“We do this for the environment to feel good” : children’s perspectives of environmental education

Abstract: This study investigates two schools, which are a part of Keep Sweden Tidy’s environmental education program, Green Flag. One goal of environmental education is for its participants to adopt pro-environmental behaviors. The Green Flag program aims for schools to adopt sustainable development goals, to assist the school to actively work towards these goals, and to give children a voice in environmental questions. I compared two schools by looking at the children’s perspectives of this program. This study calls on practice theory in order to compare the practices in place at each school and discern what is necessary for the children to feel that the practices are meaningful for them, in that they can reflect upon the meaning of the practice, they feel enabled, have influence, and a mandate of agency in environmental questions. With this study, I found that certain environmental practices are more successful at engaging children in environmental questions. Practices that have transformed from a dispersed to an integrated practice were more successful in enabling the children to feel that they had influence in the practice and a strong mandate of agency. Also, I found that practices that have been in place for a longer period of time have structures that are more well-defined, which constrained the children and hindered their mandate of agency in the practice and their engagement. On the other hand, practices with a newer structure enabled the children to act and in turn they felt that they had a strong mandate of agency to influence the practice. Last, the environmental practices that influenced the children’s behavior outside of school where the ones in which they felt that they had influence and a strong mandate of agency.