Climate Education in Teacher Education

Fall colours, many trees, blue skies
Fall weather in the Central Interior of BC

Workshop 3 on Curriculum - April 11 & 25, 2025

Registration for Workshop 3 will be available in March 2025. Join the CETE community. 

Research Project: Would you like to participate?

Link to Survey to Participate

How are you feeling about climate change? 

If you are a UNBC Teacher Candidate or practicing teacher working in School District No. 52 (Prince Rupert) or School District No. 57 (Prince George), consider participating in the Climate Education in Teacher Education (CETE) study.

Benefits include: joining a learning community, engaging in professional development, and participating in collective action in climate change education. Fill out the CETE Pre-Survey to provide informed consent and participate in the pre-survey.

CETE RESEARCH INFORMATION SESSION (video) 

Project Description

Climate change is widely accepted as a global crisis that is significantly impacting world economies, environments, and societies. Communities in northern British Columbia (BC) are particularly vulnerable to climate change due to uneven warming of the globe, which has led to increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, extreme events (e.g., atmospheric rivers and wildfires), biodiversity threats, health issues, and disruptions of traditional ways of life. Clearly, education plays an important role in fostering understanding, adapting, and acting on climate change; though, climate change education approaches of K-12 teachers in northern BC have not been studied. The Climate Education in Teacher Education (CETE) research project responds to the 2022 Association of Canadian Deans of Education report titled "Accord on Education for a Sustainable Future," that underscored urgency for climate change education. Using the collaborative and participatory methodology of Educational Design-Based Research (EDBR), CETE partnered with two leading Canadian education experts, Institute for Environmental Learning (IEL) and Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) and created a design team with other teacher educators, scholars, and experts in climate change education to guide the intervention with in-service and pre-service teachers in northern BC. Climate change impacts everyone. Empowering teachers through climate change education empowers youth, and thus, the wellness of the global community.

The study is currently being funded by a Climate Change Education Accelerator Grant and SSHRC Insight Development Grant. Prior funding includes: UNBC RSIG grants and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) Fast Track Grant. 

UNBC Research Ethics Board (REB) Approval No. 6009004 

CETE Research Question

How might northern BC K-12 teachers be engaged to critically consider and respond to the climate emergency in their contexts and scopes of practice through teacher agency, creative pedagogy, educational leadership, and climate adaptation around climate change education?

Who can participate in the CETE study?

CETE RESEARCH INFORMATION SESSION (video) - October 21, 2024

For Pre-Service Teachers:

  1. Are you a teacher candidate in the UNBC Teacher Education Program?
  2. Are you interested in or concerned about climate change or climate change education?
  3. Are you willing to engage in several activities to learn more about climate education and contribute to the professional development of others?

For In-Service Teachers:

  1. Are you a practicing teacher in School District 52 (Prince Rupert) or School District 57 (Prince George)?
  2. Are you interested in or concerned about climate change or climate change education?
  3. Are you willing to engage in several activities to learn more about climate education and contribute to the professional development of others?

If you've answered "yes" to all three questions and would like to participate in the CETE study, please read the CETE Information Letter and Consent and take a moment to complete the CETE Pre-Survey. The pre-survey takes approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. 

CETE Pre-Survey

If you cannot or do not wish to participate, you are welcome to join upcoming CETE workshops as professional development. If you have questions about CETE or talk about about participation, contact Dr. Hart Banack (see email below).

CETE Workshop Series (September 2024 - June 2025)
Teacher Professional Development

Planning for Year 3 of the CETE Workshop Series on climate change education. Listed below are upcoming workshop dates for the CETE Workshop Series 3. Workshops open to the public. They are hosted online or in-person. Video recordings of each workshop are uploaded to this webpage after each workshop for your reference. 

If you are interested in learning more about climate change education, participate in the CETE study, or looking for teacher professional development in climate education, you are welcome to attend the workshop or watch the video.

NOTE: if you are a CETE participant, please do not mention that you are a research participant to maintain anonymity. 

CETE Data Collection 

NOTE: CETE data collection is only for CETE research participants who have consented.

Post-Workshop Series

After participating in the workshop series, CETE participants are contacted by the Principal Investigator or Graduate Research Assistant to partake in a post-survey and focus group.

  • Post-Survey - 15 minutes - May 2025
  • Focus group - 90 minutes - June 2025

Documentation

Artifacts created and developed by research participants such as lesson plans, unit plans, journal reflections, etc. during the their participation in the CETE study related to climate change education are submitted by the participant to the Research Team. Participants are contacted by the Principal Investigator or Graduate Research Assistant. 

Climate Change Education Resources

  • Bigelow, B., & Swinehart, T. (2014). A people's curriculum for the earth: Teaching climate change and the environmental crisis. A Rethinking Schools Publication. 

Links to Lesson Plans

CETE Workshops - Year 1 (March 2023 to June 2023)

CETE Workshops - Year 2 (September 2023 to June 2024)

Research Team

Contact information

For more information about CETE, please contact Dr. Hartley Banack by email at hart.banack@unbc.ca or call 250-960-5317. 

If you have any concerns or complaints about your rights as a research participant and/or your experiences while participating in this study, call the Office of Research and Innovation at 250-960-6735 or email reb@unbc.ca.