1. Editorial Introduction.docx Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE), Volume 26, Issue 2, Special Issue 2025 Editorial Introduction Climate Change, Migration, and Conflict: Lessons in Education Sara Pan-Algarra Teachers College, Columbia University The Special Issue on Climate Change, Migration, and Conflict: Lessons in Education commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. In 2015, 196 Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Conference adopted a treaty to hold the increase in global average temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and limit the rise to 1.5°C. Given the relevance of this international agreement and the vital role education plays in fostering knowledge about the effects of climate change, we invited potential contributors to reflect on what has been undertaken in education and what could be done differently to protect Mother Earth. We raised manifold questions, including: What is the relationship between education and climate change? What are the direct and indirect links between internal or international conflicts with environmental damage, and how do these intersections relate to education? To what extent do migration policies and projects in education account for the impacts of climate change on the lives of internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrants? What perspectives do Indigenous epistemologies bring to education, considering climate change, migration, and conflict at policy, curriculum, and pedagogy levels? How is environmental justice interconnected with educational justice? Upon a thorough review, the editorial board curated 12 publications from authors in Comparative and International Education (CIE) and other fields that examine these areas of inquiry in different contexts and from a wide range of theoretical perspectives. This Special Issue was an opportunity to explore intersections between conflict and climate change with an emphasis on education, as well as a chance to dive deeper into educational research about how climate change can interrelate with migration. The manuscripts discuss lessons in education concerning climate change, migration, and conflict at various scales (personal, local, regional, and global). While some explore the historical progress in international agreements on climate change that are relevant to education policy and practice, other authors analyze primary data about the experiences of teachers vis-à-vis climate change education. We organized the Special Issue into 3 sections: articles, essays, and book reviews. The first part includes 6 research articles applying quantitative and qualitative data to address questions on the intersection between education and climate change. Some make direct references to climate displacement and conflict. Oren Pizmony-Levy and Sarah Alice Wagner recognize the urgency to address the impacts of anthropogenic climate change. They argue that climate change education promotes climate action and © 2025, Pan-Algarra. CC BY 4.0. Current Issues in Comparative Education 26(2), 4-7. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en Pan-Algarra that teachers are central to the development and implementation of climate change education. Through a partnership between Teachers College, Columbia University, and the New York City Public Schools, the research studies teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices on climate change and education in New York City, offering policy recommendations based on first-hand data. Key findings include high concern and negative emotions about climate change. Pizmony-Levy and Wagner (2025) identify that the school time devoted to climate change education has increased, but teachers continue to perceive the topic as one relevant to the STEM curriculum. Muhammad Arif, Aneta Ismail, and Yao Jia Li examine teacher resilience, coping strategies, and education continuity across primary schools after the 2022 Balochistan floods in Pakistan. Analyzing data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups (n=15), Arif and colleagues (2025) discuss how teachers changed their teaching methodologies, managed their emotions, faced psychological barriers, and used community resources to overcome the impacts of the floods in their classrooms and beyond. The study is critical for post-disaster recovery in Pakistan, as it sheds light on the different challenges rural and urban educators confront, and the importance of fostering emotional regulation tools and social support networks for teachers. Tien Pham focuses on the impacts of climate change and climate displacement on children’s education. Considering a Human Rights-based Approach (HRBA) framework and work in Education in Emergencies, Pham (2025) combines literature and policy about the barriers climate-displaced students confront to access and remain in education. A section is devoted to gendered vulnerabilities, exploring literature on the effects of climate change and displacement on girls’ education. Lauren Madden analyzes interviews and classroom observations with 50 teachers in New Jersey (NJ), as NJ was the first state in the United States (U.S.) to implement learning standards that support climate change education K-12 across all subject areas during the 2022-2023 academic year. Madden (2025) finds that the principal mode of professional learning about climate change among teachers was self-directed. Some attended specific workshops or webinars. Many educators did not receive formal training beyond the introduction of climate change standards. The study calls for comprehensive and official professional development incorporating best practices about how and what to teach about climate change in NJ K-12 classrooms. Sarah Marie Kistner and Maha Shoaib exemplify how a collaborative autoethnography on the intersection of environmental crises, individual experiences, and education between two teachers in Pakistan and the U.S. can offer relevant insights on the intimate effects of disasters in the lives and work of teachers. Upon narrating their experiences with two distinct disasters, Kistner and Shoaib (2025) advocate for climate-just education, considering trauma-informed pedagogies and climate-responsive curricula. They discuss how the Butterfly Hug Technique, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and Yoga Nidra can support teachers and students to cultivate emotional resilience after Current Issues in Comparative Education 5 Editorial Introduction a disaster. The last article in this section by Tianshu Chen and Debojyoti Das is a qualitative case study about the impact of the 1.5 MAX initiative on climate change education across secondary schools in Malawi, applying an Education for Sustainable Development framework and decolonial theory. Since Indigenous knowledges are disregarded in Malawi’s curricula, Chen and Das (2025) call for the integration of Indigenous knowledges in local schools when educating students about climate change and environmental sustainability. The second section includes 4 essays discussing topics ranging from decolonial educational ecologies in CIE, the Just Transition, to a critical analysis of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Education for Sustainable Development 2030 Framework. Benjamin D. Scherrer and tavis d. jules explore methods to study the intersections between climate change and education. Scherrer and jules (2025) reconsider “educational approaches that do not rely on endless economic growth, extraction, and accumulation through dispossession” (p. 153). They question discourses about climate solutions, shedding light on the absence of Black and Indigenous knowledge systems and cosmologies in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Applying a decolonial educational ecology framework, both scholars highlight the importance of “creating alternative pathways toward more sustainable, just futures” (Scherrer & jules, 2025, p. 153). The second essay by Catherine Wong overviews the trajectory of international agreements on climate change, climate displacement, and conflict to discuss limited climate financing in countries confronting environmental challenges the most. Wong’s analysis shows that without investments in capacity development and education, the implementation of climate agreements will not be sustainable or effective. Radhika Iyengar, Syed Nitas Iftekhar, Matthew Witenstein, and Karen Chand write about how the concept of ecopedagogy and grassroots work relate to climate justice and are essential for a Just Transition (JT). JT refers to approaches to guarantee integration of all members of society, and their livelihoods in sustainable development. The last essay in the Special Issue by Srinitya Duvvuri proposes a critical analysis of the UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development 2030 Framework (ESD 2030). ESD 2030 is a roadmap for countries to incorporate education for sustainable development across schools, universities, and other professional learning sectors. The third part of the Special Issue comprises two book reviews; one by Debojyoti Das, who explores anthropologist Peter Sutoris' book on Educating for the Anthropocene: Schooling and activism in the face of slow violence (2022). Jun Kajee presents a book review about The Ages of globalization: Geography, technology, and institutions (2020) by economist Jeffrey D. Sachs. The reviewers emphasize how these books can aid educators and students in understanding the links between globalization and climate change. *** 6 Current Issues in Comparative Education Pan-Algarra I take the opportunity in this editorial introduction to highlight CICE’s achievements during the 2024-2025 academic year. In terms of publications, we successfully published two Special Issues, one dedicated to Human Rights in Comparative and International Education. Regarding our digital presence, a key development was the launch of our new website available in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. CICE completed its application for the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and we transferred CICE: The Podcast to a Columbia University Library Podcast. Our podcast is featured on Spotify and Apple, and our social media engagement was substantially enhanced across Facebook, Instagram, and X. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the voluntary contributions of 21 graduate students from Teachers College, Columbia University. I hope that CICE will continue to publish work that challenges and advances, in exciting ways, difficult and important conversations in CIE. CICE is a vital platform for rigorous critical inquiry and collaborative exchanges for scholars and practitioners worldwide to reflect on the past, present, and future of education. Serving as the editor-in-chief this year has been an honor, and I extend my best wishes to the incoming leadership team. Acknowledgments I would like to thank Professor Regina Cortina at Teachers College, Columbia University, CICE’s Student-led Executive Board, CICE’s International Advisory Board, the authors in this Special Issue, Esther M. Jackson and Kathryn Pope at the Columbia University Libraries, as well as everyone else who contributed to CICE this academic year. Sara Pan-Algarra is a doctoral candidate in Comparative and International Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Pan-Algarra is the editor-in-chief of CICE (2024-2025). Contact Information For CICE-related matters, questions about upcoming publications, submission guidelines, and opportunities to be featured in our podcast, please contact cice@tc.columbia.edu. 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