Climate Change Education at First Sustainable Public School: Case Study

This chapter focuses on the enablers and barriers to climate change education (CCE) in the first sustainable and self-sufficient public school in Latin America: School No. 294 in Jaureguiberry, Uruguay. Furthermore, this research studied how the CCE policies and practices carried out in the school have been interpreted by the school community. Data was collected through interviews and document analysis; 17 participants took part in this case study, and 6 documents were analyzed. The semistructured online interviews were conducted between November 2020 and March 2021. The active and sustainability-oriented educational approach was defined as transformative education for sustainability and a Theory of Change for the school project was developed. Findings include a review of enablers and barriers to transformative education for sustainability using Ball’s four contextual dimensions for policy enactment as a lens. This analysis indicates that the community has had a mixed reception to the CCE policies and practices. For instance, at the start of the school project in 2016, only 15% of families had an organic vegetable garden at home, whereas in 2019, 80% of families did. On the other hand, only a few members of the community actively participate and support school activities. Moreover, there have been tensions in the school community due to different expectations and reactions to CCE policies and practices. The findings presented in this chapter highlight the importance of the support from the community and authorities for CCE projects.