Gauging the Potential of Socially Critical Environmental Education (EE): Examining Local Environmental problems through children's perspective

The objective of this qualitative research work is to detect the needs, aspirations and feelings of pupils experiencing local environmental problems and elaborate them through the prism of a socially critical educational approach. Semi-structured focus group interviews are used as a research method applied to four primary schools located near places facing environmental problems. The primary schools and their corresponding environmental problems were Agios Vasileios near the degraded lakes Volvi and Koronia, Tagarades and the 3(rd) primary school of Katerini located next to landfill sites, plus the 6(th) primary school of Kordelio which suffers from pollution caused by a nearby oil refinery. The way these problems affect the pupils and their engagement with environmental education is explored. Conventional EE practices are criticized for not being able to focus on pupils' feelings and experiences and for reproducing disempowerment. At the same time, the potential for a socially critical EE is traced both in the pupils' everyday life needs and the desires related to their welfare as well as the alleviation of their surrounding environmental degradation.