Eco-School in kindergartens: the effects, interpretation, and implementation of a pilot program

Abstract

This study presents an analysis of a Czech pilot project in implementing the Eco-School program in kindergartens. The evaluation applied a mixed design that included pre/post testing of children using picture-based questionnaires, and interviews with the teachers responsible for conducting the program. The findings revealed a significant increase in the pro-environmental attitudes of the children (N = 419) between the pre-test and the post-test. The results of the qualitative part showed a broad spectrum of the ways in which the program was interpreted by the teachers (N = 16): while some teachers interpreted the program in a highly instrumental way, others interpreted it as emancipatory. Their different ways of interpreting the program led the teachers to different models of distribution of power between the adults and the children. Some of the teachers made the effort to establish a democratic participation of the children in setting the program agenda, but others manipulated the children to obtain their agreement with pre-selected activities. Although the study did not find any evidence that the instrumental implementation of the program would be less effective in promoting children’s attitude change, it showed differences in the interpretation of the merit of the program among the teachers.

Keywords:

• emancipatory approach
• environmental attitudes
• Eco-School
• evaluation
• kindergarten
• preschool education

Acknowledgements

We highly appreciate the effort and help of the program coordinators from Tereza Association and all of the involved teachers whose support made this study possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.