Another, fourth report on climate education has been published. The report ‘Students in the face of climate change’ was developed by Anna Guzy, PhD and Magdalena Ochwat, PhD from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Research on Humanistic Education of the University of Silesia in Katowice.
1,009 students took part in the study conducted from January to March 2023. Over 769 fully completed questionnaires of students from both public and private universities of various profiles were analysed. The vast majority of the respondents came from Silesian universities. The respondents represented humanities, social and economic sciences as well as exact and natural sciences. Respondents answered 9 open questions, 12 closed questions and 7 semi-open questions.
The conclusions of the report provide information on higher education opportunities in the area of climate and ecology, students’ preferences, good academic practices regarding ecological behaviour, thus filling the research gap in this area.
88% of respondents claim that humans are responsible for climate change
74% of respondents believe that society has an impact on climate policy
76% admit that the topic of climate change is important
59% of respondents feel fear for the future related to the climate crisis
35% would like an additional subject on the climate crisis to be introduced in their degree programme
Photo by Markus Spiske | Unsplash
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The aim of the report is to show, based on reliable data, a more complete picture of students’ attitudes towards the climate crisis and to indicate the optimal academic education in this area, as well as eco-practices implemented at Polish universities.
During previous research, the scientists looked at the attitudes of Polish language teachers, children and parents towards climate change and climate education.
The full text of the report ‘Students against climate change’ is available on the Pro Silesia Biznes-Nauka-Samorząd website.
The report was created in cooperation with Europe Direct Śląskie with the support of the BIOSTAT Research and Development Centre.
The research of Anna Guza, PhD and Magdalena Ochwat, PhD is carried out as part of the Visegrad project ‘“V4 humanistic education for the climate. Diagnoses – good practices – recommendations’ in cooperation with Europe Direct Śląskie – a member of the Europe Direct network in Poland.