Adolescents' representations of climate change: Considering implications for climate change secondary education in the UK

青少年对气候变化的表述：考虑气候变化对英国中学教育的影响

• 批准号: ES/X005372/1
• 负责人: Katharine Lee
• 金额: $ 13.01万
• 依托单位: University of Bath
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FX005372%2F1
• 关键词: Adolescents; representations; climate; change; Considering

Climate change is the defining issue of the age and the need for far-reaching action is unequivocal. Climate change isan intergenerational injustice because it will have a disproportionate impact on the young and unborn (Hansen et al.,2013), yet they have minimal ability to effect change. Several studies have examined the rise of eco-anxiety,particularly amongst young people (Hickman et al., 2021). However, whilst climate change is undeniably serious andalarming, focusing on anxiety may reduce agency or induce paralysis rather than engagement (Ojala, 2012). It istherefore vital to support and empower young people to foster adaptive responses to climate change.A common and understandable response to risks such as climate change is to withdraw from the threat. My doctoralresearch used qualitative methods to foreground participant voices and Social Representation Theory (SRT)(Moscovici, 1961) as a theoretical framework. SRT is concerned with how people make sense of abstract and complexissues. The value of the approach is that it privileges everyday meaning; it is not concerned with whetherunderstandings of an issue are aligned with objective reality, but rather, with the ways it is depicted and discussed ineveryday discourse. Social representations have implications for action because they may be constructed to situatethreats and responsibility for managing them with others rather than with the self (Joffe, 1999). My doctoral researchshows that adolescents share representations of climate change that facilitate their withdrawal from climate changeengagement. They present climate change as a problem caused by others, by blaming industrialisation in China orcorporate greed in America. They depict climate change as more of a problem for distant peoples and places andproject more serious impacts into the future. They place responsibility for resolving climate change with governments,science and scientists, and older generations. This leads to a minimisation of the relevance and importance of theirown actions, individual or collective. The thesis concludes that climate change education could help adolescents feelmore empowered and agentic, by making climate change more personally salient and fostering the development ofcritical thinking skills. It suggests incorporating climate change across the whole curriculum rather than focusing onlyon the scientific aspects of it in Geography and Science and introducing the topic to pupils earlier than is currently thecase.The fellowship will provide the opportunity to explore the implications of my doctoral research for climate changeeducation in the UK. Educational governance is devolved in the UK. A new curriculum is being implemented inWales and a draft strategy for climate education in England is under review, making this fellowship very timely. I willdisseminate my doctoral research, review climate change education in four devolved nations of the UK and produce apolicy brief and journal article. I will establish effective networks and organise an academic symposium andstakeholder seminar, all supported by integrated communications campaigns. These activities will inform a future research proposal that will help me to build an established academic career. Being situated in both the Department ofPsychology and the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath will enable me to maximise opportunities toeffectively connect with policy makers and non-profits, while the mentorship of Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh - aworld-leading scholar - will provide expert guidance, and introductions to academics and policymakers in herexpansive network.

气候变化是这个时代的决定性问题，毫无疑问需要采取意义深远的行动。气候变化是代际不公正，因为它将对年轻人和未出生的人产生不成比例的影响（汉森等人，2013年），但他们有最小的能力，以影响变化。几项研究调查了生态焦虑的上升，特别是在年轻人中（希克曼等人，2021年）。然而，虽然气候变化是不可否认的严重和令人担忧的，关注焦虑可能会减少代理或导致瘫痪而不是参与（Ojala，2012）。因此，支持和赋予年轻人能力以促进对气候变化的适应性反应至关重要。对气候变化等风险的一个常见且可以理解的反应是从威胁中撤出。我的博士研究使用定性方法来突出参与者的声音和社会表征理论（SRT）（Moscovici，1961）作为理论框架。SRT关注人们如何理解抽象和复杂的问题。这种方法的价值在于它赋予日常意义以特权;它不关心对一个问题的理解是否与客观现实相一致，而是关心在日常话语中描述和讨论这个问题的方式。社会表征对行动有影响，因为它们可能被构造成将威胁和管理威胁的责任与他人而不是与自我相关联（Joffe，1999）。我的博士研究表明，青少年分享气候变化的表征，这有助于他们退出气候变化参与。他们把气候变化说成是由他人造成的问题，指责中国的工业化或美国的公司贪婪。他们把气候变化描绘成遥远的人和地方的问题，并对未来产生更严重的影响。他们把解决气候变化的责任交给了政府、科学和科学家以及老一辈人。这导致他们个人或集体行动的相关性和重要性最小化。本文的结论是，气候变化教育可以帮助青少年感觉更有权力和代理，使气候变化更加突出的个人和培养批判性思维能力的发展。它建议将气候变化纳入整个课程，而不是只关注地理和科学中的科学方面，并比目前更早地向学生介绍这一主题。奖学金将提供机会，探索我的博士研究对英国气候变化教育的影响。英国的教育管理权是下放的。威尔士正在实施一项新的课程，英格兰正在审查一项气候教育战略草案，这使得这项研究金非常及时。我将传播我的博士研究，审查英国四个下放国家的气候变化教育，并制作一份政策简报和期刊文章。我将建立有效的网络，并组织一个学术研讨会和利益相关者研讨会，所有这些都得到综合传播活动的支持。这些活动将为未来的研究提案提供信息，这将帮助我建立成熟的学术生涯。位于心理学系和政策研究所在巴斯大学将使我能够最大限度地提高机会，有效地与政策制定者和非营利组织联系，而教授洛林·惠特马什的指导-世界领先的学者-将提供专家指导，并介绍学者和政策制定者在这个扩大的网络。