Environmental citizenship in a Nordic civic and citizenship education context

Periodical
Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education
Volume
3
Year
2019
Issue number
1
Page range
88–104
Relates to study/studies
ICCS 2016

Environmental citizenship in a Nordic civic and citizenship education context

Abstract

This study uses data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016 (ICCS 2016) conducted in four Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden (students, N=18,962; teachers, N=6,119; school principals, N=630). We look at students’ attitudes, awareness, and behavior in relation to the educational goals and pedagogical means of teachers and school leaders working toward environmental citizenship. Drawing on the pragmatic framework of John Dewey and the contemporary experiential learning model, we identify some key school conditions and pedagogical approaches to education for environmental citizenship education. Based on the whole-school approach to environmental education, we seek to understand in what ways school environment and educational practices may positively affect student attitudes and behaviors that promote environmental citizenship. The objective is to identify the extent to which the school environment and citizenship educational activities are efficacious in fostering environmental citizenship attitudes and behaviors in students.