Engaging youth in the local environment. Promoting sustainability action competence in Danish high school teaching through citizen social science
Cathrine M. S. Winther, Michael Søgaard Jørgensen
IJAR – International Journal of Action Research, Issue 3-2023, pp. 238-260
Abstract: Many young individuals experience a sense of disconnection from their immediate environment, which adversely affects their engagement in civic activities. This article outlines experiences with a sustainability actionable approach in a Danish high school, and how it influenced young people’s understanding of the local environment. The study entails a threemonth collaboration with a teacher and 17 high school students in Copenhagen who were being trained as citizen social scientists. They investigated and proposed youth-friendly sustainable changes in the neighbourhood, which enhanced their sustainability action competence. The article discusses how an action-oriented framework may inspire high school teachers to incorporate citizen social science in planning education for sustainable development that supports youth civic engagement.
Keywords: Citizen social science, youth civic engagement, sustainability action competence
Desarrollando el compromiso de las personas jóvenes en el entorno local. Promoviendo competencias para la acción orientada a la sostenibilidad en la educación secundaria danesa a través de la ciencia social ciudadana
Resumen: Muchas personas jóvenes experimentan una sensación de desconexión de su entorno inmediato, lo que afecta negativamente su participación en actividades cívicas. Este artículo describe experiencias desarrolladas con un enfoque accionable de sostenibilidad en una escuela secundaria danesa y señala cómo influyó esta experiencia en la comprensión que las personas jóvenes tenían sobre el entorno local. El estudio se desarrolló a través de una colaboración de tres meses con una profesora y 17 estudiantes de secundaria en Copenhague, que se formaron en las ciencias sociales ciudadanas. Investigaron y propusieron cambios sostenibles que favorecían a las personas jóvenes de un vecindario, lo que mejoró su competencia en acciones para la sostenibilidad. El artículo analiza cómo un marco orientado a la acción puede inspirar al profesorado de secundaria a incorporar las ciencias sociales ciudadanas en la planificación de una educación para el desarrollo sostenible que apoye la participación cívica de las personas jóvenes.
Palabras clave: Ciencia social ciudadana, compromiso cívico de las personas jóvenes, competencias para la acción orientada a la sostenibilidad
1. Introduction
16% of the global population are young people aged 15–24 years. By 2030, the number is projected to increase by 7% to nearly 1.3 billion youths (Nations, n.d.). In recent years, dissatisfaction among youth has received attention, prompting a move to empower them as equal citizens (UN Press, n.d.). In 2022, Danish researchers found that the root of this dissatisfaction lies in societal pressures, including an accelerated education system and heightened expectations (Katznelson et al., 2021). According to Hartmut Rosa (2021), the constant acceleration of society is affecting our lives and can alienate us from our surroundings. He asserts that dissatisfaction is not due to a fragile psyche, but because youths are becoming aware that something is wrong with the way society is constructed (Politiken, n.d.). However, these pressures often leave youths with little time for local engagement, which has a negative effect on their sense of citizenship, belonging and recognition (Iwasaki, 2015; Simmons&Harding, 2011). At the same time, climate change is threatening human and nonhuman identities, and the latest IPCC report calls for urgent action (Langsdorf et al., 2022). Transitioning to a sustainable society requires, among others, engaging the youth and enabling them to take control of their future. Though young people have participated in activism against governments, many still feel powerless and resort to denial-like strategies to cope with climate change (Ojala, 2013). Therefore, it is necessary to investigate new methods for engaging the youth in sustainable development and their local environment.
This article explores how the educational system can serve as a platform to connect youth with their local environment, bolstering sustainability action competence and encouraging engagement. We define sustainability action competence, inspired by Jensen & Jørgensen (2002) and Mogensen & Schnack (2010), as a set of action-oriented and participatory components that foster an interconnected and motivating understanding of sustainability challenges and ability to act. We emphasise that sustainable development requires an understanding of environmental, social and economic perspectives.
Schools are considered essential for building skills and values related to sustainability (Bosevska & Kriewaldt, 2020; Wamsler, 2020), and since the Agenda 21 Report in 1992, suggested linking sustainable development to education, researchers have argued that using educational institutions to promote sustainable development is effective (UNESCO, n.d.). Particularly in high school (when students are aged 16–21 years in Denmark), young people are moulded into individuals and absorb a substantial amount of knowledge, which enables them to think critically (UBU, 2022). However, many young people lack knowledge about their local community. Therefore, active engagement in their neighbourhood can provide valuable insights, which they can reflect on (Gabrielsen & Korsager, 2018).
Educational institutions educate future citizens, giving them knowledge about how to behave in society. Though this is an essential skill, there is a lack of concrete action-oriented approaches in Danish high schools (Christensen et al., 2022). One way of creating actionoriented education is through action research. Conducting action research in educational settings is not new, but it can still be challenging for teachers to include it as an active part of the curriculum. Kemmis (2009) argue that action research can create collective self-transformation, i. e., the transformation of our practices, how we understand them and the conditions that enable or constrain them. Furthermore, engaging students in action research can empower them to influence their social conditions. This approach creates close connections between understanding and changing the world, where knowledge develops through creative processes and practice cycles (criticism, investigation, reflection, action) (Stoecker, 1999). The inclusion of citizens in research and decision-making processes, in particular, is valuable in action research to create more democratic research. Citizen science (CS) offers a framework that combines research and community engagement. CS has shown potential for transforming participants from data collectors into builders of community knowledge by applying action research methods (Evans-Agnew&Eberhardt, 2019). We argue that the framework of CS can help teachers develop students’ sustainability action competence through a framework that engages young people in their local surroundings. Increasing local awareness allows critical questions to be asked, which is essential for developing action competence (Mogensen & Schnack, 2010).
Our collaboration with a Danish high school experimented with an action-oriented didactic approach. However, the rigid Danish education system and time constraints pose challenges to changing teaching methods. Therefore, it is also relevant to investigate the potential of developing new teaching programs and curricula.
The article is organised as follows: Section 2 and 3 review the literature and concepts upon which the study is based. Section 2 discusses the challenges and opportunities in planning teaching for sustainable development. Section 3 explores the feasibility of using the citizen science framework, including citizen social science, to develop sustainability action competence. In section 4 we present the empirical background and describe the case study’s methods and data. Section 5 analyses the development of youths’ sustainability action competence and their relationship to the neighbourhood. Section 6 discusses the key considerations for supporting citizen social science as a means of developing sustainability action competence. Finally, section 7 presents some concluding remarks.
2. Planning education for sustainable development: Challenges and opportunities
When exploring the role teaching sustainability plays in fostering youth civic engagement, it is crucial to examine the key factors in planning education for sustainable development (ESD) and the associated challenges. When outlining the study, we draw inspiration from several models and studies that have guided our research process. In this section, we describe the importance of understanding sustainability as an interconnected whole, activating practiceoriented methods and action competence and integrating the local environment when planning ESD.
2.1 Fostering interconnected and practice-oriented sustainability understanding
In educational settings, there has been a tendency to primarily emphasise the environmental aspects of sustainability and overlook the social and economic dimensions. To address this limitation, the UN (UNESCO) introduced the ESD-approach, which advocates a comprehensive exploration of all three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social, economic) through the sustainable development goals in teaching. This approach facilitates interconnected learning, emphasising practical action and skill development (UNESCO, 2020). Particularly in Nordic countries, educators tend to adopt an environmental perspective, centering sustainability teaching around the climate and the environment. However, they assert the importance of students gaining a critical, systemic and action-oriented understanding of the world through all facets of sustainability (UBU, 2022). In our study, we applied qualitative methods to enable students to reflect on the interconnectedness of sustainability in a nature geography class.
Given the complexity of sustainability, teachers are uncertain about how to teach sustainable development in practice (Gabrielsen & Korsager, 2018). Usually, teachers have specific topics they need to cover, but teaching sustainable development requires equipping students with certain tools. Garbrielsen & Korsager (2018) analysed teachers’ experiences with handling the complexity of sustainable development and found that teaching unfamiliar subjects was challenging. Although the UN developed ESD to ease the educational transition, studies have shown that the approach needs to be more tangible. Christensen et al. (2022) discovered that teachers not only struggle to explain the complexity of sustainability but also face challenges relating climate issues to the students’ daily lives. Teaching sustainable development necessitates the adoption of new practice-oriented teaching methods. Furthermore, changes to the curriculum are imperative in order to incorporate a pedagogical approach that promotes hope, action skills and critical thinking (UBU, 2022). To address these challenges, we co-designed a course with a teacher using a structured framework and conducted reflection meetings throughout the collaboration.
2.2 The action competence approach: Motivating sustainability investigations
Mogensen & Schnack (2010) explored the action competence approach as a means of supporting ESD and promoting youths’ motivation to address sustainability challenges. Though they have an environmental focus, they discovered that adopting a problem-oriented perspective enhanced teaching, learning and reflection, which was crucial for fostering students’ capacity and enthusiasm for action. Central to developing action competence is the promotion of critical thinking. High school students, in particular, should acquire fundamental knowledge that enables them to take a stance on sustainability challenges (UBU, 2022). The ability to ask critical questions aligns with the elements of empowerment outlined by the Brazilian philosopher, Paulo Freire, who emphasises the importance of developing a critical awareness of social, political, and financial contradictions to combat oppression (Freire, 2017). Christensen et al. (2022) argue for the need for tools that encourage reflection and dialogue on sustainability challenges and potential solutions. By nurturing critical curiosity, young individuals can develop the competence required to address sustainability challenges and engage with the local environment.
Jensen & Jørgensen (2002) formulated a framework that elaborates the concept of nature and environmental competence. They highlight four essential components of environmental action competence: 1) Knowledge and insight; 2) visionary and critical thinking; 3) engagement, will, and courage and 4) the ability to interact. Knowledge and insight are vital for understanding the environmental and societal impacts of our actions, their causes, strategies for change and potential solutions ( Jensen & Jørgensen, 2002). The second component, visionary and critical thinking, enables the creation of novel solutions to problems. Engagement, will and courage are essential for building motivation and instilling belief in the potential impact of one’s action. The fourth component, the ability to interact, is integral for creating future visions through debate, feedback and the formation of social communities. Consequently, strengthening youths’ capacity to interact is crucial for developing action competence. In our research, we have drawn inspiration from the four components of nature and environmental competence, combining them with citizen social science and action research methods to provide a more concrete framework.
2.3 Leveraging the local environment for hands-on learning
Effective sustainability education often requires tangible hands-on experiences as some skills cannot be acquired through lecture-based methods alone (Wiek et al., 2014). One effective approach is to incorporate the local environment as an educational resource. Gabrielsen & Korsager (2018) explored the benefits of integrating the local environment into sustainability education, and found that it fostered a stronger connection to the community and facilitated authentic first-hand knowledge acquisition. However, using the local environment for sustainability teaching demands a deep connection to the area, particularly when addressing societal and environmental challenges (Gabrielsen & Korsager, 2018). A study in an American school that implemented a problem-based teaching approach in sustainability education revealed that students were very appreciative of collaborative experiences. Such experiences motivated them to participate and made sustainability a more concrete and relevant subject (Wiek et al., 2014). Therefore, it is interesting to further investigate the impact of collaboration in this context. Despite its long-standing tradition in natural science education, empirical studies on the local environment as a learning arena remain scarce (Gabrielsen & Korsager, 2018). Due to its relevance and positive influence on youths’ understanding of the local environment, we explore how local field studies can foster civic youth engagement and develop sustainability action competence.
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