Infusing Climate Change Education into Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) as a Resilience Strategy in South Africa: Towards a Theory of Change
David Matsepe 
& Mugwena Maluleke
Issue: Vol.5 No.9 Special Issue Article 6 pp.73-82
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024596 | Published online 29th August, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Despite the prominent role played by education in knowledge creation, developing of skills and attitudes among people, little has been done in the domain of climate change education in the current Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in South Africa. This is not to say that no scholars have looked at issues of climate change in education. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to investigate how curriculum development and learning materials should incorporate climate change to raise awareness. The researcher attempts to illustrate deeper learning approaches that aim to instil values and belief systems in the domain of climate change knowledge and experience. The study used qualitative interviews and purposeful sampling methods to ascertain rich and in-depth information from the participants. The findings revealed that the majority of the teachers emphasized that the CAPS’s lack of explicit content was the primary issue. Given the limited knowledge creation in the domain of climate change in developing countries, in particular South Africa’s curricula, the study concluded that much has to be done to integrate climate change education in the current CAPS curricula. The study recommends that continuous awareness campaigns should be undertaken to conscientise people about the importance of climate change education.
Keywords: Climate Change Education, Sustainable Development, Infusing, Resilience, Intermediate Phase, Senior Phase, FET Phase
Aja, S. “Addressing the Challenges of Climatic Change through Environmental Education for Sustainable Universal Basic Education Programme in Nigeria.” IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) 20, no. 11 (2015): 10–13.
Bangay, Colin, and Nicole Blum. “Education Responses to Climate Change and Quality: Two Parts of the Same Agenda?” International Journal of Educational Development 30, no. 4 (2010): 359–68.
Bloom, D., D. Canning, and K. Chan. Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa. Harvard: . Harvard University Press, 2005.
Chakeredza, S, A B Temu, A Yaye, S Makungwa, and J D K Saka. “Mainstreaming Climate Change into Agricultural Education: Challenges and Perspectives.” Nairobi, Kenya, 2009.
Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). Long-Term Adaptation Scenarios Flagship Programme (LTAS) for South Africa. Pretoria, 2013.
EAC. East African Community Climate Change Master Plan. Arusha, Tanzania: East African Community Secretariat, 2011.
Ekpoh, Uduak Imo, and Imo Jackson Ekpoh. “Assessing the Level of Climate Change Awareness among Secondary School Teachers in Calabar Municipality, Nigeria: Implication for Management Effectiveness.” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 1, no. 3 (2011): 106–10.
Esbjörn-Hargens, Sean. “An Ontology of Climate Change.” Journal of Integral Theory and Practice 5, no. 1 (2010): 143–74.
Fazey, Ioan. “Resilience and Higher Order Thinking.” Ecology and Society 15, no. 3 (2010).
Folke, Carl. “Resilience: The Emergence of a Perspective for Social–Ecological Systems Analyses.” Global Environmental Change 16, no. 3 (2006): 253–67.
Funtowicz, Silvio O, and Jerome R Ravetz. “Science for the Post-Normal Age.” Futures 25, no. 7 (1993): 739–55.
Guba, Egon G, and Yvonna S Lincoln. Fourth Generation Evaluation. Sage, 1989.
Ikeh, Michael Ei, Florence O Ifeanyieze, and Cajethan U Ugwuoke. “Integration of Climate Change into the Senior Secondary School Agricultural Science Curriculum in Nigeria.” Atmospheric and Climate Sciences 4, no. 04 (2014): 614.
IPCC. Summary for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. Geneva: IPCC Secretariat, 2007.
Jickling, Bob, and Arjen E. J. Wals. “Globalization and Environmental Education: Looking beyond Sustainable Development.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 40, no. 1 (February 2008): 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270701684667.
Kagawa, Fumiyo, and David Selby. “Ready for the Storm: Education for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation1.” Journal of Education for Sustainable Development 6, no. 2 (2012): 207–17.
Kakade, Onkargouda, Shilpa Hiremath, and Namrata Raut. “Role of Media in Creating Awareness about Climate Change-a Case Study of Bijapur City.” IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 10, no. 1 (2013): 37–43.
Killam, Laura. Research Terminology Simplified: Paradigms, Axiology, Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology. Laura Killam, 2013.
Kitchenham, Andrew. “The Evolution of John Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory.” Journal of Transformative Education 6, no. 2 (2008): 104–23.
Leiserowitz, Anthony A, Robert W Kates, and Thomas M Parris. “Sustainability Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors: A Review of Multinational and Global Trends.” Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 31, no. 1 (2006): 413–44.
Litus, S. Climate Change and Environment Education . New York: UNESCO, 2012.
Mayer, Michela, and Johannes Tschapka. “Engaging Youth in Sustainable Development: Learning and Teaching Sustainable Development in Lower Secondary Schools,” 2008.
Mezirow, Jack. “Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice.” New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 1997, no. 74 (1997): 5–12.
Muhar, Andreas, Jan Visser, and John Van Breda. “Experiences from Establishing Structured Inter-and Transdisciplinary Doctoral Programs in Sustainability: A Comparison of Two Cases in South Africa and Austria.” Journal of Cleaner Production 61 (2013): 122–29.
Mukute, Mutizwa, and Tichaona Pesanyi. “Contextualising Curriculum Design and Recontextualising Its Implementation: The Case of Climate Change Education for Southern African Transfrontier Conservation Area Practitioners.” Southern African Journal of Environmental Education 30 (2014): 53–65.
O’Brien, Karen. “Political Agency: The Key to Tackling Climate Change.” Science 350, no. 6265 (2015): 1170–71.
O’Brien, Karen, Jonathan Reams, Anne Caspari, Andrew Dugmore, Maryam Faghihimani, Ioan Fazey, Heide Hackmann, David Manuel-Navarrete, John Marks, and Riel Miller. “You Say You Want a Revolution? Transforming Education and Capacity Building in Response to Global Change.” Environmental Science & Policy 28 (2013): 48–59.
O’Donoghue, Rob. “Think Piece: Re-Thinking Education for Sustainable Development as Transgressive Processes of Educational Engagement with Human Conduct, Emerging Matters of Concern and the Common Good.” Southern African Journal of Environmental Education 30 (2014): 7–26.
Okey, S, and V E Ndum. “Curriculum Development on Climate Change in Nigerian University System-Challenges and Solutions.” Nigerian Journal of Curriculum Studies 20, no. 3 (2013).
Okoli, Nkechi J. “Teacher Preparation and Climate Change Curriculum at University Level in Nigeria.” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Academic Research 2, no. 3 (2014): 1–8.
Owolabi, Henry Olu, Emmanuel Kofi Gyimah, and Mark Owusu Amponsah. “Assessment of Junior High School Students’ Awareness of Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Central Region, Ghana.” Educational Research Journal 2, no. 9 (2012): 308–17.
Rittel, Horst W J, and Melvin M Webber. “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning.” Policy Sciences 4, no. 2 (1973): 155–69.
Rolls, Edmund T, Fabian Grabenhorst, and Leonardo Franco. “Prediction of Subjective Affective State from Brain Activations.” Journal of Neurophysiology 101, no. 3 (2009): 1294–1308.
Sandell, Klas, Johan Öhman, and Leif Olov Östman. Education for Sustainable Development: Nature, School and Democracy. Studentlitteratur, 2005.
Scharmer, C.O. Theory U. Leading from the Future as It Emerges. San Francisco: Berett- Koehler Publishers, 2009.
Sterling, S. “Higher Education, Sustainability, and the Role of Systemic Learning.” In Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability, edited by P.B. Corcoran and A.E.J. Wals, 49–70. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004.
Sterling, Stephen, and David Orr. Sustainable Education: Re-Visioning Learning and Change. Vol. 6. Green Books for the Schumacher Society Totnes, 2001.
Strauss, A., and J. Corbin. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 1990.
Taylor, Edward W. “An Update of Transformative Learning Theory: A Critical Review of the Empirical Research (1999–2005).” International Journal of Lifelong Education 26, no. 2 (2007): 173–91.
Thompson-Klein, J. Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures: A Model for Strength and Sustainability. San Francisco: Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2010.
UNESCO. UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: The DESD at a Glance. Paris, France: UNESCO, 2005.
———. World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development. Bonn, Germany: UNESCO, 2009.
Wals, A E J. “Sustainability Needs Links between Theory and Practice in Education. Press Release, Wageningen University,” 2014.
Wals, Arjen E J. “Learning Our Way to Sustainability.” Journal of Education for Sustainable Development 5, no. 2 (2011): 177–86.
———. “Mirroring, Gestaltswitching and Transformative Social Learning: Stepping Stones for Developing Sustainability Competence.” International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 11, no. 4 (2010): 380–90.
Wolde, Damtew. “The Role of Education in Addressing Environmental Problems and Sustainable Development of Ethiopia.” IER FLAMBEAU 15, no. 1 (2008): 1–38.
Dr. David Matsepe obtained PhD in education at University of Johannesburg (UJ), and Masters in Public and Development Management at University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), South Africa. He is a Head of Research for South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and a Research Associate for University of Johannesburg (UJ). His area of speciality is research and policy. He is a member of the Ministerial Task Team (MTT) on White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education. He is a founder and a Chief Editor for Journal of South African Democratic Teachers Union (JSADTU). He is a member of the Comparative & International Education Society (CIES), and South African Education Research Association (SAERA). He has published over 15 peer-reviewed journal articles and a book chapter in press (UKZN Press). He has presented several research papers at reputable international conferences.
Dr. Mugwena Maluleke, a teacher, scholar, unionist and social justice activist, has been elected as the new President of Education International. He assumes this role following an influential tenure as General Secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU). His commitment to social justice and quality education has been a driving force throughout his career, and he has been instrumental in pushing for systemic changes in the South African public education system. His academic record has earned him respect both nationally and internationally. He has co-published over 9 peer-reviewed journal articles. MBA, LLM and LLD.
Matsepe, David & Mugwena Maluleke. “Infusing Climate Change Education into Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) as a Resilience Strategy in South Africa: Towards a Theory of Change,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.9 Special Issue (2024): 73-82. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024596
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
