Educating children as sustainable citizen-consumers: A qualitative content analysis of sustainability education resources

This paper explores how children (aged 7-11) in UK are educated about sustainability and climate change, through exploring a sample of 155 learning resources from public, private and third sector organisations. Using qualitative content analysis, key codes captured a) how sustainability was represented; b) how responsibilities for sustainability are imagined and allocated within society; and c) how children are encouraged to act for sustainability. The paper shows how sustainability resources represent children as powerful agents of social change charged with the responsibility and means to change their (and their close relative’s) behaviour within the household and school. Drawing on critical debates about sustainability education and Young’s (2006) social-connection model of responsibility, I argue these representations are problematic because they do not equip children with an understanding of the political and moral economies that shape their actions (or inactions) as citizens, nor provide them with opportunities to develop collaborative competencies.