An ethical imperative for higher education: cultivating community partnerships in climate change teacher education

Stronger links between communities and education systems hold potential to better address the justice-related issues surrounding climate change. Engaging local communities—especially those most impacted by climate change—deepens the understanding of both teachers and students, broadens their perspectives, and fosters a collective sense of responsibility. Drawing on a social cartography with educators, students, and community members in post-industrial Cape Breton, this article maps possibilities for teacher education at the intersection of climate change and social justice, understanding the role of higher education as a cultural catalyst with an ethical imperative to care for and actively support the sustainable well-being of communities. Findings from this research speak to the possibilities for community-grounded teacher education, which might respond to local realities, centre local knowledges as foundational rather than supplemental, and reorient climate justice education around context, pedagogy, and ethical orientation.