Results of the survey on climate change to education and vocational training students

The main objective of the #me#us#now project is to counteract the effects of climate change in a sustainable and participative way, based on common green values. The project focuses on low-skilled young people aged between 15 and 30 in vocational education and training (VET), and VET professionals across Europe.

The first result of the project was the redaction of a research report based on the findings of a survey, which was directed to VET learners and educators. The survey was meant to collect relevant national information on the target groups to understand their perspective, needs and awareness of on topics such as climate change, sustainability, and their self-efficacy.

A summary of findings from the survey reveals that Italian learners perceive climate change as an urgent topic, but less than a half of them defines it worrying and having an impact on them, demonstrating a lack of commitment and awareness about it. The main sources of information through which the learners keep themselves updated about climate change are social medias and TV news. The students’ knowledge about the United Nations SDGs is partial since still more than 40% of the respondents does not know them or is unsure about it. Last, from the survey it was possible to discover that Italian learners perceive transports, plastic, and waste management as core issues of climate change.

Secondly, it is quite evident that the learners seem to prefer to talk about climate change with people who are closer to them, such as their friends and families, and sometimes with their classmates as well. Regarding their perceptions, they clearly state that the climate change issue that affects their communities the most is pollution, followed by extreme weather patterns. The communities they live in are described as inactive against climate issues from more than a 40% of the learners, whereas a similar percentage indicates a medium responsiveness. Moreover, when asked which the most suitable actors are to mobilise against climate change, the learners mentioned political groups, businesses, and educational institutions. 

Finally, concerning education, the three topics on which the learners would like to learn more are pollution, climate change in general, and renewable energy. Furthermore, between the possible activities to implement in order to acquire this knowledge, they mostly indicated classroom-based activities (as workshops), and documentaries or podcasts, but also other alternatives (study visits to groups, meeting with like-minded people, getting involved in a project).

In general, it is possible to notice that Italian learners consider the action to contrast climate change to be mainly individualistic, since the activities they affirm to be more likely to do are the ones concerning their own personal lifestyles. Lastly, the data concerning the learners’ confidence in their ability to affect climate change show that more than a half of them do not think, or is not sure, they can have an effective impact on climate change.