Home
Bergen Summer Research School
bergen summer research school

Childhood learning on democratic practices and attitudes to sustainability

The course focuses on childhood citizenship and the young's attitude to sustainability issues. The focus is on what we can learn from the situation in Norway, but includes global perspectives.

Youth protest
Photo:
Callum Shaw on Unsplash

Main content

Course leader
Kjellrun Hiis Hauge, professor of education for sustainability, Faculty of Education, Arts and Sports, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Lecturer
Kjersti Fløttum, professor of French linguistics, Department of foreign languages, University of Bergen.
Erlend Eidsvik, professor in sustainability education at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), and professor II in Geography at UiT-The Arctic University of Norway. 
Thea Gregersen, researcher at NORCE and affiliated with the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation (CET), UiB. 

Course description 
This course will focus on childhood citizenship. Questions to be addressed: How can citizenship of the young be understood? What can lived democracy in childhood and education be?

The young are surrounded by controversial issues and disinformation on various media platforms, such as issues related to sustainability and climate change. The worldwide school strikes for climate action witness an engagement, but what are the young’s attitudes to climate change and solutions that can reduce serious consequences? What are their attitudes to democracy and democratic engagement as ways to handle sustainability problems? To what extent is there a "battle" between generations? How and why do attitudes vary across the world?

The course presents academic literature on these questions and aims to discuss how the young can be supported, engaged, and given hope in complex and uncertain sustainability issues.