Unearthing the Voices Within: Pre-service Teachers’ Critical Perspectives on the Climate Crisis through Photovoice

Abstract

The climate crisis has emerged as a pressing socio-environmental challenge that demands critical engagement from future educators. This qualitative study explored pre-service teachers’ critical perspectives on climate change through Photovoice, a participatory visual methodology that fosters reflection on lived community experiences. Nine pre-service teachers from a Philippine Center of Excellence in Teacher Education documented environmental conditions within their local communities through photographs and accompanying narratives that examined observed climate-related issues through the SHOWED technique. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, resulting in five interconnected themes: urbanization and heat island effects, deforestation and ecosystem degradation, waste burning and environmental pollution, drought and agricultural vulnerability, and flooding linked to infrastructure deficiencies. Findings indicate that participants conceptualized the climate crisis not merely as an environmental phenomenon but as a complex socio-ecological issue shaped by human activities, economic constraints, governance shortcomings, and community practices. Their narratives reflect the development of critical environmental consciousness, moving beyond descriptive observations toward deeper interrogation of the structural factors driving environmental degradation and climate vulnerability. Moreover, Photovoice functioned as both a research and pedagogical tool that enabled participants to bridge theoretical understandings of climate change with contextual realities in their communities. The study contributes to the growing literature on climate change education by demonstrating the value of participatory visual methodologies in cultivating environmental literacy, critical reflection, and climate-responsive pedagogical orientations among future educators. Integrating such approaches into teacher education programs may strengthen the capacity of pre-service teachers to engage learners in meaningful, locally grounded responses to climate and environmental challenges.