Analytical Report on Focus Group Discussions on Climate Education and Gender

I wonder how teachers feel about the connection between climate change and gender. Is this connection covered in the curriculum? How is it covered? Read our analytical report on the focus group discussions on Climate Education and Gender!

The teaching of climate knowledge in general secondary education (GSE) and out-of-school education (OSE) is being actively promoted in our country.

However, the standards of climate education and its value perspective are mostly gender-neutral: climate change processes are not interpreted in school classrooms as having different (unequal) impacts on women and men, educational contexts and tasks for students do not include references to gender roles and relationships, climate risks and limitations of women and men are not analyzed in textbooks, and teachers lack the knowledge and skills to integrate gender issues into climate education in Ukrainian schools.

An exploratory and analytical research was used to find out how general education teachers and VET specialists perceive the issue of integrating a gender component into climate education.

Two focus groups were held. The total number of participants in the focus group discussion (FGD) was 16 people (90% of teachers and 10% of teachers). The majority of FGD participants are teachers and educators who teach biology, natural science, chemistry, geography, and health care basics.

All participants have a pedagogical education and over 5 years of experience in teaching science. GSEI / VET from rural areas represented 35% of the FGD participants. Participants were recruited on Facebook.

The analytical report consists of:

• introduction,
• description of the research methodology and tools,
• three chapters, which describe the main theses of the responses received from
• from the participants of the focus group interviews,
• conclusions summarizing the main findings of the study, and recommendations for integrating a gender perspective into climate education.

This research method allowed us to focus and study in depth the attitudes of the interviewed teachers towards gender issues, their readiness and capacity to integrate gender into climate education.

We hope that the findings of the study will create a professional basis for further public dialogues (both in the expert community and for a wide range of stakeholders) on the implementation of the gender aspect in climate education.

The research was conducted and the report was prepared: Natalia Dmytruk, Leading Researcher at the Research Institute for Socio-Economic

CITY DEVELOPMENT”, Kyiv. Kyiv, expert of the NGO “Gender Creative Space” commissioned by the NGO UEC “Green Wave”.

This project has being implemented within the frame of the Environmental Policy and Advocacy Initiative in Ukraine that has been implemented by the International Renaissance Foundation and enabled by the financial support from Sweden.