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that are gained through school life and activities in wider society to improve the
relevance of Environmental Citizen course contents for students.
The development of assessment methods for measuring progress towards the
implementation of key competences, skills development and changing attitudes is
crucial. Improved tools to assess social and civic competences are necessary. The
creation of guidelines for evaluating student participation in school life and in wider
society could be an efficient assessment strategy. Other general tools can be personal roles designated to students in the school (i.e. the water keeper), the validation
of participation outside school (voluntary activities) and the objective measures of
goal attainment in citizenship subjects and projects (better waste separation level).
10.5 Fostering the Idea of Sustainability Through Education
for Environmental Citizenship
To resolve sustainability issues, Environmental Citizens need to face their complexity and context-dependent characteristics (Stables and Scott 2002). Sustainability is,
to some extent, a vague normative concept which implies that critical thinking and
mutual negotiations and discussion are required to identify, in a concrete situation,
what sustainability means and what options or decisions are sustainable. Education
for Environmental Citizenship needs to reconnect contemporary human societies to
all other spheres of the living planet and reduce the great cognitive and emotional
distance that currently separates humans from their environment, enabling people to
value and respect our planetary life support system, rather than view it simply as a
‘resource’ to be exploited (Steffen 2019). This means that Education for
Environmental Citizenship should help learners understand the complexity of
social-ecological systems and identify structural causes of environmental degradation. With this in mind, Education for Environmental Citizenship broadens the perspective from local to global aspect and emphasises the interrelationships and
interdependences. In addition, sustainability learning is a multilevel concept taking
place at the individual level as well as on the level of social aggregates, groups,
organisations and society as a whole. This corresponds with the emphasis of
Education for Environmental Citizenship on the political dimension and the collective actions aimed at sustainability-oriented change. Environmental Citizens shall
use their skills and competences through the involvement in local decision-making
and action towards community goals, consequently achieving changes in society.
The education for this purpose should therefore provide knowledge, skills and competences for real-world problem-solving processes in contexts of polycentric governance reaching from local to larger scale levels. Knowledge of the design principles
for effective regulations and problem-solving as identified in research on collective
action (Poteete et al. 2010; Ostrom 1998, 2009) and the knowledge of sustainabilityoriented concepts such as resilience and co-management (Folke 2006; Olsson et al.
2004) are therefore as important as gaining skills through personal experiences in
10 Education for Environmental Citizenship and Education for Sustainability
that are gained through school life and activities in wider society to improve the
relevance of Environmental Citizen course contents for students.
The development of assessment methods for measuring progress towards the
implementation of key competences, skills development and changing attitudes is
crucial. Improved tools to assess social and civic competences are necessary. The
creation of guidelines for evaluating student participation in school life and in wider
society could be an efficient assessment strategy. Other general tools can be personal roles designated to students in the school (i.e. the water keeper), the validation
of participation outside school (voluntary activities) and the objective measures of
goal attainment in citizenship subjects and projects (better waste separation level).
10.5 Fostering the Idea of Sustainability Through Education
for Environmental Citizenship
To resolve sustainability issues, Environmental Citizens need to face their complexity and context-dependent characteristics (Stables and Scott 2002). Sustainability is,
to some extent, a vague normative concept which implies that critical thinking and
mutual negotiations and discussion are required to identify, in a concrete situation,
what sustainability means and what options or decisions are sustainable. Education
for Environmental Citizenship needs to reconnect contemporary human societies to
all other spheres of the living planet and reduce the great cognitive and emotional
distance that currently separates humans from their environment, enabling people to
value and respect our planetary life support system, rather than view it simply as a
‘resource’ to be exploited (Steffen 2019). This means that Education for
Environmental Citizenship should help learners understand the complexity of
social-ecological systems and identify structural causes of environmental degradation. With this in mind, Education for Environmental Citizenship broadens the perspective from local to global aspect and emphasises the interrelationships and
interdependences. In addition, sustainability learning is a multilevel concept taking
place at the individual level as well as on the level of social aggregates, groups,
organisations and society as a whole. This corresponds with the emphasis of
Education for Environmental Citizenship on the political dimension and the collective actions aimed at sustainability-oriented change. Environmental Citizens shall
use their skills and competences through the involvement in local decision-making
and action towards community goals, consequently achieving changes in society.
The education for this purpose should therefore provide knowledge, skills and competences for real-world problem-solving processes in contexts of polycentric governance reaching from local to larger scale levels. Knowledge of the design principles
for effective regulations and problem-solving as identified in research on collective
action (Poteete et al. 2010; Ostrom 1998, 2009) and the knowledge of sustainabilityoriented concepts such as resilience and co-management (Folke 2006; Olsson et al.
2004) are therefore as important as gaining skills through personal experiences in
10 Education for Environmental Citizenship and Education for Sustainability