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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Catherine WalkerORCiD, Hannah Runeckles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
Climate justice (CJ) is central to youth-led environmental activism, yet this is generally not reflected in climate change education (CCE). Existing literature critiques the absence of justice in CCE, envisions its potential theoretically, or offers research-informed CJ interventions. Complementing this scholarship, our central concern is how educators and students are already enacting CJ in classrooms, in ways that exceed and challenge curricular and institutional expectations. We reprise theories of distributive, recognitional, and procedural justice to envision climate justice education (CJE) as two inter-linked pathways that are inclusive and expansive: pedagogic approaches and concepts, and capacities for responsive action. To ground this conceptual framework, we present data from qualitative research with primary and post-primary educators in England and Ireland. Our findings document how educators are enacting CJ through everyday classroom practices. Participants’ accounts demonstrate a strong and consistent duty of care for students as educators work to recalibrate notions of responsibility and build students’ capacities and agency. This research demonstrates that inclusive CJE pathways can emerge from existing classroom practice. Nonetheless, we argue for greater institutional support for educators’ CJ work, revised curricula to explicitly incorporate justice dimensions, and recognition of classrooms as sites where CJ is debated, envisioned and enacted.
Author(s): Walker C, Ardron K, Bryan A, Kavanagh AM, Runeckles H
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Environmental Education Research
Year: 2026
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 27/03/2026
Acceptance date: 16/03/2026
Date deposited: 02/04/2026
ISSN (print): 1350-4622
ISSN (electronic): 1469-5871
Publisher: Routledge
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2026.2648629
DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2026.2648629
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