Canada

2023: What Do Canadians Really Think About Climate Change? A summary of public opinion research for communicators by Chris Hatch, Maria Granados, and Rahmah Aldakkak for Re. Climate Institute.

Although not technically for educators, this survey report provides a useful snapshot of the state of Canadian knowledge of, and attitudes toward climate change. An understanding of where one’s audience is at in terms of climate literacy is crucial for effective climate communication.

2023: Climate Change Education within Canada’s Regional Curricula: A Systematic Review of Gaps and Opportunities, Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Journal, vol. 202,  by Ellen Field,  G. Spiropoulos, A. T.  Nguyen, and R. Grewal.

This review article of explicit climate change education curriculum expectations for each province according to grade, subject, and mandatory versus elective courses shows uneven inclusion of climate change topics, themes, and units within grade 7 – 12 curricula. The paper concludes with recommendations for addressing gaps.

2023: Climate Emotions and anxiety among young people in Canada: A national survey and call to action, Journal of Climate Change and Health, Vol. 9 by Lindsay Galway and Ellen Field.

This report presents the results of a survey of 1000 young people (aged 16–25) across Canada. The survey asked respondents about: (i) climate emotions and their impacts, (ii) perspectives on the future due to climate change, (iii) perspectives and feelings about government (in)action, (iv) perspectives on supports, programs, and resources needed to cope with climate emotions and anxiety, and (v) perspectives on climate change education.  The authors also include recommendations for addressing youth climate anxiety.

2022: Canadians’ Perspectives on Climate Change Education. 

This report, prepared for Learning for a Sustainable Future by Pamela Schwartzberg, P. Stevens, and Karen .S. Action, is a follow-up to the 2019 report by Field, Berger and Schwartzberg.   Some questions from the 2019 survey are repeated, and the responses are compared to assess changes over time. There are significant additions to the 2022 survey including the mental health impacts of climate change, the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge, the impacts of COVID-19, and the importance of youth engagement.

2022: MECCE: Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education Country Profile: Canada

This country profile provides a very comprehensive overview of relevant government agencies, laws, policies, and plans relating to climate change education in Canada and existing initiatives and studies.  (Note: it does not include municipal initiatives.)

2020: Responding to Climate Change: A Primer for K-12 Education.

This “primer”, prepared for the Sustainability Education and Policy Network by Kristen Hargis & Marcia McKenzie offers “research-based understandings of how ministries of education, school divisions, and schools can help inform and empower climate action.”   It identifies “good climate action practices” within each of the four whole institution areas at the school level: governance; teaching & learning; facilities and operations; community partnerships. 

2019: “Climate science curricula in Canadian secondary schools focus on human warming, not scientific consensus, impacts or solutions” in  PLoS One, vol. 14, by Seth Wynes and Kimberly Nicholas.

This article applied six categories of the IPCC to curriculum and analyzed secondary science curriculum, and found that learning objectives tend to focus on physical climate mechanisms, observed increase in temperature and anthropogenic causes of warming and have little to no emphasis on scientific consensus, climate impacts, or actions

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2019: Canada, Climate Change and Education: Opportunities for Public and Formal Education. 

This report by Ellen Field, Paul Berger and Pamela Schwartzberg was prepared by Learning for a Sustainable Future.  It provides data from a survey on Canadian perceptions of climate change.

2018: Building Climate-Ready Schools in Canada: Towards Identifying Good Practices in Climate Change Education by N. Chopin, N., K. Hargis, & M. McKenzie.

This report was prepared for the Sustainability and Education olicy Network. It  overviews the findings of an evaluation of UNESCO’s Getting Climate-Ready: A Guide for Schools on Climate Action for the purpose of identifying good practices of climate action taking place in Canadian UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network, using a whole school approach as a lens.

2017: Climate Change and the Canadian Higher Education System: An Institutional Policy Analysis by J. Henderson, A. Bieler,  & M. McKenzie.

Published in Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 47(1), 1 – 26, presents a report on how Canadian postsecondary educational institutions have engaged with climate change through policy actions.  Their key finding is that “the most common form of response focused on the built campus environment, with underdeveloped secondary responses focused on research, curriculum, community outreach, and governance policies.” 

2014: Educating for Sustainability: Working Together for a Sustainable Future

This report, prepared by Manitoba Education and Training for the Council of the Ministers of Education, Canada, provides an historical overview of “sustainable development”; an overview of the progress that has occurred across Canada related to “sustainable development education”; and a proposals for future action. The report includes several references to the need for education on climate change and the recommendation that the Council of Ministers of Education Canada develop policies on “educating for sustainability,” including policies on curricular outcomes.