambridge (Massachusetts) - London (England): The MIT Press.
Reid, A. (2018). Curriculum and environmental education. Perspectives, priorities and challenges. (A. Reid, Ed.) (Vol. 1). London and New York: Routledge.
Stevenson, R. B., Nicholls, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2017). What is climate change education? Curriculum Perspective, 37, 67-71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-017-0015-9
Suchecka, J. (2018). Znamy nazwiska ekpertów Anny Zalewskiej! Walka o ich ujawnienie trwała od listopada 2016. Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved on 19 July, 2021 from: https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,23774757,znamy-nazwiska-ekspertow-anny-zalewskiej-walka-o-ujawnienie.html
The National Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved on 21, January, 2021 from: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum
UNESCO. (n.d.). Education for climate action. Retrieved on 11, July, 2021 from: https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development/cce
UNESCO. (2021). Learn for our planet: a global review of how environmental issues are integrated in education. Retrieved on 8, July 2021 from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377362
United Nation Climate Change. Status of Ratification of the Convention. (n.d.). Retrieved on 9, July, 2021 from https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-convention/status-of-ratification/status-of-ratification-of-the-convention
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lrp.2021.40.3.103-118
Date of publication: 2021-11-23 10:35:39
Date of submission: 2021-07-11 18:00:14
Statistics
Indicators
Copyright (c) 2021
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.