"Imagine an ideal future 25 years from now. How was that created or achieved? How did we get there?"

This is one of the five questions submitted to 273 upper secondary and high school students from Norway, Italy, Germany, and Austria as part of an environmental and science education research.

The intention was to explore the connections between narratives, desired futures, agency and responsibility. For this purpose, the research team studied the student's answers by highlighting categories of actors, desired futures and pathways, and then counting their iterations.

An in-depth linguistic analysis of futures narratives

This study highlights several findings concerning the youngsters' images of the future:

(1) The stories show a certain trust in technology and science to bring solutions.

In most cases, the stories written show an important trust and optimism concerning the ability of science and technology to solve global issues. The innovations cover areas such as transport, cleaning up various pollutants and sustainable materials.

(2) Another focus of action is the behavioural change of citizens.

From the promotion of eco-gestures to an un-specific raise of awareness. A lot of responsibility is given to people at an individual level. Some young people seem to have mixed feelings about it, already knowing that their proposals are not enough.

"The ideal future of course consists of all world crises being resolved and everyone living in peace and having a good life. Now I understand that it is not possible, so a more realistic future is perhaps that me and my family do what we can to live as sustainably as possible. That we mainly eat plant-based, that we shop more second-hand, etc. Such small everyday measures that we as individuals can do. In any case, I feel very powerless when it comes to things like this, because I don't have the opportunity to make the big differences. Therefore, I hope that we as a society have come further, so that individuals and politicians work together to stop/reduce climate change."

– 17-18 years old student from Norway

Another study, with two members of the same team (Hanna Røkenes and Alfredo Jornet), using collage to help young participants to express their desired futures, confirmed these two first insights.

"The findings show that most of the students' narratives are about changing awareness on the climate crisis, leading to changes in consumption behaviors and technology, and exhibit certain technological optimism"

Affective Contradictions and Narratives of Change: A Critical, Cultural-Historical Approach to Hope and Action in Education for Sustainability Read more

(3) In their text, students often put young people in a more central role than today.

A major part of the analysis was to identify the actors of the narratives. The actors mentioned the most are "we" (n=81) and "people" (n=72). Still, the research team discovered that the narratives give to young people a more important place in the realization of changes.

(4) The need for drastic structural changes is widespread in the narratives but it lacks details about the pathways or the actors responsible for this change.

"We got there because politicians and leaders with power took initiatives that force the population to shine. E.g., stricter laws and regulations, less use and disposal, purchase regulation. Yes, we may lose some prosperity, but it is necessary for the planet to function. Some have to be strict, we have to lose something to win bigger later. I don't believe that the people themselves can take enough initiative, those with power have to 'force' us, then most people will probably realize in the end that it is the best."

– 14-16 years old student from Norway.

Transformation at the societal level is often mentioned in the stories. Politicians are pointed out as responsible actors, in positions of power. Thanks to regulations and laws, they force other stakeholders to change. However the narratives often seemed simplistic concerning the transformations proposed.

The importance of education in the construction of youngsters' narratives

The research paper and this writing exercise take place in a broader context of research on the transformation of education to face our contemporary challenges. This includes the open schooling movement in which Erik Knain and Alfredo Jornet are particularly involved.

It is an experimentation framework where they seek to establish collaboration between schools and out-of-school actors like NGOs, enterprises, researchers, municipalities and families to create a different approach to sustainability education.

"As citizens of the world we are dealing with complex issues and challenges like climate change, global health or migration. These challenges require us to build visions of the future that empower our actions today. Can science education play a role in that?

In a rapidly evolving world it is essential to learn how to deal with uncertain and ever-changing futures. This is why it is so important to equip our next generations with 'future-scaffolding skills', skills that enable people to construct visions of the future that support possible ways of acting in the present with one's eye on the horizon (Levrini et all, 2019 ; Levrini et al, 2021)."

FEDORA Project Website

For the authors of the document, with whom we had the opportunity to discuss, the role of education is to help students develop a sense of agency by understanding their place in the world and give them the tools to be active and reflexive citizens. It can be achieved by increasing their scientific literacy, favouring the imagination of alternative futures but also by being involved in more concrete and collective actions.

Last but not least, it is necessary to develop critical thinking through education. This was another important conclusion of the study, revealing that young people have little to no critical approach concerning the belief that technology can solve every problem.

"For students to become critical, yet visionary participants in society, they need to learn to recognize and resist passively adopting ideological assumptions and narratives that prevent them from becoming meaningful historical actors who develop a sense of their own identity in relation to broader social and historical forces"