In this communication, the Australian authors – two Indigenous women and one woman with Anglo-Celtic ancestry – take us into Western Australian Indigenous language and worldviews, to help us reach toward a regenerative worldview. Indigenous words such as rinyi, pirlirr, and liyan are explored to point us in a direction unfamiliar to many English speakers, to Land and Country as living and responsive. The authors notice that it is very difficult to describe these terms in English, because English language does not seem sufficiently capacious to describe the depth of relational being-with Country that Indigenous languages portray. This may be changing, as various Indigenous and place-based groups publish their messages to the world. Within a methodology that is poetic and ontological, a storying method is used to illustrate elements of an Indigenous regenerative worldview that highlights the lyrics of life, for hope. It is for change agents who want to be transformative of the ways they participate with Country; and enable children to learn.

This paper shares a heuristic to support thinking about meaningful transformative education within the context of the contemporary environmental and social crisis. We describe the context of this work and explore the epistemological foundations for this model, which has been evolving and guiding our research and teaching and which underpins the six qualities of meaningful transformative education. The qualities are being open to alternative visions of the future and alternative approaches to education, accepting and embracing complexity, incorporating multiple types of knowledge, reorienting towards justice, developing ecological worldviews and supporting students to bring about systemic change. We also present a series of illustrative vignettes, informed by real-world practices of schools in England, which bring these qualities to life. The vignettes and subsequent discussion highlight possibilities and challenges for enacting a meaningful transformative education in schools.

This article explores the extent students’ environmental values are informed through a socioecological learning framework when a deep-time universe hi/story is integrated with environmental education and local cultural origins in the primary school curriculum. The research concept grew from teacher observations that students addressed sustainability from a fragmented action approach, rather than incorporating a lifelong learning and wider worldview of past, present and possible future environmental changes. The research was conducted with 8–9-year-old students during a 17-week transdisciplinary pedagogical intervention, adapted for primary-aged students, from an educational evidence-based, online Big History Project, empowering young learners to engage in transformative thinking and to add their voices as co-researchers. Additional data was collected from the same co-researcher and student cohort two years later. The research findings over the two years remain significant, where students continued to discuss the environment and sustainability in the context of a child-framed deep learning pedagogy framework of the changing 13.8-billion-year universe story. If this original research is to remain significant, further research and programming need to be undertaken with students and educators, to ensure that the value of deep-time hi/story is embedded at all levels of the education continuum, including primary-aged students.

Within environmental education research, there is an ongoing interest in trying to understand what factors might lead to pro-environmental action and pro-environmental behaviours. This study explores the relationship between environmental attitudes and self-perceived action competence for sustainability by combining a questionnaire measuring self-perceived action competence for sustainability (SPACS-Q) with a questionnaire measuring environmental attitudes, the 2 factor Model of Environmental Values (2-MEV-Q), among 236 primary school student teachers in France. Our results show that the SPACS-Q adapted to the French context is largely valid within this sample and that the factor Preservation in the 2-MEV model is a predictor for SPACS. This connection is strongest for the factor Willingness to act. Likewise, we conclude that age impacts the SPACS factor Confidence in one’s own influence, whereas other variables such as training in sustainable development issues do not impact any of the SPACS factors. The study provides some insights into how self-perceived action competence and pro-environmental attitudes might be promoted through education.

In this paper, we focus on a particular example of human–wildlife conflict involving Dungalaba (Dungalaba, Saltwater Crocodile, C. porosus — this paper will interchange between the various names of the species. It is preferred to us various names as we would like to acknowledge the various ways in which people come to understand and recognise the species) (Saltwater Crocodile) in the Northern Territory, Australia. We seek to both better understand and improve relationships with such potentially dangerous animals, positioning this as an educational endeavour. Drawing upon interviews with a small number of relevant stakeholders, we utilise storytelling as a method for informing contemporary relationships with Dungalaba. The method of storytelling has been used effectively by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years to pass teachings of our older people for the benefit of future generations. During interviews, research participants told stories of their lived experiences, which informed the creation of narratives that depict current relationships of conflict and past relationships of harmony. We discuss these narratives and how they may educate for respectful interactions and mutually beneficial coexistence between humans and Dungalaba. This paper contributes to the growing body of work that embraces Indigenous ways of knowing for improved environmental relations. Furthermore, this paper offers specific possibilities for the use storytelling as a tool within crocodile safety education programs within the Northern Territory.

This article explores the potentials of intergenerational collaboration as a long-term research strategy for shifting social and political imaginaries around climate change. It brings together academics and youth researchers who began working together on the Climate Change and Me project in 2014, along with colleagues who joined them for a public panel, book launch and exhibition ten years later. Climate Change and Me was the first large-scale study of climate change education applying a child- and youth-framed methodology, and has led to numerous exhibitions, curriculum resources, digital platforms, and publications co-created with children and young people. This article gives voice to young people’s reflections on the impact of their involvement with this project a decade on, drawing on the transcript of a public panel conversation at the Design Hub Gallery in Naarm (Melbourne). It explores how young people’s early experiences as child researchers have intersected with political, social and educational change across time, while opening new conversations with intergenerational colleagues working in related areas of climate justice education, activism and research.

Amid profoundly unstable and vulnerable times, conventional education systems continue to reflect the dominant ideology in modernity that has contributed to the current global polycrisis. This study explores how educators engage in vernacular pedagogical practices, locally grounded, relational and often situated outside standard curricula, that act as counterpoints to the conventional constraints using a Place-Based Education (PBE) approach. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 14 educators from the Southeast Michigan Stewardship (SEMIS) Coalition, the research investigates how educators experience job satisfaction, define their roles and navigate tensions between dominant norms and community-rooted learning. Findings suggest that educators embrace indeterminism as a source of creativity, responsiveness and growth, weaving together interlaced strands of personal, cultural and ecological meaning in their vernacular pedagogical practices. Educators carve out alternative ways of knowing and relating, positioning PBE as a cultural stance that enables responsive, locally rooted reform amid today’s complex, uncertain and interconnected crises.

This paper shares how a river-walking project in early childhood education created and experimented with two practices diffractively as an effort to do research differently. The year-long study, situated in Western Australia, explored river-child relations while walking with Derbarl Yerrigan/Swan River and was interested in decentring the human and attuning to more-than-human relations through situated practices. Using a feminist environmental framework this project took a non-representational approach to analysing data through two intra-related diffractive concepts: re-turning and re-membering. These concepts grounded the two practices, audiowalking and micromapping, and helped to shape the various forms of experimentation for a diffractive approach to analysis. Audiowalking is a practice that involved creating narrated audio recordings while walking with an intention of layering data from the present with pasts and futures. Micromapping is an embodied and performative practice that reimagined and unsettled place and space through mapping emotional encounters, river relations and the more-than-human. This paper shows how environmental education researchers, particularly those conducting place-based research, can approach research analysis diffractively to disrupt colonial ways of knowing, being and doing research through two practices that take a non-linear conceptualisation of time, embody data and research with worlds.

In an era marked by mounting global challenges, education is often envisioned as an agent of transformative action towards a more sustainable future. This research seeks to delve into the students’ perceptions concerning competencies for sustainability in Physical Education Teacher Education. Adopting a qualitative approach, a non-probabilistic purposive sample of 57 students (35 males, 22 females, mean age: 21.2 ± 3.2 years) was recruited. Data collection comprised semi-structured interviews. Analysis was facilitated through Atlas.ti v.7.5.18, abiding by established qualitative research paradigms. Participants emphasised the intrinsic value of an interdisciplinary approach. The study discerned a strong inclination towards cooperative and introspective tasks. Moreover, this exploration offers valuable insights for academic institutions, suggesting integrative strategies for environmental education. Therefore, these findings invite to adapt curricular designs, ensuring that educators are aptly prepared to respond the multifaceted challenges of the 21st century, driving our collective stride towards a sustainable, equitable future.

This study examined the impact of a short-term climate literacy (CL) course on pre-service teachers (PSTs) at a local college in Israel. Thirty-six science and communication PSTs participated. Using a mixed methods approach, pre and post-course questionnaires and assignment responses showed significant improvements in climate change knowledge and environmentally responsible behaviour (ERB) after the course. PSTs’ attitudes were key predictors of their ERB. The qualitative analysis supported these findings, revealing that the participants who were able to express complex climate knowledge also intended to reflect more environmentally responsible behaviour. 52.2% of participants with complex climate knowledge used diverse knowledge types to express ideas, reflecting a real commitment to environmental attitudes and personal behaviour. While 65% raised climate awareness within their families, only 33% discussed it, during their practicum, with students. Overall, the course significantly enhanced PSTs’ climate literacy in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, even as a limited workshop. According to the findings, courses that promote climate literacy are necessary. The findings of this study indicate that a well-established short-term intervention may affect participants regarding a significant issue like climate change.

Our study aims to (1) understand the impact of student-led knowledge dissemination and (2) examine the effects of multimodal interventions — comprising (i) a video on environmental catastrophes, (ii) pictorial reading materials on environmental issues (iii) lab-based simulated eco-tourism trips. This study involved students enrolled in a subject offered at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia, attended by undergraduates from three different degree programmes. These interventions were implemented to examine their impact on both student advocates and their peers, particularly in terms of raising environmental awareness, shaping attitudes and fostering sustainable behavioural intentions (SBI). We equip students to become environmental advocates by providing them with environmental knowledge in class and assessing their ability to effectively share this knowledge with their peers. We conducted an experimental study using a multimodality intervention approach to assess changes in SBI. Study 1 measures the initial SBI without treatment, while Study 2 measures the incremental SBI after treatment. In our experiment, we requested 124 students (advocates) to reach out to at least three friends, and from this outreach, we obtained 401 respondents altogether. Our approach uncovers the effectiveness of same-level knowledge transfer (students to peers), facilitating the spread of environmental knowledge within peer groups.

This study investigates the implementation of the “School for Sustainable Life” programme in primary schools in the Czech Republic through the lens of the action-oriented education for sustainable development framework. The research explores the programme’s impact on fostering student leadership and engagement in sustainability initiatives using qualitative methodologies, including three focus groups (N = 18) and interviews with teachers (N = 5). The findings reveal that while the programme significantly enhances students’ understanding and action towards sustainable development, challenges remain in achieving consistent engagement across different school contexts. The study contributes to the ESD discourse by highlighting the crucial role of students’ leadership in implementing sustainability education and providing insights for educators and policymakers.

This paper aims to enhance our understanding of the challenges teachers engaged in Education for Sustainability (EfS) in New Zealand face when using social media for professional learning. An online questionnaire, including open-ended questions, was distributed to Enviroschools lead teachers nationwide to investigate these challenges. The study identifies key barriers, including time constraints, information overload, concerns about privacy and trust, and the perceived misalignment between the hands-on nature of EfS and the virtual nature of social media. Participants expressed a strong preference for face-to-face learning, emphasising its value for meaningful collaboration and practical engagement. The study highlights the need for systemic support to address these barriers. It suggests that integrating teacher professional learning through social media into teachers’ working hours could significantly enhance their engagement in professional learning for EfS.

Situated amidst the breathtaking Himalayas and the Arabian Sea, Pakistan grapples with escalating environmental challenges, compounded by the impending threat of climate change. This article delves into the imperative of reshaping primary education in Pakistan to address the pressing issues of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. The article endeavours a content analysis of the themes prevailing in the primary textbooks which uphold anthropocentric and capitalist values. Recognising education as a catalyst for change, the article argues for a paradigm shift, particularly within the realms of primary school science and general knowledge education, by integrating eco-justice pedagogies and contemplative approaches. Prevailing educational paradigms, heavily influenced by Western perspectives, often reinforce anthropocentric and capitalist ideologies that prioritise human exploitation of nature. To address these inherent shortcomings, the article advocates for cultivating a love for nature from an early age as a means of fostering a profound connection between children and the natural world.

The realisation that climate tipping points may be triggered in the upcoming decades underscores the urgent need for transformative educational responses to the climate crisis that integrate scientific knowledge with socio-political dimensions. However, the consolidation of Education for Sustainable Development has gradually displaced Environmental Education (EE) from institutional and academic spaces, shifting the focus away from systemic critiques of the socio-economic drivers of the environmental crisis. Through a historical perspective on the consolidation of the paradigm of sustainable development, this article calls for an EE capable of addressing the root causes rather than the symptoms of anthropogenic climate change, contending that the survival of EE as an independent, counter-hegemonic field is essential for fostering transformative educational practices that confront climate emergency.