{"id":72169,"date":"2024-03-22T01:01:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T05:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=72169"},"modified":"2024-03-22T01:01:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T05:01:19","slug":"schools-out-how-climate-change-is-already-badly-affecting-childrens-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/schools-out-how-climate-change-is-already-badly-affecting-childrens-education\/","title":{"rendered":"School\u2019s out: how climate change is already badly affecting children\u2019s education"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Schools across\u00a0South Sudan<\/a>\u00a0have been ordered to close as a heat wave of 45\u00b0C sweeps across the country. In recent years, severe flooding has already caused major disruptions to schooling in South Sudan where, on average, children complete less than five years of formal\u00a0education across their lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As researchers interested in both climate change and learning, we\u2019ve been surprised that most public debate in this area concerns how best to teach children about climate change as part of the curriculum. Recently, we examined a less discussed, but arguably much more consequential, question: How is climate change impacting children\u2019s education worldwide?<\/p>\n

In a recent paper published in\u00a0Nature Climate Change<\/a>, my colleagues and I reviewed studies linking climate change-related events or \u201cclimate stressors\u201d to education outcomes. One of the clearest connections was between heat exposure and reduced academic performance.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0study in the US<\/a>\u00a0found that adolescents\u2019 maths scores decreased significantly on days above 26\u00b0C.\u00a0In China<\/a>, hotter day-of-test temperatures were associated with a drop in exam performance equal to losing a quarter of a year \u2013 or several months \u2013 of schooling.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just test days that matter. Studies show that raised temperatures also affect learning over longer time periods. For example, pupils\u2019\u00a0test scores suffered<\/a>\u00a0when there were more hot days across the school year and even when the hotter weather occurred\u00a0three to four years before<\/a>\u00a0exam day.<\/p>\n

Our review also highlights how climate-related regional disasters like wildfires, storms, droughts and floods are keeping many children out of school entirely. Floods can prevent children from\u00a0travelling to school<\/a>\u00a0and cause\u00a0damage<\/a>\u00a0to school buildings and materials, which disrupts learning and lowers test scores.<\/p>\n

In developing countries,\u00a0storms<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0droughts<\/a>\u00a0commonly cause children to leave school permanently to join the workforce and support their families. Children in higher-income countries are not immune. They miss school days due to\u00a0hurricanes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0wildfires<\/a>\u00a0and these absences have measurable effects on education outcomes.<\/p>\n

The impacts of climate disasters can also affect children before they are born with consequences that reverberate across their lives. For example, children whose mothers were pregnant during\u00a0Hurricane Sandy<\/a>\u00a0were more likely to be diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition that can make schooling more challenging.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0India<\/a>, researchers found that raised temperatures lead to lower test scores due to crop failure and malnutrition, highlighting the importance of indirect links between climate stressors and subsequent school participation and learning.<\/p>\n

Educational injustice<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Our analysis suggests that climate change will exacerbate existing inequalities in global education access and attainment, with already disadvantaged groups facing the largest learning setbacks. In the US, heat had\u00a0worse effects<\/a>\u00a0on exam scores for racial and ethnic minorities and children living in lower-income school districts.<\/p>\n

Following a super typhoon in the Philippines, children whose families had fewer financial resources and smaller social networks were\u00a0more likely to drop out<\/a>\u00a0of school than their better-resourced neighbours. In contexts where girls\u2019 education is less prioritised than boys\u2019, their school attendance and exam scores have suffered more following climate change stressors such as\u00a0droughts<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0storms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Globally, regions where people are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change \u2013 in terms of risk of harmful stressors occurring and resources available to adapt \u2013 are also regions where children already receive fewer years of schooling.<\/p>\n

\"\"

These maps show the average years of formal education (left) and vulnerability to climate change by country (right). CC BY<\/p><\/div>\n

The impacts of climate change on education are already widely visible. While the scale of the problem is daunting, there are many ways to take action. Most critically, global heating urgently needs to be limited by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n

At the same time, children\u2019s education must be protected from climate change stressors that are already occurring. Possible measures include installing cooling technologies, effective disaster response planning, building\u00a0stressor-resilient schools<\/a>\u00a0and addressing systemic global inequalities related to socioeconomic, gender and racial discrimination.<\/p>\n

Preventing harm to children\u2019s education is a worthy goal in itself. But improving education can also contribute to\u00a0greater awareness<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0climate literacy<\/a>, while\u00a0mitigating<\/a>\u00a0climate change and making children more resilient in the face of climate stressors.<\/p>\n

Education can help fight climate change. But we must also fight climate change to prevent harm to education. Without action, the future of young people around the world hangs in the balance.<\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> Caitlin M Prentice is a Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo, Francis Vergunst is Associate Professor, Psychosocial Difficultie also at the University of Oslo, Helen Louise Berry is Honorary Professor, Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research at Macquarie University and Kelton Minor is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Computational Social and Behavioural Science at Columbia University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Schools across\u00a0South Sudan\u00a0have been ordered to close as a heat wave of 45\u00b0C sweeps across the country. In recent years, severe flooding has already caused major disruptions to schooling in South Sudan where, on average, children complete less than five years of formal\u00a0education across their lives. As researchers interested in both climate change and learning, […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[8120],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-72169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-climate-change-3"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSchool\u2019s out: how climate change is already badly affecting children\u2019s education - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/schools-out-how-climate-change-is-already-badly-affecting-childrens-education\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"School\u2019s out: how climate change is already badly affecting children\u2019s education - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Schools across\u00a0South Sudan\u00a0have been ordered to close as a heat wave of 45\u00b0C sweeps across the country. 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