Asian and European Teachers Attitudes and Beliefs Concerning Global Citizenship Education and Climate Change Education

In face of global societal and environmental challenges, education is considered one of the key elements to trigger and to sustain mitigation and adaptation components for large-scale sustainability changes. Global Citizenship Education (GCE) has emerged as an educational policy that attempts to offer a comprehensive framework concerning local-global challenges, with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Climate Change Education (CCE) gaining particular attention since the establishment of the Paris 2015 SDGs agreements (Agenda 2030). This study provides teachers’ perspectives on GCE from 40 countries in Asia and Europe based on a survey focused on CCE conducted by The Asia–Europe Foundation (ASEF). Out of the 328 participants, almost 80% of respondents work as teachers in their institutions. Findings show that: i) over 95% of respondents agree that it is important to teach CCE and 98% of respondents believe that it is extremely important to have a CCE curriculum at the secondary education level; ii) respondents believe that a variety of actors - governments, education policy makers, teacher trainers, school heads, and teachers colleagues - have an important role to play for introducing and implementing CCE curricula. This survey analysis highlights the importance of a systemic whole-school approach to CCE planning, implementation, and curricula.