From noticing towards action: Photovoice as transformative, place-based climate education with youth in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

Purpose This study aims to investigate how youth in Vietnam’s climate-vulnerable Mekong Delta perceive and respond to everyday climate-related challenges, situating the analysis within global environmental education debates. It examines the potential of Photovoice, as both method and pedagogy, to support transformative, place-based learning and equity-oriented sustainability education. Design/methodology/approach Seven university students participated in a one-month Photovoice process, each capturing 10–15 photographs and developing Vietnamese narratives for selected images concerning heat stress, energy insecurity, recurrent flooding and agricultural loss. Photographs, captions, SHOWeD group-dialogue transcripts and field notes were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis and subsequently mapped to four pedagogical mechanisms: affective noticing, dialogic reflexivity, situated systems thinking and civic orientation. Findings Participants reframed climate-related experiences from individual discomfort towards systemic and justice-oriented concerns and proposed possible micro- and community-level responses. Photovoice made everyday infrastructures and inequities visible, supported critical reflection and fostered tentative civic orientation rather than verified long-term action. The findings indicate its potential to integrate cognitive, emotional and action-oriented learning in place-sensitive climate education. Originality/value This research contributes a mechanism-level account of how Photovoice may operate pedagogically in a Global South context, addressing a gap in environmental education literature that often overlooks youth-led, place-based approaches. It refines discussions of transformative learning by showing how visual storytelling can support epistemic recognition and equity-focused climate education in a Global South delta context.