eprintid: 10205214
rev_number: 10
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/20/52/14
datestamp: 2025-02-25 09:44:19
lastmod: 2025-02-25 09:53:39
status_changed: 2025-02-25 09:44:19
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Higham, Rupert
creators_name: Kitson, Alison
creators_name: Sharp, Sarah
title: ‘What do I do? Save the environment or let children go hungry?’ Leading English schools at a time of climate crisis
ispublished: inpress
divisions: UCL
divisions: B16
divisions: B14
divisions: J82
note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: Our analysis of interviews with 10 headteachers of English secondary schools (11-18 years) shows they are keenly aware of the importance of climate change and sustainability issues but are not always able to translate this recognition into action within their schools. Carried out in the summer of 2022, just after the Department for Education’s first Strategy for Climate Change and Sustainability was published, the interviews explored headteachers’ thoughts and actions in response to the climate and ecological crises. Surprising aspects of their responses led us to distinguish in our analysis between ‘surface’ and ‘latent’ meanings. The former revealed competing priorities and a lack of personal expertise that undermine their sense of agency and, in some cases, lead to an over-reliance on a committed individual elsewhere in the school. The latter revealed defensiveness in justifying their alignment with government-led priorities and a sense for some that the interview itself was creating a space to think about these issues properly for the first time. Together, they showed headteachers making painful moral choices between perceived short-term systemic demands and the long-term well-being of students and society.
date: 2025
date_type: published
publisher: Taylor & Francis
official_url: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/tedl20
full_text_type: other
language: eng
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2364158
doi: 10.1080/13603124.2025.2472393
lyricists_name: Higham, Rupert
lyricists_id: RJEHI75
actors_name: Higham, Rupert
actors_id: RJEHI75
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: restricted
publication: International Journal of Leadership in Education
issn: 1360-3124
citation:        Higham, Rupert;    Kitson, Alison;    Sharp, Sarah;      (2025)    ‘What do I do? Save the environment or let children go hungry?’ Leading English schools at a time of climate crisis.                   International Journal of Leadership in Education        10.1080/13603124.2025.2472393 <https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2025.2472393>.    (In press).   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10205214/1/Higham_Higham%2C%20Kitson%20and%20Sharp%20-%20Headteachers%20leading%20Climate%20Change%20education.pdf