“We knew from research with older learners that many young people are worried about climate change. According to the United Nations, one in five youth feels unprepared for climate change and are asking for better education to grasp its complexity. But we didn’t really know how very young learners felt, since no one had asked, until now,” Professor White says.

“While the Sustainable Development Goals and Education for Sustainability guidelines are being implemented by teachers, there is not much research about whether this is causing our young children to worry about climate change, how they are worrying, and the consequences of such worrying.”

“We have found that children were worrying a great deal about water; about the quality of drinking water, whether habitats were clean enough for fish and the power of water to create changes to coastal environments. Depending on how these worries were framed by their teachers, we found that responses ranged from children feeling burdened and overwhelmed by climate change or, conversely to activating their sense of agency about how they might respond.”

Worrying in itself is not the problem, according to the researchers. “We see that worrying may even be necessary to inspire action for climate change. But this kind of response was heavily dependent on the mediating role of the teacher and, specifically, how they framed these issues in curriculum,” Professor White says.

The study suggests the best approach is for teachers to create a communal sense of collective powerfulness (of ‘we’), rather than imposing a set of sustainability rules to be followed. “We want to empower our tamariki to feel they can address the challenges that lie ahead, together. Solutions are found in relationship ‘with’ people, places and things, including water,” Professor White says.

“Making connections with water through whakapapa Māori provides a positive frame for young children,” Dr Williams says. “In this project, learning about Atua was a common thread, as was Matariki. When children learn that water is the blood of Papatūānuku (Earth mother), they begin to see deeper layers of encounter and how these carry with them a sense of responsibility.” Researchers found that learning about Atua (Māori deities) – Papatūānuku, Ranginui and Tangaroa – can help young children process their worries by personifying nature, providing a foundation for children to see themselves as kaitiaki or guardians of waterscapes.

The study is part of an international project led by Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, but locally embedded in the unique cultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand, including Mātauranga Māori (Indigenous knowledge). Researchers across Norway, Tanzania and New Zealand spent four days at each early childhood education site, joining excursions to waterways where they walked alongside children, took photographs of their representations of water and gathered over 80 narratives for analysis. Results from the New Zealand arm of the study were published as Walking with children and water in ECEC: Exploring the framing effects of actions for climate change, in the International Journal of Early Childhood.

The next goal for the research team is to document children’s changing perspectives on waterscapes over time as they walk with local iwi and tuakana (from primary and secondary school). Waitarakao Washdyke Lagoon catchment in South Canterbury has been selected as the site for this longer-term case study, which the researchers hope will galvanise action for change locally and inspire others to take children’s voices seriously in relation to important issues such as climate change. The next steps of this research will be funded with assistance from Waitarakao Community Project, Environment Canterbury, UNESCO and University of Canterbury.