Exploring Barriers and Needs: Secondary Teachers’ Perspectives on Climate Change Education Within an International Environmental Campus

Abstract

This study addresses a critical gap by examining the specific barriers and demands faced by secondary school teachers who are deeply engaged in climate change education. Using a qualitative design complemented by quantitative descriptive indicators (code frequencies and co-occurrence counts derived from qualitative data), the study also includes an in-depth analysis of a focus group with 16 teachers at an international environmental campus (82 speaking turns, 136 coded segments). Moving beyond commonly identified challenges, the findings illuminate how structural constraints—such as curricular overload and the lack of interdisciplinary institutional support—intersect with high levels of personal commitment to climate change education. A central finding is the demotivating effect of unrewarded personal effort, whereby additional work related to climate action remains institutionally unrecognized. Moreover, teachers highlighted the difficulty of integrating climate change into non-scientific subjects, pointing to a disciplinary gap in available support. These insights, emerging from a highly committed community of practitioners, underline that effective teacher professional development must address not only general pedagogical needs but also the specific systemic and motivational barriers shaping sustainability-oriented climate change education.