Towards worldview literate climate change education: perspectives from European educators’ interviews

Abstract

Climate change education (CCE) often involves profound, value-laden, and existential questions that are closely tied to the worldviews through which individuals interpret the world. This article explores the potential of worldview literacy as an approach for recognising and engaging with worldview influences in CCE. Based on in-depth interviews with 37 educators working in formal and non-formal education across four European city-regions, the study aims to identify worldview-related dimensions within CCE. The findings show that diverse worldview dimensions manifest implicitly in educators’ pedagogical thinking and practices, with an emphasis on moral (axiological) dimensions. However, the findings also indicate that educators need support in engaging reflexively with worldview plurality—beginning with the recognition of both their students’ and their own worldview-based assumptions in climate-related thinking and fostering meaningful learning across these differences. The article concludes by discussing the implications for teacher education and the development of interdisciplinary CCE.