1. Research title

Promoting Teacher Education for Climate Change Education through Collaboration between Asian Centres of Excellence on Education for Sustainable Development (ATECCE)

2. Organizer

Okayama University and Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)

3. Sponsor

Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

4. Cooperation with

UNESCO Bangkok

5. Duration

March 2021 – March 2024

6. Research team

China Zhang Jing, Deputy Secretary-General, Asia-Pacific ESD Institute Juan Zhou, Asia-Pacific ESD Institute India Sweta R. Purohit, Programme Director, Climate Change, Centre for Environmental Education India Preeti R. Kanaujia, Sr. Programme Director, School Education and Head, Centre for Environmental Education Lucknow Madhavi Joshi, Director, Centre for Environmental Education Academy Ahmedabad Indonesia Ari Widodo, Vice Dean/Professor, Faculty of Mathematics and Science Education, Indonesia University of Education Eko Hariyono, Associate Professor, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Surabaya State University Japan Hiroki Fujii, Director/Professor, Okayama University ESD Promotion Centre (Principle Investigator) Hiroko Shibakawa, Assistant Professor, Okayama University ESD Promotion Centre Kiichi Oyasu, Director, Educational Cooperation, Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO Tomonori Ichinose, Professor, Miyagi University of Education Khalifatulloh Fiel'ardh, Research Assistant Professor, Okayama University ESD Promotion Centre Kazakhstan Marzhan Tajiyeva, Director, Department for International Engagement, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University Assel Mais, Senior Specialist, Department for International Engagement, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University Malaysia Munirah Ghazali, Professor, School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia Nooraida Yakob, School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia Rabiatul Adawiah Ahmad Rashid, School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia Mohd Zohir Ahmad, School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia Irina Safitri Zen, Deputy Director, Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity and Assistant Professor, Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design, International Islamic University Malaysia Mongolia Dulguun Jargalsaikan, Senior Lecturer, School of Arts and Sciences, National University of Mongolia Uuriintuya Dembereldorj, Head, Office of International Relations, Mongolian National University of Education Batchuluun Yembuu, Professor, Mongolian National University of Education Dulmaa Altangerel, Senior Lecturer, School of Arts and Sciences, National University of Mongolia Philippines Jestoni P. Babia, Dean/Professor, College of Education, University of San Jose – Recoletos Amor Q de Torres, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Capitol University Felina P. Espique, Dean, School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts, Saint Louis University Thailand Athapol Anunthavorasakul, Director/Assistant Professor, Centre for Educational Research and Development for Sustainable Development, Chulalongkorn University

7. Academic background

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) which is stipulated in SDG 4.7, is a new area of education that pursues the sustainability of life and society on earth, with themes such as climate change, renewable energy, biodiversity, disaster risk reduction and sustainable consumption and production. The Action for Climate Empowerment: Guideline for Accelerating Solutions through Education, Training and Public Awareness (2016), a guide jointly edited by UNESCO and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), emphasizes that an appropriate educational process of planning, implementation and monitoring/evaluation/reporting is essential to encourage people to take concrete actions against climate change.

This international joint research will focus on climate change in relation to all of these themes, and will develop the “Asian Framework of Teacher Education Programme for Climate Change Education” and a guide for its dissemination through the collaboration of Asian centres of excellence on ESD.

The rationale of this research initiative is, first, our current situation in which climate change education in teacher education is limited to the development of teaching materials and classes, and the development of systematic educational programmes has made little progress, in response to global calls for climate change education (for example, Merrill, M. Y. et al. (Ed.) (2018). Education and Sustainability; Paradigms, Policies and Practices in Asia. Oxon: Routledge.). Accordingly, the competencies required for teachers practicing climate change education and the educational directions to develop them have been not yet adequate to meet this global challenge.

Second, in order to develop a framework of teacher education programmes for climate change education that can be adapted and applied by many teacher education institutions, further collaboration of centres of excellence on ESD is absolutely required. In particular, such a system of the collaboration needs to be strengthened in Asia. This is in contrast to the collaboration system in Europe (for example, a network of teacher education institutions for ESD in German-speaking countries, Deutschsprachiges Netzwerk “LehrerInnenbildung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung.”)

This research is built on a prior project on school education programmes for climate change education, jointly carried out by Japanese researchers and co-researchers in Asian countries under the support of the JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (FY 2018-2020). The research identified the competency requirements of teachers who implement the climate change education programmes and it was found that the competencies can be fully utilized for the development of teacher education programmes for climate change education.

Furthermore, through the JSPS Core-to-Core Programme (FY 2017-2019) and Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) Grants for UNESCO Activities (FY 2018-2019) organized by the research team of this research, several universities in Asian countries have grown as centres of excellence on ESD (See http://ceteesd.ed.okayama-u.ac.jp/). They are ready to develop teacher education programmes for climate change education. Through these research projects, the numbers of young researchers who will be key figures in the next generation, are growing in each centre of excellence, allowing research teams to play a central role in programme development in this area.

8. Research questions

The overall research question is, “What kinds of teacher education programmes are appropriate since teachers are powerful agents to promote climate change education, in response to global calls for climate change education?” Specifically, we address the following questions: 1) What is needed for teachers practicing climate change education, with particular focus on their competencies; 2) What kind of systematic education programmes should be prepared for teacher education of climate change education in order to develop their competencies; and 3) How should the results of teacher education programmes for climate change education be verified?

Though UNESCO and UNFCC have promoted the importance of climate change education, the above cited questions have not been resolved, and thus, the educational process in teacher education is still being explored. This research is an attempt to resolve these questions through the collaboration between Asian centres of excellence on ESD. This research intends to derive some solutions from Asia.

9. Research purpose and academic uniqueness and creativity

The purpose of this research is to develop the “Asian Framework of Teacher Education Programmes for Climate Change Education,” and its dissemination guide through the collaboration between centres of excellence on ESD in nine Asian countries: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines and Thailand.

To date, climate change education has been limited to the development of teaching materials and classes, and there is not enough teacher education programmes focused on practicing climate change education. This research seeks to remedy this situation, which constitutes the creativity of the research.

The uniqueness of this research is that it is the first to develop a framework of teacher education programmes for climate change education through joint research between Asian countries. Upon the announcement of UNESCO's new ESD policy Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the SDGs (ESD for 2030) in November 2019, Japan is expected to continue to demonstrate a leadership role in promoting ESD. This research will embody such a leadership in teacher education, create a widely applicable framework for teacher education programmes through the collaboration in Asian countries and disseminate it from Asia to other regions.

Moreover, this research will not only present a framework of teacher education programmes for climate change education, but also develop a guide for its effective dissemination. The guide will be informed and disseminated to teacher education institutions in Asian countries, UNESCO regional offices and/or national commissions for UNESCO and the Ministries of Education (divisions of teacher education), for mainstreaming climate change education in the existing teacher education programmes. The other uniqueness of this research lies in its spillover effect on society.

10. Research method

1) Review and systematizing teacher education programmes for climate change education (November 2020 to September 2021)

Based on the “Asia-Pacific ESD Teacher Competency Framework” (Figure. 1) and school education programmes of climate change education already developed by the research team, the competencies required for teachers to practice climate change education will be reviewed and systematized through curriculum analysis, field work and workshops. Subsequently, teacher education programmes to promote the competencies will be identified and adapted at the centres of excellence in each country. Specifically, objectives, content, teaching methods and evaluation methods of the programmes will be defined.

11. Roles of each researcher

1) Developing an “Asian Framework of Teacher Education Programme for Climate Change Education”

In the basic design of the programme, what is required for teachers practicing climate change education, in particular competencies, will be reviewed, identified and adapted based on the existing ESD teacher education competencies. Utilizing these competencies, the researchers will develop, implement and evaluate the programmes at each teacher education institution. At that time, participating institutions and researchers will collaboratively conduct field surveys, participatory observations and workshops to enhance the quality of the programmes. In creating the Asian framework of the programme, they will integrate the results of programme development and prepare basic data for creating the framework. Finally, they will examine the structure and contents of the framework and complete it.