Participation and why it matters: children’s perspectives and expressions of ownership, motivation, collective efficacy and self-efficacy and locus of control

Abstract

There is a strong belief among environmental and sustainability educators and researchers that meaningful education can benefit from participatory approaches. Participation in decision-making, community cooperation, and interaction, development of team communication, solidarity and real action resulting in real outcomes, are the qualities that should characterize the participation children experience from a project. However, there is a strong criticism that many projects are characterized by a kind of ‘pseudo-participation’ that limits children’s opportunities for personal growth and learning. In this paper we explore how participation is constituted from the perspective of children, as well as if children’s participation creates opportunities for the expression of ownership, locus of control ans self-efficacy, motivation for action and collective efficacy. Ninety-five, nine to eleven-year-old students from six elementary schools that were involved in schools’ kitchen garden projects were interviewed for the purpose of this study. We concluded that successful projects are characterized by a structured design that forecasts and arranges how children participate in the decision-making process, how they participate in all the necessary tasks required for cultivating a garden, and how the teachers facilitate the process.