Résumés
Abstract
This article takes the form of a conversational text in which we as five adult educational researchers reflect on our varied and intersecting experiences in conducting eco-justice education research with elementary school students as co-researchers. Drawing on a theoretical and rhizomatic foundation of children’s rights, sociology of childhood, and eco-justice, we describe our engagement with a Grade 5/6 class on a participatory research project centered on vermicomposting. We situate ourselves within the action research spiral of ‘plan-act-reflect’ as we dialogue and think together about our experiences as co-researchers with students and look ahead to future opportunities to fully realize children’s rights and justice in environmental education and research. We center our discussion on three guiding questions: 1) What is eco-justice education and what might it look like within the context of participatory research with children? 2) How can adult researchers empower children’s autonomy and active citizenship in ecological research while engaging as co-researchers with them? 3) What are the strengths, challenges, and possibilities for children’s participation as eco-justice and climate action researchers? Our reflective text contributes to a body of knowledge around the meaningful engagement and empowerment of children in eco-justice and climate action explorations and activism.
Keywords:
- Action research,
- Children's rights,
- Climate education,
- Eco-justice,
- Environmental justice,
- Participatory research with children
Parties annexes
Bibliography
- Barratt Hacking, E., & Barratt, R. (2009). Children researching their urban environment: Developing a methodology. Education 3-13, 37(4), 371-383.
- Bowers, C. A. (2002). Toward an eco-justice pedagogy. Environmental Education Research, 8(1), 21-34.
- Breault, R. A. (2016). Emerging issues in duoethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(6), 777-794.
- Cahill, H., & Dadvand, B. (2018). Re-conceptualising youth participation: A framework to inform practice. Children and Youth Services Review, 95, 243-253.
- Chelstowski, A. (2012). Individualism, environmentalism and social change. Perspectives, 4(1), 12.
- Corsaro, W. A. (2015). The sociology of childhood. SAGE.
- Creswell, J. W., (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (3rd ed.). Pearson.
- Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Rousell, D. (2019). Education for what? Shaping the field of climate change education with children and young people as co-researchers. Children’s Geographies, 17(1), 90-104.
- Eco Research Organization & Jagger, S. (2025). "It's from a fresh perspective": Children's reflections on participation in ecological research and action. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 25(1), 3-28.
- Fekih Zguir, M., Dubis, S., & Koç, M. (2021). Embedding education for sustainable development (ESD) and SDGs values on curriculum: A comparative review on Qatar, Singapore, and New Zealand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 319, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128534
- Flutter, J., & Rudduck, J. (2004). Consulting pupils: What’s in it for schools? Taylor & Francis.
- Franks, M. (2011). Pockets of participation: Revisiting child-centred participation research. Children & Society, 25(1), 15–25.
- Gutierrez, R. (2013). The sociopolitical turn in mathematics education. Journal for the Research in Mathematics Education, 8(1), 37-68.
- Haluza-DeLay, R. (2013). Educating for environmental justice. International handbook of research on environmental education, 394-403.
- Hart. R. A. (1992). Children's participation: From tokenism to citizenship. UNICEF International Child Development Centre.
- Hart, R. A. (1997). Children's participation: The theory and practice of involving young citizens in community development and environmental care. Routledge.
- Hart, R. A., (2008). Stepping back from “The Ladder”: Reflections on a model of participatory work with children. In A. Reid, B. B. Jensen, J. Nikkel, & V. Simovska (Eds.), Participation and learning: Perspectives on education and the environment, health, and sustainability (pp. 19-31). Springer.
- Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R. E., Mayall, E. E., & Van Susteren, L. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: A global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863-e873.
- Holt, L. (2004). The ‘voices’ of children: De‐centring empowering research relations. Children's Geographies, 2(1), 13-27.
- Isin, E. F., & Nielsen, G. M. (Eds.). (2008). Acts of citizenship. Bloomsbury.
- Kellet, M. (2010). Small shoes, big steps! Empowering children as active researchers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 46(1-2), 195-203.
- Klein, J. T. (2013). The transdisciplinary moment(um). Integral Review, 9(2), 189–199.
- Kohfeldt, D., Chhun, L., Grace, S., & Langhout, R. D. (2011). Youth empowerment in context: Exploring tensions in school-based yPAR. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47, 28-45.
- Laenen, F. V. (2009). ‘I don’t trust you, you are going to tell’: Adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders participating in qualitative research. Child: Care, Health and Development, 35 (3), 323–329.
- Larkins, C. (2014). Enacting children’s citizenship: Developing understandings of how children enact themselves as citizens through actions and acts of citizenship. Childhood, 21(1), 7-21.
- Leicht, A., Heiss, J., & Won, J. B. (2018). Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development. UNESCO.
- Lowenstein, E., Martusewicz, R., & Voelker, L. (2010). Developing teachers' capacity for ecojustice education and community-based learning. Teacher Education Quarterly, 37(4), 99-118.
- Lundy, L. (2007). ‘Voice’ is not enough: Conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), 927-942.
- Mayall, B. (2000). The sociology of childhood in relation to children’s rights. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 8, 243-259.
- Martusewicz, R., & Edmundson, J. (2005). Social foundations as pedagogies of responsibility and eco-ethical commitment. In D. W. Butin (Ed.), Teaching social foundations of education: Contexts, theories, and issues (pp. 71–92). Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Martusewicz, R., Edmundson, J., & Lupinacci, J. (2015). EcoJustice education: Toward diverse, democratic, and sustainable communities. Routledge.
- Merchant, C. (2012). Radical ecology: The search for a livable world. Routledge.
- Mordock, K., & Krasny, M. E. (2001). Participatory action research: A theoretical and practical framework for environmental education. Journal of Environmental Education, 32(3), 15-20.
- Morgan, D. L., & Nica, A. (2020). Iterative thematic inquiry: A new model for analyzing qualitative data. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, 1-11.
- Mueller, M. P. (2009). Educational reflections on the “ecological crisis”: Ecojustice, environmentalism, and sustainability. Science & Education, 18, 1031-1056.
- Nepraš, K., Strejčková, T., & Kroufek, R. (2022). Climate change education in primary and lower secondary education: Systematic review results. Sustainability, 14(22), 14913.
- Nolan, C. (2012). Shaping the education of tomorrow: 2012 report on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. UNESCO.
- Ontario Ministry of Education. (2023). The Ontario curriculum, grades 1-8: Language. https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-language
- Pihkala, P. (2020). Eco-anxiety and environmental education. Sustainability, 12(23), 10149.
- Pohl, C. (2010). From transdisciplinarity to transdisciplinary research. Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & Science, 1(1), 74–83.
- Radakovic, N., Jagger, S., Matheson, I., Crump, H., & Carlton, C. (2025, April 23). Empowering children as researchers: Toward ecojustice in participatory research [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
- Radakovic, N., O'Byrne, W. I., & Littlejohn, C. (2022). Toward transdisciplinarity: Constructing meaning where disciplines intersect, combine, and shift. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 71(1), 398-417.
- Robottom I., & Sauvé, L. (2003). Reflecting on participatory research in environmental education: Some issues for methodology. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 8, 11-120.
- Rittel, H. W. J., & Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4, 155–169.
- Sandler, R. D., & Pezzullo, P. C. (Eds.). (2007). Introduction: Revisiting the environmental justice challenge to environmentalism. In R. D. Sandler & P. C. Pezzullo (Eds.), Environmental justice and environmentalism: The social justice challenge to the environmental movement. (pp. 1-24). MIT press.
- Schatz, K. (2021). Where we stand: The integration of climate change education in Canadian schools. British Columbia Council for International Cooperation.
- Schraw, G., Dunkle, M. E., & Bendixen, L. D. (1995). Cognitive processes in well-defined and ill-defined problem solving. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 9(6), 523-538.
- Shellenberger, M., & Nordhaus, T. (2009). The death of environmentalism. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 1(1), 121-163.
- Shier, H. (2001). Pathways to participation: Openings, opportunities and obligations: A new model for enhancing children’s participation in decision-making, in line with Article 12.1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children & Society, 15, 107-117.
- Sultana, F. (2022). The unbearable heaviness of climate coloniality. Political Geography, 99, 102638.
- Todres, J. (2023). Youth voice matters: The critical nature of youth participation in achieving the right to a healthy environment. Northeastern University Law Review, 15(2), 763-777.
- Trott, C. (2019). Reshaping our world: Collaborating with children for community-based climate change action. Action Research, 17(1), 42-62.
- United Nations (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/crc.pdf
- United Nations. (n.d.) The future we want. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/733FutureWeWant.pdf.
- Vaughn, L. M., & Jacquez, F. (2020). Participatory research methods – Choice points in the research process. Journal of Participatory Research Methods, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.35844/001c.13244
- Westheimer, J., & Kahne, J. (2004). What kind of citizen? The politics of educating for democracy. American Educational Research Journal, 41(2), 237-269.
- Wiseman D., & Lunney-Borden L. (2018). Echoed rememberings: Considering mathematics and science as reconciliation. In L. Jao & N. Radakovic (Eds.), Transdisciplinarity in mathematics education: Blurring disciplinary boundaries (pp. 175–192). Springer.
- Zellner M., Campbell S. D. (2015). Planning for deep-rooted problems: What can we learn from aligning complex systems and wicked problems? Planning Theory & Practice, 16(4), 457–478.