ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Teacher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1561574
Bridging Policy and Practice in Climate Change Education: Evidence from Northeast Thailand
Provisionally accepted
Nattapon Meekaew1*
Denpong Saenkum2- 1Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
- 2Demonstration School of Khon Kaen University Nong Khai Campus, Nong Khai, Thailand
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Climate change presents significant challenges to vulnerable regions, yet educational systems often lack systematic approaches to climate change education (CCE), particularly in resource-constrained settings. While research has examined CCE implementation in developed countries, little is known about effective delivery in climate-vulnerable regions. This study investigates the implementation of CCE in Northeast Thailand, emphasizing the interaction among teacher training, institutional support, and resource accessibility in a developing context where climate impacts directly affect communities. The study employed a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach, integrating quantitative survey data from 400 teachers with qualitative insights from semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions among 15 teachers and 5 school administrators. Regression analysis revealed teacher training as the strongest predictor of effective CCE implementation, followed by institutional support and resource availability. The study showed significant differences between urban and rural areas, with 85% of rural schools reporting insufficient resources compared to 40% of urban institutions. Additionally, 60% of teachers reported actively incorporating climate-related topics into their teaching. These findings demonstrate that successful CCE implementation requires the alignment of targeted teacher professional development, supportive institutional frameworks, and equitable resource distribution. Based on these findings, the study recommends establishing regional CCE teacher training centers, implementing resource-sharing networks between urban and rural schools, and developing locally adaptive curricula. This research provides an evidence-based framework for strengthening climate education in developing contexts.
Keywords: Climate Change, implementation barriers, Teacher professional development, Educational Policy, resource constraints, Thailand
Received: 16 Jan 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Meekaew and Saenkum. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nattapon Meekaew, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
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