Purpose This paper aims to examine a pedagogical approach to teaching climate change at the fifth-grade level, centered on storytelling, futures thinking and collective action. The climate change unit is designed with place-based framing to help students envision desired futures and understand how communities can adapt to climate impacts. The integration of science learning with sustainability competencies enables students’ personal experiences to be connected with broader environmental issues. Design/methodology/approach The study is an illustrative case study of the teaching approach under investigation. It is a collaboratively developed, project-based unit implemented in New Orleans, USA. The instructional design uses students’ personal stories of climate-related disasters (e.g. floods, hurricanes, extreme heat) as anchoring phenomena. Across five lessons, students engage in storytelling, scientific sensemaking about climate mechanisms (e.g. sea level rise) and futures thinking by predicting possible, probable and preferred outcomes and by proposing adaptive solutions. Findings Using examples from the classroom, the authors show how the lesson sequence with the storytelling approach supported students in connecting lived experiences to scientific concepts, fostering deeper understanding of climate change and its local impacts. The authors use case study to demonstrate the practical application of the design to illustrate how the approach encouraged systems thinking by having students evaluate individual versus collective action. Students were supported to envision adaptive futures and propose community-based solutions, highlighting the value of integrating personal relevance with science learning. Teachers learned about science of climate change and described their students as unusually engaged. Originality/value This work is distinctive in its integration of storytelling, place-based education and futures thinking within elementary science. It foregrounds students’ lived experiences and storytelling as central to climate learning and emphasizes collective action and community adaptation. These approaches are often underrepresented in K-12 climate curricula, and the need for them is particularly pressing in regions severely impacted by climate change.
Purpose Demands for diversity recognition and equal opportunities are increasing in German higher education, accompanied by growing research interest in diversity climate and discrimination. Diversity climate refers to the collective perception of how diversity is acknowledged and integrated within organisations. This study aims to examine whether perceptions of diversity climate are influenced by individuals’ diversity characteristics and/ or their experiences of discrimination. Design/methodology/approach Cross-sectional data from students (N = 473) at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, Germany were collected via an online survey. Analyses included descriptive statistics, Mann–Whitney U test, Spearman’s correlation, analysis of variance and ordinal logistic regression to examine how diversity characteristics and discrimination experiences relate to students’ perceptions of the diversity climate. Findings Significant correlations were found between several diversity characteristics and discrimination experiences, and between discrimination experiences and perceptions of diversity climate (p < 0.001). In contrast, no significant associations emerged between diversity characteristics and diversity climate. Regression identified discrimination experience as a key predictor of diversity climate [odds ratio (ORs): 1.97, 95%, CI: 0.266–1.086, p = 0.001], explaining 6% of its variance (R2 = 0.06). Originality/value Students’ perceptions of the diversity climate are primarily shaped by their experiences of discrimination rather than by their diversity characteristics. These findings highlight the need for higher education institutions to move beyond symbolic diversity commitments and implement structural, anti-discriminatory measures that address the lived experiences of exclusion and foster a genuinely inclusive academic environment.
Purpose This study aims to examine how the 2025 Thai–Cambodian border conflict disrupted education in four northeastern Thai provinces, documents governance failures that produced compounded harm for cross-border Cambodian and Khmer-speaking students and proposes the resilient education system in conflict and uncertainty environments (RESCUE) Model for inclusive, resilient education in conflict-affected, culturally diverse settings. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative design using thematic analysis of 28 semi-structured interviews with education administrators, supervisors, school administrators, teachers and parents (Thai and Cambodian). Interview guides drew on the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Minimum Standards, Educational Resilience Theory and Banks’ multicultural education framework. Trustworthiness was established through triangulation, documentary source quality assessment and expert validation. Findings Four governance failures caused systemic harm: disrupted learning continuity; inadequate psychosocial support; absence of a national education continuity policy; and institutional invisibility of cross-border Cambodian students in emergency systems built around the Thai-speaking majority. The RESCUE Model addresses all four failures. Research limitations/implications Bounded fieldwork and purposive sampling limit generalisability; the model requires piloting in comparable multicultural contexts. Practical implications The model offers a replicable, bilingual, culturally responsive governance template for national, service-area and school levels. Social implications The model challenges the assumption that citizenship is a prerequisite for educational protection in conflict, aligning with SDG 4, 10 and 16. Originality/value Drawing on field data collected immediately after the 2025 conflict and during early recovery (August–November 2025), this study documents how multilingual and cross-border learners are rendered invisible by monoculturally designed emergency systems, and proposes RESCUE, embedding multicultural and multilingual responsiveness as a core design principle at every governance level.
Purpose This study examines how lecturers in a Brazilian public university perceive English-medium instruction (EMI) and the development of intercultural competence (IC) within their teaching. It aims to understand the importance they assign to IC, the challenges they encounter and the types of institutional support they consider necessary for integrating IC into EMI. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on data from an online questionnaire completed by 31 lecturers across multiple disciplinary fields. Closed-ended items generated descriptive statistics on language use and proficiency, while open-ended responses underwent qualitative content analysis, combining deductive and inductive coding procedures. The instrument was part of a larger project that collected comparable data in Brazil and Portugal. Findings EMI use was selective and concentrated in course materials, readings and slides rather than full English-medium course delivery. Lecturers identified insufficient English proficiency, lack of training, limited institutional policies and restricted opportunities for intercultural exposure as major barriers. They viewed IC as a multidimensional competence encompassing educational, social and professional dimensions. Participants emphasized the need for continuous pedagogical training, sustained language support and institutional recognition of EMI- and IC-related work. Practical implications Findings highlight the urgency of coordinated institutional policies, integrated EMI–IC professional development, expanded language support and opportunities for intercultural engagement to sustain EMI initiatives in Brazilian higher education. Originality/value This study provides one of the few empirical examinations of how Brazilian lecturers conceptualize IC within EMI practice. It offers context-specific insights into how structural inequalities and limited institutional frameworks shape EMI adoption in public, tuition-free systems.
Purpose This perspective paper aims to examine the recent de-escalation and decline of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)/DEIB initiatives in education by analyzing developments under the current U.S. presidency and the past 15 years of the Orbán government in Hungary. By identifying parallels, contextual factors and potential consequences, the paper explores what opportunities remain for educators committed to equity and outlines directions for informed, context-sensitive professional action. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory study used a mixed-methods approach, drawing primarily on secondary literature from social sciences, political studies and education. US sources included academic publications, social media and news outlets, while Hungarian data came from research reports and scholarly studies. Using qualitative content analysis, this study identified and coded texts related to the decline of DEI/DEIB, compared themes across the two contexts, and integrated insights from our own classroom research and intercultural practice. Findings The analysis reveals a marked de-escalation of DEI/DEIB in the US, reflected in policy rollbacks, curriculum restrictions, weakened civil rights protections, and a shift toward merit-only frameworks that sideline marginalized groups. Strikingly parallel patterns appear in Hungary, where centralized governance, ideological control, declining educational quality, and growing inequalities illustrate the long-term consequences of dismantling equity infrastructures. Together, the cases highlight how rapid or prolonged anti-DEI measures erode inclusion, mobility and democratic educational values. Practical implications The paper highlights ways teachers can respond to the decline of DEI by fostering dialogue, applying critical and cooperative pedagogies, and building inclusive, intercultural classroom practices. It emphasizes teacher agency in creating desegregated and collaborative learning environments, despite restrictive systemic contexts. Social implications The analysis reveals that weakening DEI exacerbates social division, restricts mobility, and erodes democratic values. Strengthening community–school partnerships and collective action is essential to counter exclusionary narratives and support more equitable, cohesive and culturally responsive educational ecosystems. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is original in its cross-national comparison of the rapid rollback of DEI in the United States with Hungary’s longer-term, systemic dismantling of equity structures. Linking these two contexts provides a rare, forward-looking warning about potential future trajectories in the US. It offers a unique framework for teacher-driven, cooperative and intercultural responses to counter declining inclusion.
