Mitigating Climate Challenges: The Role of Social Studies Education

Abstract

The main focus of this study was to explore the role of Social Studies education in mitigating climate challenges. The mixed method approach was employed to carry out this study. All the 154 Social Studies teachers in 79 public Junior High Schools (JHSs) from the Cape Coast Metropolis participated in the study. The researcher used questionnaire and semi-structured interview guide to collect information from these participants. Responses from the questionnaires were analysed using the Statistical Product for Service Solution (version 22.0) software and the outcomes were presented in the form of frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation. The findings from the study indicate that the Social Studies curriculum at the senior high school level does not adequately cover climate related issues. Although Social Studies education focuses on the physical environment and helps to address environmental challenges, one would expect that the curriculum would make adequate provision for such a critical component of the environment, but this is not the case as the curriculum covers less environmental-related issues. Although Social Studies teachers are the front liners when it comes implementing climate-related issues in the Social Studies curriculum, they are not adequately equipped with the knowledge, skills and competencies required for effective transmission of same to learners. At best, some of the teachers had climate related knowledge from subjects other than social studies, the knowledge they had acquired was not sufficient enough for their effective application in the classroom. It was recommended that integration of more climate-related topics and issues in a transdisciplinary manner into the Social Studies and other related curricula such as science, citizenship education, geography and human rights education, at the various levels of education in Ghana would be of great help. Teacher education institutions that prepare Social Studies teachers at the various levels of higher education in Ghana such as the colleges of education and the universities should adequately include climate change related topics in their curricula. It is crucial to strengthen teachers’ and educators’ capacities to deliver accurate information, integrate local content, promote critical thinking about climate change and take action on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Keywords: Climate Change, Environmental, Integration, Pedagogies, Social Studies. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-14-06 Publication date: May 31 st 2021