Finnish teachers' conceptions of their roles in climate change education and student climate action: A phenomenographic study
Haswell, Nick (2020)
Haswell, Nick
2020
Master's Degree Programme in Teacher Education
Kasvatustieteiden ja kulttuurin tiedekunta - Faculty of Education and Culture
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2020-06-09
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202005265691
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202005265691
Tiivistelmä
Climate education is considered to play a vital role in the global response to climate change because it can raise students' understanding of the phenomenon and encourage them to take action towards its mitigation. The 2018 IPCC Special Report gave a new urgency to the climate fight, warning that fundamental and sweeping changes need to occur in all aspects of society in the next decade to avoid the worst effects of climate change. This ominously short time frame raises important questions about the state and effectiveness of climate change education around the world, and about the role of teachers in engaging students in climate action.
Focusing on Finland, with its sustainability-oriented National Core Curriculum, this qualitative study investigates how Finnish school teachers conceive their role s in both school climate change education and in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches and how these roles are negotiated between teachers' personal attitudes towards the climate change phenomenon and the perceived expectations and responsibilities of their teaching practice. The study is guided by six research questions relating to: 1) subjects' personal conceptions of the climate change phenomenon; 2) subjects' conceptions of their personal lifestyle choices in relation to climate change; 3) subjects' conceptions of their roles in school climate change education; 4) subjects' conceptions of their roles in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches; 5) how subjects conceive the expectations of their teaching practice impacting on their roles in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches; and 6) how subjects' conceive their professional responsibilities impacting on their roles in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches. Data was collected from a series of eight semi-structured interviews with Finnish school teachers working in three schools in the Tampere area. The phenomenographic method is used to analyze subjects' conceptions and formulate sets of categories that describe them at a group level. One set of categories is formulated for each of the six research questions. A phenomenographic outcome space is then established to explore and clarify the relationships of the resulting categories.
Regarding research question 1, the study found that subjects conceive climate change as an important global issue, but base that conception on different sources of knowledge described by the following categories: (1) Important global issue, scientific evidence-based view; (2) Important global issue, personal experience-based view; (3) Important global issue, media-based view; (4) Important global issue, teacher training/organization-based view; and (5) Important global issue, own upbringing/schooling. Regarding research question 2, subjects conceived themselves making lifestyle choices that fell into one of the following two categories: (1) Highly active lifestyle choices; and (2) Moderately active lifestyle choices. Regarding research question 3, three categories emerged to describe how subjects conceived their role in climate change education: (1) Activist role; (2) Passive Activist role; and (3) Neutral role. Regarding research question 4, the study found that all subjects conceived their role in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches in the same general way, described by the following category: (1) Neutral guide. Regarding research question 5, the study found that five main aspects of teacher practice were conceived by subjects as impacting on their role in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches. These aspects were categorized as: (1) Teaching subject; (2) National Core Curriculum/school curriculum contents; (3) School management/culture; (4) Teacher autonomy; and (5) Level of teacher training in climate change education. Regarding research question 6, the study found that five main aspects of teacher responsibility were conceived by subjects as impacting on their role in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches. These aspects were categorized as: (1) Student physical welfare; (2) Student emotional welfare; (3) Student educational welfare; (4) Teacher neutrality; and (5) Student public reputation.
The study suggests two actions which may increase Finnish teacher's efficacy in engaging students in climate action: (1) Increasing pre-service and in-service teacher training in climate change education; and (2) adding more explicitly action-oriented goals and objectives to the Finnish National Core Curriculum.
Focusing on Finland, with its sustainability-oriented National Core Curriculum, this qualitative study investigates how Finnish school teachers conceive their role s in both school climate change education and in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches and how these roles are negotiated between teachers' personal attitudes towards the climate change phenomenon and the perceived expectations and responsibilities of their teaching practice. The study is guided by six research questions relating to: 1) subjects' personal conceptions of the climate change phenomenon; 2) subjects' conceptions of their personal lifestyle choices in relation to climate change; 3) subjects' conceptions of their roles in school climate change education; 4) subjects' conceptions of their roles in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches; 5) how subjects conceive the expectations of their teaching practice impacting on their roles in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches; and 6) how subjects' conceive their professional responsibilities impacting on their roles in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches. Data was collected from a series of eight semi-structured interviews with Finnish school teachers working in three schools in the Tampere area. The phenomenographic method is used to analyze subjects' conceptions and formulate sets of categories that describe them at a group level. One set of categories is formulated for each of the six research questions. A phenomenographic outcome space is then established to explore and clarify the relationships of the resulting categories.
Regarding research question 1, the study found that subjects conceive climate change as an important global issue, but base that conception on different sources of knowledge described by the following categories: (1) Important global issue, scientific evidence-based view; (2) Important global issue, personal experience-based view; (3) Important global issue, media-based view; (4) Important global issue, teacher training/organization-based view; and (5) Important global issue, own upbringing/schooling. Regarding research question 2, subjects conceived themselves making lifestyle choices that fell into one of the following two categories: (1) Highly active lifestyle choices; and (2) Moderately active lifestyle choices. Regarding research question 3, three categories emerged to describe how subjects conceived their role in climate change education: (1) Activist role; (2) Passive Activist role; and (3) Neutral role. Regarding research question 4, the study found that all subjects conceived their role in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches in the same general way, described by the following category: (1) Neutral guide. Regarding research question 5, the study found that five main aspects of teacher practice were conceived by subjects as impacting on their role in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches. These aspects were categorized as: (1) Teaching subject; (2) National Core Curriculum/school curriculum contents; (3) School management/culture; (4) Teacher autonomy; and (5) Level of teacher training in climate change education. Regarding research question 6, the study found that five main aspects of teacher responsibility were conceived by subjects as impacting on their role in the 2019 Student Strike for Climate marches. These aspects were categorized as: (1) Student physical welfare; (2) Student emotional welfare; (3) Student educational welfare; (4) Teacher neutrality; and (5) Student public reputation.
The study suggests two actions which may increase Finnish teacher's efficacy in engaging students in climate action: (1) Increasing pre-service and in-service teacher training in climate change education; and (2) adding more explicitly action-oriented goals and objectives to the Finnish National Core Curriculum.