Children as Environmental Stewards: Assessing Children’s Stewardship Competence Development from a Transformative Learning Intervention

Environmental stewardship necessitates collective action from all stakeholders, yet children are often alienated. This study investigated the contribution of an environmental education programme, based on the participatory integrated planning approach, to developing stewardship competence attributes of pupils in rural Ugandan schools. Pupils (34) participated through surveys, semi-structured interviews, observations and focus group discussions. Findings indicated that pupils developed competence attributes in interrelated dimensions of environmental knowledge, connection with nature and ecological behaviour. The development of attributes was influenced by the learning environment, learning content, facilitation approach, learning activities, participatory integrated planning visioning and action-planning tools, learning activities, learning materials and facilitator capacity. Competence attributes are necessary for children’s participation in stewardship. These attributes should be developed simultaneously by exposing children to context-specific/relevant learning content, nature-based/outdoor activities and methods that stimulate reflection, participation and collaboration. Education policies should integrate environmental with formal curricula to enhance pupils’ environmental awareness and participation in stewardship.