Navigating the Environmental Education and Climate Change Curriculum in Türki̇ye through the Prism of Climate Change Literate Citizenship

Abstract

In the present study a theoretical framework (i.e., Climate Change Literate Citizenship) that combines climate change literacy and climate citizenship was developed first. Then, criteria that correspond to each of the components of the proposed theoretical framework were developed and used to analyze the learning objectives in the “Environmental Education and Climate Change” curriculum. Data analyses utilized in the study presented a snapshot of the descriptive landscape of the curriculum in terms of the distribution of the objectives within the curriculum. Manifest and latent analyses realized through MAXQDA 2022 software were used to illustrate world cloud and word trends and alignment of the curriculum objectives with respect to the criteria developed for the Climate Change Literate Citizenship framework. Findings showed that there was an uneven distribution of the learning objectives within the Climate Change Literate Citizenship framework. Most of the learning objectives aimed to support climate change literacy, where objectives pertaining to the promotion of climate citizenship were relatively less in number. A similar uneven distribution was observed within the components of climate change literacy (i.e., functional, cultural, critical) and climate citizenship (i.e., personally responsible, participatory, justice oriented) as well. That is, there was not any objectives related to the cultural component of climate change literacy; most of the objectives aimed to develop functional component followed by the critical component. Among the components of climate citizenship, personal responsibility component and participatory component were addressed equally but there was only one learning objective that is in line with justice-oriented climate citizenship. Thus, our findings as a whole suggest that the curriculum adopts a fragmented rather than a holistic approach to climate change education. Nonetheless, further studies are required to make more robust conclusions about the curriculum and its practice.