This presentation is based on the ECF4CLIM project (A European Competence Framework for a Low Carbon Economy and Sustainability through Education), funded by the European Green Deal / Horizon 2020 Programme. ECF4CLIM aims at developing, testing and validating a European Competence Framework for transformational change through a multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary and participatory process. Applying participatory action research (PAR), practitioner research (Heikkinen, deJong & Vanderlinde 2016) and citizen science approaches (Senabre, Perelló, Becker, Bonhoure, Legris & Cigarini 2021), it seeks to empower the educational communities in Finland, Portugal, Romania and Spain to act against climate change and towards sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the narrative analysis of the material generated in the crowdsourcing workshops where teachers, students, education experts and different stakeholders reflect what prevents and/or enables schools to implement sustainability education properly.

The research question of this study is: ‘What constrains and/or enables the implementation of sustainability education in schools?’ To answer to this question, we apply the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis 2022) which seeks to find the preceding factors, or social arrangements which prefigure our practices; in other words, make our social practices possible in the way they happen. These practice architectures consist of (1.) cultural-discursive, (2.) material-economic, and (3.) social-political arrangements which in turn prefigure how practices are constituted through (1.) discourses (‘sayings’), (2.) physical activities and actions (‘doings’), as well as (3.) power relations such as solidarity and loyalty (Kemmis 2022). These different dimensions are intertwined in our everyday practices. This understanding of social practices forms a natural continuum with the methodologies of participatory action research (Kemmis et al. 2015).

Various crowdsourcing practices were applied to outline what tools educators and other stakeholders have for promoting sustainability competences, and what hinders and promotes using them. Several workshops were conducted for various groups of stakeholders, such as teachers, student, experts and for social groups in a vulnerable position which do not usually have a voice in society.

The methodologies in the ECF4CLIM project are rooted in the traditions of participatory action research (Kemmis et al. 2015), practitioner research (Heikkinen, deJong & Vanderlinde 2016), narrative research (Heikkinen 2002) and citizen science (Senabre, Perelló, Becker, Bonhoure, Legris & Cigarini 2021). To enable different educational stakeholders to have their voice heard, interactive crowdsourcing workshops were carried out, both online and face-to-face. The Method of Empathy-Based Stories (MEBS; Wallin, Koro-Ljungberg & Eskola 2019) was applied in the workshops. The participants were asked to imagine, based on their real-life experiences, a day at a ‘nightmare school’ where sustainability education was implemented in the worst possible way. After that, they were asked to imagine one day at a ‘dream school’ where sustainable education was realized in the best possible way. Following questions guided the imagination: What did teachers and students, the principal, other school staff and parents do? Why did they act the way they do? How did the school owner disable or enable sustainability education? How did the surrounding society constrain or enable the work for sustainability in schools? What made all these parties work together – or not? In the workshops, the core elements of the stories were encapsulated in ‘sticky notes’ on an online platform. The 'narrative analysis' was produced from the material (Heikkinen 2002; Polkinghorne 1998). ‘Narrative analysis’ sought to produce a single, coherent and progressive narrative with a clear plot by synthesizing different forms of data. Applying narrative analysis, the international research team compiled the stories into one narrative of a nightmare school and another narrative of a dream school. This analysis was based on the theory of practice architectures in order to find pre-existing practice arrangements that prefigured practices. Altogether 31 workshops with 500 participants were organized in four of the partner countries. In this paper, the focus on the research data collected in Finland (14 workshops). Our purpose was to make an in-depth analysis instead of striving for a pan-European generalization. We found that in different countries the enablers and constraints were culturally and socially context-bound and they took shape differently in different countries. The new stories resulting from this analysis are verified using member checking, through which all participants can comment on the finished report, by accepting, correcting, clarifying, or disagreeing with the interpretation.

As our result, we present two narratives, one of the nightmare and dream school. The results are reflected both related to the theory of practice architectures and the draft for sustainability competences (Bianchi, Pisiotis & Cabrera 2022) which will be form the basis for the European Competence Framework for Sustainability which will be developed during the ECF4CLIM project. The findings are compared also with the other frameworks for sustainability competences (e.g., Bianchi 2020; Wiek et al. 2011; 2016; Redman, Wiek & Barth 2021). The method of empathy-based stories seemed to cultivate imagination and reflections on the constraints and enablers of sustainability education among the workshop participants. The nightmare and dream narratives condense valuable knowledge of the challenges and best practices based on personal experiences and stories heard from others. The results of narrative analysis enlighten how the success in sustainability education depends on an interconnected system of (1) available infrastructure and resources, (2) participatory culture within the school, (3) priorisation of sustainability and (4) collaboration with the network of relevant stakeholders including maintenance services, municipality and society. Therefore, the dimensions of the theory of practice architectures: material-economic, cultural-discursive and social-political arrangements seem to be relevant in developing sustainability education. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the competences defined in the European Sustainability Competence Framework, are essential in promoting sustainability in education. Additionally, the national context, the local system and lifeworld of the students and teachers need to be considered. This research provides knowledge for developing guidelines how to succeed in promotion of sustainability competences needed for a sustainable post-carbon Europe.

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