As academics working to ameliorate the impacts of climate change and environmental destruction through education, we often question the efficacy of our efforts. As higher education teachers, we wonder: is our teaching helping students to envisage sustainable futures and their roles in realising those futures? As colleagues, we wonder: do our contributions encourage consideration for the natural environment in decision-making? As researchers, we wonder: do insights in our reports and papers seed ideas in the minds and conversations of policymakers or practitioners? And as individuals, we wonder: are our everyday practices in step with the sustainable futures we preach? Such questions have become the basis for much of our work.
In our latest paper – ‘Standing back or stepping up? Exploring climate change education policy influence in England’ (Greer, King & Glackin, 2023) – we report on a series of interviews with individuals in positions of influence relative to climate change education. We found that 23 out of 24 these (potential) influencers believed that education plays an important role in response to the crisis, but further analysis indicated that most of them were ‘standing back’ rather than ‘stepping up’ to influence.
In exploring the reasons for not ‘stepping up’ we found many instances of deference to bosses, to organisational priorities and to cultural norms. Interviewees explained that they were not in a position to rock the boat, or to step outside of expected practices given the precarity of their role or organisation. We understood; we, too, have felt hampered in our professional responses to the environmental crisis and constrained in our abilities to influence. But rather than viewing their deference as a weakness to be overturned, we sought to explore whether it might enable action and change. With climate activists occupying Waterloo Bridge in central London, just outside our door, we wondered whether quieter forms of activism have a role.
