Eco-Anxiety: Ontario Teachers’ Insights into Effective Environmental Education Pedagogy

Abstract In recent years, there is a growing concern of eco-anxiety, an anxiety evoked by negative accounts on Climate Change. Globally, scholars find that this anxiety, manifested in expressions such as frustration and fatigue, decreases interests and de-motivate learners (see, e.g., Ojala, 2017). In addition, literature about teachers’ self-efficacy is limited, indicating a lack of support for teachers to integrate environmental education across curricula. Although the policy document outlines ways in which teachers can implement research-based practices, few teachers in reality take up the initiative. Thus, this empirical paper will explore the phenomenon of learning and teaching anxiety in environmental education through two Ontario teachers’ perspectives. In the two interviews collected, lack of empirical evidence to apply research-based practice prevails to account for anxiety in environmental education. Further, given the shared challenge brought by Climate Change, this paper will bring insights to practitioners devoted into this area to address the collective crisis.