CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATION OF CURRICULUM ENACTMENTS IN CANADIAN POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ANA MARIA MARTINEZ A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO July 2017 © Ana Maria Martinez, 2017 ABSTRACT Climate change is indisputably one of the most pressing issues of our time. This dissertation is a study of curricula in Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions (PSIs). I conducted a survey of 225 PSIs for climate change courses during the calendar year of 2014-2015 and then focus on four PSIs with climate change programs to explore factors influencing processes of formation and implementation of climate change curricula. This research draws upon elements from literature in climate change policy, cultural studies, and curriculum studies to understand the formation of climate change programs. The study seeks to deepen understanding of institutional change in what I believe is unprecedented times. The first part of this study uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis of course syllabi. Courses were coded according to their focus into Tiers-of-Concentration and Streams according to their area/discipline of concentration. The second part of this dissertation includes a series of in-depth interviews with climate change program creators, administrators, directors, faculty and faculty committee members in particular PSIs. My selection of four PSIs is based on their programs —these institutions offer undergraduate and graduate climate change programs— as well as their institutional reputations, inclinations and characters. Interviews with curricula innovators reveal some features shaping climate change curricula formation. I focus on four features: (1) The emergence of climate ‘champions’ in bureaucratic procedures; (2) The culture of economics; (3) Disciplinary allegiances; and (4) Climate leanings. My study seeks to better understand climate change curricula innovations and cultures with a commitment to the importance of PSIs as sources of climate change expertise and leadership within democratic societies. ii DEDICATION To my family, Fabricio, Mariana and Alejandro, for their support, patience and love! iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Steve Alsop. None of this work would have been possible without his guidance, patience and wisdom. He not only gave me the opportunity to explore my interests but also continuously re-directed my compass, when I was going off course or wandering towards uncertain paths. I would like to thank him for his time. My research went from New Schools to citizen science education, to post-secondary education since I started. Not only he dedicated a significant amount of time, sharing with me his thoughts about each one of these fields, but also introduced me to multiple schools of thoughts, concepts and ideas, which have helped shape my way of thinking and my perceptions about education. I want to thank him especially for the opportunity to learn from him while teaching a course in Colombia. This experience has given my life new meanings. I would like to thank my friend and mentor Dr. Howard Daugherty. Unfortunately for me, he parted too soon. He motivated me to pursue this path in the first place. I am grateful for his time and his friendship. He is sorely missed. I would also like to thank my dear friend Vanessa Alsop, for introducing me to her husband, Dr. Steve Alsop in the Summer 2008. Our conversation that day changed the course of my life. I would like to thank my family, Fabricio, Mariana, and Alejandro. My husband has been especially patient during these years of struggle and sleepless nights; his support has been invaluable. My kids, who cannot recall a time in their lives when I have not been in university, iv have never complained for sharing many of their free days with this PhD so that I could finish this and that. I would like to thank my mother, Constanza and my stepfather, Rolando, for their support, not only moral but also financial. Their day-to-day encouragement kept me going in my lowest moments. I would like to thank my grandfather, Enrique, whose teachings are fundamental for whom I have become. I would like to thank my grandmother, Dora, for her unconditional love. I wish they were here today to share this with them. This doctorate, long and painful at times, has been the most incredible journey. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF ACRONYMS ........................................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1.0 - Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Significance of the Problem .................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Dissertation Outline .............................................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 2.0 - Climate Change, National and International Agreements and Post-Secondary Educational Institutions .................................................................................................................................. 10 2.1 Post-Secondary Education and Recent International Climate Change Policies ................. 10 2.2 Post-Secondary Educational Institutions’ (PSIs) Responses to Global, Federal, and Provincial Climate Change Policies and Plans ......................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 3.0 – Literature Review and Theoretical Framework .................................................... 47 3. 1 Overview of Climate Change Curriculum in Post-Secondary Educational Institutions (PSIs)......................................................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 4.0 - Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 65 4.1.1 Phase One: Census of Canadian Climate Change Curriculum ........................................ 66 4.1.2 Course Analysis ............................................................................................................... 69 4.1.3 Quantitative Analysis ....................................................................................................... 71 4.2 Phase Two: Cultural and Political Study ............................................................................ 72 4.2.1 Institutional Selection ...................................................................................................... 72 4.2.2 Interviews and Data Analysis. ......................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER 5.0 - Climate Change Curricula in Canadian Post-Secondary Educational Institutions (PSIs) .............................................................................................................................................. 74 5.1 National Sample Overview ................................................................................................. 74 5.2 Provincial Overview ........................................................................................................... 80 5.3 Institutional Overview ...................................................................................................... 117 5.4 Results Summary .............................................................................................................. 120 CHAPTER 6.0 - Climate Change Curriculum Formation in Post-Secondary Educational Institutions (PSIs) ............................................................................................................................................ 123 6.1 Climate Change Programs in Canadian PSIs .................................................................... 124 6.1.1 University of Victoria .................................................................................................... 124 6.1.2 University of Waterloo .................................................................................................. 129 6.1.3 University of Toronto ...................................................................................................