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Climate Change is Here: Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions about Education For It A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at The University of Waikato by Patricia Anne Bevins 2020 Abstract Climate change is the greatest threat humans have ever faced. The unprecedented anthropogenic activity impacting on the environment is having catastrophic effects across the globe and could continue for thousands of years. Mitigation to prevent further environmental harm and adaptation to the already-changing conditions are essential strategies in addressing climate change and, therefore, education for these strategies is imperative. Educators have an opportunity to prepare our learners with the knowledge and skills they will need to combat the impacts and effects of climate change. Climate change education offers young people a chance to develop their knowledge, critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills while building their resilience and adaptive capacity to act in this crisis. But are our young people getting these learning opportunities? This was an interpretive study that focused on the perceptions of climate change and climate change education of students, teachers and leaders at a secondary school in the Waikato region of New Zealand. A mix of quantitative and qualitative data were gathered by using an on-line questionnaire and focus groups with students and semi-structured interviews with their teachers and leaders. The data were divided into four sections: beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and actions for both the student data and the teachers’ and leaders’ data, and were thematically analysed using NVivo. The data clearly showed in this study that the students were worried about how climate change was going to affect their future lives and the lives of the people closest to them and most wanted to change their behaviour and take action to try and reduce the effects of a changing climate. In order to do this, the students wanted to learn more about climate change, raise their awareness, and the awareness in their community, so that everybody could be prepared for the changing climate. The findings indicated that the teachers all agreed that climate change education is important for students and wanted to know more about climate change so ii they could inform their students about climate change through education. The leaders indicated that it is vital that the students’ are thoroughly prepared for the changing climate and a change in behaviour, but they also felt that the teachers needed to be supported as well, and not just those teaching about climate change, but to make sure everyone is prepared for an uncertain future. This study recommends the Ministry of Education to firstly, consider how climate change education can be made available to all children and young people, and then to provide guidance on how educators in schools and teacher education throughout New Zealand could teach about climate change to all our learners. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Chris Eames, for his inspiration, and his continuous support, patience and encouragement throughout this research project. To the students, teachers and leaders that participated in this research and gave up their time to help me, I owe you a huge thank you, as you all made this a memorable journey. Thank you to my family for all your support, encouragement and patience throughout this process, particularly my daughter Hannah as without your help, this study would not have been possible. iv “Surely we have a responsibility to care for our planet. The future of humanity and indeed all life on Earth, now depends on us”. David Attenborough v Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .................................................................................................................. ix Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview of the chapter ............................................................................................ 1 1.2. Motivation for the research ...................................................................................... 1 1.3. Justification for the research .................................................................................... 2 1.4. Purpose of the research ........................................................................................... 4 1.5. Research question ................................................................................................... 4 1.6. Scope of the research .............................................................................................. 5 1.7. The thesis structure .................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................ 7 Literature Review .............................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Overview of the chapter ............................................................................................ 7 2.2 Climate science ......................................................................................................... 7 2.2.1 Greenhouse gases ............................................................................................. 7 2.2.2 New Zealand’s greenhouse gas profile.............................................................. 8 2.2.3 Global warming potential and CO2 equivalence .............................................. 11 2.2.4 The greenhouse effect ..................................................................................... 13 2.2.5 The enhanced greenhouse effect .................................................................... 14 2.2.6 Earth’s energy budget ...................................................................................... 14 2.2.7 Global warming ................................................................................................ 15 2.3 Climate change ....................................................................................................... 16 2.3.1 The human impacts of climate change ............................................................ 17 2.3.2 New Zealand’s changing climate ..................................................................... 20 2.3.3 Mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change ............................... 23 2.3.4 New Zealand’s vulnerability to climate change ................................................ 24 2.3.5 Mitigating New Zealand’s impacts of climate change ...................................... 25 2.3.6 Māori environmental knowledge ...................................................................... 28 2.3.7 Climate change summary ................................................................................ 30 2.4 Climate change education ...................................................................................... 31 2.4.1 Policy ................................................................................................................ 32 2.4.2 Curriculum ........................................................................................................ 33 2.4.3 Pedagogies ...................................................................................................... 34 2.4.4 Mitigation and adaptation strategies ................................................................ 36 2.4.5 Action competence and action-taking .............................................................. 36 2.4.6 Teaching climate change education ................................................................ 38 2.5 Secondary schooling education in Aotearoa New Zealand about climate change and climate change education ............................................................................................. 39 2.5.1 Leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions about climate change and climate change education in a New Zealand secondary school .......................................................