Climate Change Education in Universities: Instructors’ Perceptions of Risk, Motivations, and Barriers

Abstract

Climate change is a pressing global issue that has a short window for action and mitigation. In this study, I utilized protection motivation theory (PMT) to examine relationships among tertiary-level instructors’ perceptions of climate change risks and their inclusion of climate change education (CCE) in their curricula. The purpose of this study is to understand if instructors’ perceptions of climate change might influence them to include CCE in their curricula and identify barriers and motivators for CCE in Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs). In a survey of 90 participating instructors, I found that 91% were reportedly alarmed or concerned about climate change, but only half of instructors reported including CCE in their curricula. Of the half that included CCE, over half of those participants reportedly only included it in 25% or fewer of their courses. When comparing threat and coping appraisal methods of PMT, 75% of participants had high threat appraisals with low coping appraisals, and only 21% had high threat appraisals with high coping appraisals. This study will add to the growing collection of CCE research and recommend avenues for future inclusion of CCE in IHEs. Recommendations include additional research on instructors coping appraisal methods, replicating this study on a larger scale, requiring a general education course on CCE, and increasing opportunities for resources, professional development, and time for instructors to include CCE in their curricula.