Dimensions and conditions of the development of the sense of empowerment in a whole school approach


Chapitre de livre

Contributeurs:

État de publication: Publiée (2024 )

Titre du livre: Whole school approach to Sustainability. Education Renewal in Times of Distress

Éditeur: Springer

Lieu: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Volume:

Intervalle de pages: 87-102

ISBN: 978-3-031-56171-9

URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56172-6

Résumé: Given the urgent need to address climate change, it is necessary to empower youth. Since youth are particularly affected by climate change and its short-, medium-, and long-term repercussions, they should be recognized as full-fedged actors in climate change education (UNESCO, 2020; Ballet et al., 2013). This means, for example, that they must be given the freedom to create, change, and infuence the course of events in accordance with their priorities, goals, and values. The education system must offer youth this kind of freedom of agency and other types of freedoms related to their well-being and opportunities (Sen, 2010). These different freedoms can reinforce their sense of empowerment and lead youth to act if that is their goal. The whole school approach (WSA) may be seen as the starting point for a systemic and holistic redesign of the school as an institution (Hargis et al., 2021; Mogren, 2019; Wals & Mathie, 2022). UNESCO (2017b) has proposed “whole school approaches to climate action” that include aspects of school governance, teaching and learning, resource management, and school-based and extracurricular activities in partnership with the community. Various schools and extracurricular actors should thus be mobilized in such actions and support should be given to concrete youth initiatives. In our opinion, it is crucial to base this type of approach on what young people tell us. Therefore, we would like to propose here some relationships between what strengthens youth’s sense of empowerment from their perspective (Morin, 2021) and emerging theories about the WSA. Based on the comments gathered from youth and on the capability theoretical approach, we will point out some very interesting links between the WSA and the empowerment of students, as well as ways to implement the WSA in certain schools in Québec

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