Bridging Geopolitics and Environmental Issues in Geography Education: Exploratory Teachers’ Insights from France and Israel

The relationship between environmental issues and politics is underrepresented in geography curricula. This study explores the challenges associated with integrating environmental issues within a political framework in geography education and puts forward a case for their inclusion in teacher devel...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tal Yaar-Waisel, Caroline Leininger-Frézal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association of Geographers 2025-05-01
Series:European Journal of Geography
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/741
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849329031167606784
author Tal Yaar-Waisel
Caroline Leininger-Frézal
author_facet Tal Yaar-Waisel
Caroline Leininger-Frézal
author_sort Tal Yaar-Waisel
collection DOAJ
description The relationship between environmental issues and politics is underrepresented in geography curricula. This study explores the challenges associated with integrating environmental issues within a political framework in geography education and puts forward a case for their inclusion in teacher development. The present study is predicated on an analysis of the intended and the achieved curricula. A comparative analysis of the curricula, complemented by interviews with a total of 20 teachers, in France and Israel, led to the identification of common barriers. The analysis revealed that both countries' curricula incorporated environmental geopolitics and that the teachers recognised the link between environmental and political decisions. However, they mentioned few local political aspects, and most of them were unfamiliar with this connection from their prior studies. Despite the limited time allocated to the subject, teachers incorporated these topics out of a sense of mission. The paper proposes a model to facilitate the integration of environmental geopolitics into teaching practice. Highlights: • Teachers interviewed in France and Israel recognised links between the environment and politics. • There is no consensus on how to include these topics in the curriculum. • Israeli teachers discussed global politics more openly than French teachers. • French teachers focused on local issues, avoiding political aspects. • All the teachers required better training in geopolitics for effective teaching. • A theoretical model that would enable teachers to teach environmental geopolitics is proposed.
format Article
id doaj-art-54af77d576f84dba872e8c155a9b0a81
institution Kabale University
issn 1792-1341
2410-7433
language English
publishDate 2025-05-01
publisher European Association of Geographers
record_format Article
series European Journal of Geography
spelling doaj-art-54af77d576f84dba872e8c155a9b0a812025-08-20T03:47:24ZengEuropean Association of GeographersEuropean Journal of Geography1792-13412410-74332025-05-0116210.48088/ejg.t.yaa.16.2.184.196Bridging Geopolitics and Environmental Issues in Geography Education: Exploratory Teachers’ Insights from France and IsraelTal Yaar-Waisel0Caroline Leininger-Frézal1Oranim College of Education, Kiryat Tiv’on, IsraelUniversité Paris Cité, Paris, France The relationship between environmental issues and politics is underrepresented in geography curricula. This study explores the challenges associated with integrating environmental issues within a political framework in geography education and puts forward a case for their inclusion in teacher development. The present study is predicated on an analysis of the intended and the achieved curricula. A comparative analysis of the curricula, complemented by interviews with a total of 20 teachers, in France and Israel, led to the identification of common barriers. The analysis revealed that both countries' curricula incorporated environmental geopolitics and that the teachers recognised the link between environmental and political decisions. However, they mentioned few local political aspects, and most of them were unfamiliar with this connection from their prior studies. Despite the limited time allocated to the subject, teachers incorporated these topics out of a sense of mission. The paper proposes a model to facilitate the integration of environmental geopolitics into teaching practice. Highlights: • Teachers interviewed in France and Israel recognised links between the environment and politics. • There is no consensus on how to include these topics in the curriculum. • Israeli teachers discussed global politics more openly than French teachers. • French teachers focused on local issues, avoiding political aspects. • All the teachers required better training in geopolitics for effective teaching. • A theoretical model that would enable teachers to teach environmental geopolitics is proposed. https://eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/741Geography EducationEnvironmental StudiesGeopoliticsTeacher TrainingTeaching and Learning (T&L)
spellingShingle Tal Yaar-Waisel
Caroline Leininger-Frézal
Bridging Geopolitics and Environmental Issues in Geography Education: Exploratory Teachers’ Insights from France and Israel
European Journal of Geography
Geography Education
Environmental Studies
Geopolitics
Teacher Training
Teaching and Learning (T&L)
title Bridging Geopolitics and Environmental Issues in Geography Education: Exploratory Teachers’ Insights from France and Israel
title_full Bridging Geopolitics and Environmental Issues in Geography Education: Exploratory Teachers’ Insights from France and Israel
title_fullStr Bridging Geopolitics and Environmental Issues in Geography Education: Exploratory Teachers’ Insights from France and Israel
title_full_unstemmed Bridging Geopolitics and Environmental Issues in Geography Education: Exploratory Teachers’ Insights from France and Israel
title_short Bridging Geopolitics and Environmental Issues in Geography Education: Exploratory Teachers’ Insights from France and Israel
title_sort bridging geopolitics and environmental issues in geography education exploratory teachers insights from france and israel
topic Geography Education
Environmental Studies
Geopolitics
Teacher Training
Teaching and Learning (T&L)
url https://eurogeojournal.eu/index.php/egj/article/view/741
work_keys_str_mv AT talyaarwaisel bridginggeopoliticsandenvironmentalissuesingeographyeducationexploratoryteachersinsightsfromfranceandisrael
AT carolineleiningerfrezal bridginggeopoliticsandenvironmentalissuesingeographyeducationexploratoryteachersinsightsfromfranceandisrael