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  2. EDU A172

Education and Climate Change: From Immediate Impacts to System Transformation
EDU A172

Course Information

Description

Climate change is reshaping education systems worldwide, closing schools, damaging infrastructure, disrupting learning, and deepening inequality. At the same time, education can shape climate trajectories by strengthening climate literacy, supporting adaptation, enabling mitigation, and accelerating a transition to more sustainable and just ways of life. This course examines these two-way dynamics through a systems perspective that distinguishes first-order impacts of climate change on schooling from second-order effects of education on climate outcomes.

Designed as a comparative education “learning journey,” the course analyzes how different countries and systems define and implement climate change education—across global frameworks, national policies, curriculum and assessment, teacher development, whole-school approaches, and the roles of networks and civil society. Students will critically compare major narratives (e.g., climate literacy, education for climate action, green economy/workforce, education for sustainable development, and justice-centered/decolonial approaches) and assess the evidence, and limits of evidence, linking education to behavioral, civic, and emissions-related outcomes.

Class sessions emphasize discussion and application, functioning as a project studio. Over the semester, students develop an individual project through three scaffolded assignments: a concept paper, a targeted literature review, and a final research paper or policy/program proposal with a clear theory of change, implementation design, and feasible evaluation plan.

School Graduate School of Education
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department Education
Course Component Regular Course
Instruction Mode In Person
Subject Education
Grading Basis HGSE Student Option (Letter Graded, Sat/Unsat)
Learning Goals By the end of the course, students should be able to: Students will be able to explain and apply a systems perspective to the education–climate nexus, including the distinction between first-order impacts of climate change on education and second-order educational responses that shape climate outcomes. Students will be able to compare and critique major narratives shaping climate change education (e.g., climate literacy, education for climate action, education for the green economy, education for sustainable development, and critical/decolonial climate education), and articulate how different narratives imply different competencies, pedagogies, and theories of change. Students will be able to comparatively analyze, across countries and systems, policy design and implementation for climate change education at multiple levels (global frameworks; national/subnational policy instruments; teacher development systems; curriculum, assessment, accountability; whole-school approaches; and community-based strategies). Students will understand the potential and the limitations of comparing education policies and their results across diverse education systems, the foundations of comparative analysis, and some of the sources of information for systematic comparison of climate education policies. Students will be able to evaluate evidence quality and identify research gaps in climate-change education, including common challenges in attributing causal impacts from education to behavior or emissions outcomes, and the frequent mismatch between policy ambition and implementation capacity. Students will be able to produce a rigorous final product: either (a) a research paper (empirical or design-based) or (b) a policy/program/curriculum/teacher-development proposal that specifies goals, a theory of change, implementation design, stakeholders, resource assumptions, and a feasible evaluation plan. Students will be able to analyze climate–education challenges using a systems lens, draw on comparative evidence, and design research-informed policies or interventions.
Career Focus

This course is designed for students preparing for roles at the intersection of education and climate policy and practice, across governmental, multilateral, non-governmental, and school-based systems. It is intended for students heading toward positions such as:

Policy and program design roles in ministries of education or subnational education authorities, particularly units responsible for curriculum, teacher development, or climate- and disaster-resilience planning.

Technical and policy positions in multilateral and bilateral organizations (e.g., UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank, UNFCCC-affiliated bodies, the Global Partnership for Education, bilateral development agencies) working on the education dimensions of climate finance, adaptation, and mitigation.

Program leadership in NGOs, foundations, and international networks that design, fund, or scale climate-change education initiatives, curricula, or teacher professional development.

Curriculum design, assessment, and teacher-education roles in ministries, examination boards, or teacher-preparation institutions integrating climate content into standards and practice.

School and system leadership roles (principals, superintendents, network leaders) responsible for climate-resilient operations and for embedding climate education into whole-school strategy.

Research and doctoral pathways focused on generating and synthesizing evidence on the education–climate nexus for use by policymakers and practitioners.

Because the course culminates in a research paper or a policy/program proposal built around a real system, organization, or problem the student cares about, it is also well suited to students who wish to use the semester to develop a work product—a policy proposal, a curriculum framework, a program design, a research study—with direct relevance to their current employer or their next professional move.