Assessing Climate Change Education in the UAE School and University Curricula: A Framework-Based Analysis

This study offers a framework-based analysis of climate change education (CCE) in both national school and university curricula of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It aims to assess the extent to which climate-related topics are embedded across disciplines and to explore the methods used to deliver them using Education for Sustainable Development and climate literacy frameworks. Through an analytical coding framework, a qualitative content analysis of course descriptions, syllabi, academic programmes, lab activities and course projects and/or research components is performed to assess climate change-related initiatives of UAE’s national school and major universities in terms of presence, depth, pedagogy, interdisciplinary integration and competency development climate content. The findings reveal that while several UAE institutions have begun incorporating sustainability and environmental themes, comprehensive coverage of CCE remains inconsistent and is often confined to some grades and STEM subjects, such as environmental science or engineering, only. Moreover, pedagogical approaches vary significantly, with limited application of contextual, interdisciplinary, experiential and action-oriented learning models in both school and university levels. In addition, the research identifies challenges to integrating climate change content within higher education and the national school curricula, leading to find a structural gap between national policy ambitions and curriculum implementation and highlighting the need for a uniform, competency-based national framework for climate education. This study provides a foundational insight of how UAE universities and the national school curriculum currently address CCE and offers a basis for future recommendations to policymakers, curriculum developers and educators aiming at enhancing curriculum design and teaching practices, transitioning from awareness to action.