Skip to main content

CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1394326

Considering the Role of Behaviors in Sustainability and Climate Change Education

Provisionally accepted
Efrat Eilam Efrat Eilam *
  • Victoria University, Australia, Melbourne, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    At the heart of sustainability and climate change education discourse is the notion of student behavioural change, as an emphasised goal. The central positioning of behaviour modification raises moral and ethical concerns, as well as concerns regarding the impacts on student well-being. In addressing these issues, this conceptual paper interrogates the role ascribed to student behaviour in sustainability education and climate change education.Multiple lenses are applied to critique the behavioural modification approach. Finally, it is proposed to reframe the role of behaviour and to conceptualise behaviour as forming part of ethics education, where the focus shifts from assigning behaviour an instrumental role to conceptualising its intrinsic educational value.

    Keywords: climate change education, Sustainability education, behaviour, collective action, climate action

    Received: 01 Mar 2024; Accepted: 18 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Eilam. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Efrat Eilam, Victoria University, Australia, Melbourne, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.