Global climate change in geography curricula for Ethiopian secondary and preparatory schools

Given the magnitude and severity of the problem of climate change, it is not surprising that a marked emphasis had been put on the issue over the last two decades, resulting in a series of proposals containing mitigation and adaptation measures. Education is often considered as one of such measures. This study was aimed at assessing the extent to and ways in which global climate change has been addressed in the geography curriculum guides and students’ textbooks for Ethiopian schools. Content analysis has been used as a principal technique to generate data based on the latest versions of the curriculum guides and textbooks. Results show that the curriculum guides for Ethiopian schools’ geography provide a huge opportunity to systematically integrate issues related to global climate change. The students’ textbooks for all the four grades adequately cover the science behind climate change including its causes and consequences. However, issues related to the “politics of global climate change” are largely missing in the curriculum guides. The impact of human actions is, for instance, not clearly articulated while discussing factors that contribute to global climate change. Similarly, measures against climate change have been least emphasized in both the curriculum guides and students’ textbooks.

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