Environmental Citizenship in Primary Formal Education

The concept of Environmental Citizenship, as it has been developed in this project, calls for the development of specific awareness, attitudes, skills, behaviours and competences that need to be cultivated from early childhood for active civic participation. Primary formal education could provide opportunities for the achievement of these goals. In this chapter, we elaborate on how Environmental Citizenship, which provides the specifics of age and formal settings, could be approached and the educational strategies that could be recommended or avoided based on the existing literature. This chapter also provides an overview of the most important educational aims regarding the development of Environmental Citizenship in primary formal education. These include environmental sensitivity, a sense of justice, a basic understanding of ecological systems, necessary skills for the investigation of ecological and social phenomena, and action skills that relate to active participation in community issues. We suggest that successful educational interventions, integrated pedagogical approaches and key designing principles could promote Environmental Citizenship at primary schools. In addition, effective training and professional development programmes can equip teachers with the knowledge, values, skills and strategies necessary to implement Environmental Citizenship at this level

Beyond PISA: Schools as Contexts for the Promotion of Children’s Mental Health and Well-Being

Over the past couple of decades, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has gained an increasing role in shaping educational systems and policies across the world. PISA’s measurement of a limited range of cognitive abilities across cultures, however, promotes a narrow view of education, one that focuses primarily on preparing students for the economic market. This paper argues for a broader educational agenda—namely the formation of academically, socially, and emotionally literate young people who have the skills and emotional resilience necessary to navigate the uncertain of modern life. In addition, the role schools may have in promoting the well-being of children and young people is discussed, positioning the classroom teacher as an effective and caring educator in both academic and social and emotional learning. The paper proposes a multilevel, whole school, and school-based approach to social and emotional education. The final section discusses the role of school psychologists in the implementation of this framework, particularly at the universal, preventive level