Conference Agenda

As climate change intensifies and social inequalities persist, the need to connect children's rights to sustainability has never been more urgent. Sustainability, understood holistically to encompass environmental, social, and economic dimensions, is deeply intertwined with children's experiences in educational contexts (Sinakou et al., 2019). International legal frameworks, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (European Union, 2012), position children as rights-holders with legitimate stakes in decisions affecting their present and future. Yet despite widespread adoption of these frameworks and commitments to children's rights across governments and international organisations, a significant gap remains between rhetoric and practice in sustainability issues. Children are often positioned as passive recipients of both sustainability policies and environmental education, rather than as active agents capable of meaningful engagement with complex sustainability challenges. This symposium examines how children's rights to participate in sustainability are realised or constrained through the material and structural conditions of their educational lives.

This symposium brings together papers exploring a central argument: children's rights to participate in sustainability are not abstract principles but are mediated through concrete materials, objects, and institutional structures. Drawing on the dual analytical threads of agency and participation alongside the material-structural nexus, we examine how physical objects, spatial arrangements, and institutional frameworks shape children's capacity to act and engage with sustainability while exercising their rights to participation and to a healthy environment. These material-structural arrangements can either enable or constrain meaningful agency, revealing that the realisation of children's rights depends fundamentally on the tangible conditions through which participation becomes possible. Together, these three papers demonstrate that realising children's rights to sustainability requires attending to the material-structural conditions shaping participation, recognising that objects and institutional arrangements are not neutral containers for rights but active forces configuring what forms of agency become possible for children.

The first paper explores how environmental certification schemes structure opportunities for children to exercise agency in Early Childhood Education (ECE) settings in Norway. Examining Green Flag eco-certification program documents and interviews with ECE staff, this paper shows how Green Flag settings create opportunities for children to exercise agency through formal participatory structures, expecting children to serve on committees and evaluate their institution's environmental practices. The material dimensions of this participation are evident in children's hands-on engagement with growing and harvesting crops and cooking. This study reveals how institutional frameworks can open spaces for children's environmental agency while also establishing the boundaries within which such agency operates, raising questions about the depth and authenticity of participation within certified structures.

The second paper investigates an often-overlooked site where children's rights intersect with sustainability concerns. Focusing on Scottish school uniforms, this paper explores tensions created by garments intended to promote belonging, yet whose materials and embedded logos prevent children from engaging in sustainability practices such as recycling. The paper addresses how choices related to school uniforms have sustainability implications beyond environmental impacts, including economic consequences for households. It reframes school clothing as an active force shaping social and environmental systems, illuminating how decisions about badges and fabrics can restrict children's participation in sustainable practices.

The third paper explores how videogames can function as participatory tools building children's knowledge and skills for engaging in climate decisions within their communities. This paper examines the digital-material dimension of participation, investigating how game mechanics and interactive interfaces can develop capacities necessary for exercising rights to participation in sustainability governance. Unlike traditional educational approaches positioning children as learners rather than decision-makers, games offer possibilities for practising deliberation, understanding complex systems, and developing agency in addressing climate challenges impacting their local contexts.

The aim of this study is to examine whether the eco-certification “Green Flag” facilitates children’s agency at the early childhood education level (ECE), and if it does, the study seeks to examine how it is done. In the Nordic countries, sustainability education is embedded in national curricula (Nordahl et al., 2025), requiring teachers to integrate sustainability into everyday pedagogical activities. At the same time, a growing number of ECE institutions are being eco-certified, either voluntarily or by mandate from institutional owners. However, research shows only marginal differences in sustainability practices between certified and non-certified institutions (Ohlsson et al., 2025), raising questions about the actual impact of certification. The study is grounded in the understanding that children as human beings have the right to participation, autonomy and self-determination, as is determined by the UNCRC (1989). Particularly, children’s right to participate - Article 12 - and children’s right to freedom of expression - Article 13 - are relevant articles for which to understand children’s agency. Furthermore, agency not just understood in a judicial perspective. It is understood as an individual’s activities, competencies and capacities through which they navigate the contexts and positions of their lifeworlds (Robson et all., 2007, p. 135). According to Robson et al., (2007) children’s experience with and opportunities for exercising agency depends on who they are with, what they are doing and where they are. In this study, the eco-certification is seen as a structure that opens and closes opportunities for exercising agency. Empirical data is drawn from content analysing certification documents and supplemented by data drawn from nine semi-structured group interviews with 25 ECE staff members. In six of the participating institutions, certification was mandated by the owner, while three chose to certify voluntarily. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The study has been approved by the Norwegian ethical committee (SIKT). Preliminary findings suggest that Green Flag offers various opportunities for children to exercise agency. The certification documents, expect children to partake in a committee and evaluate how environmentally friendly their ECE institution is. According to the ECE teachers, children actively participate in growing and harvesting crops, as well as in cooking.

United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. Norðdahl, K. et.al. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2024.2389945 Ohlsson, A. et.al. (2025). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sftr.2025.101113 Robson, Bell and Klocker (2007). https://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/1945/1/15.pdf.pdf

School uniforms shape children’s everyday embodied experiences, influencing comfort, freedom of movement, and participation in physical activities (Ryan, et al, 2024). Uniforms connect children’s rights to sustainability concerns. In Scotland, uniforms typically feature embroidered badges on t-shirts, polo shirts, jumpers and blazers. While intended to promote belonging, these embedded logos prevent garments from being recycled, contributing to unnecessary textile waste. The choice of fabrics, such as wool versus polyester, affects household costs and environmental impact, as while synthetic blazers may be cheaper to buy, they have long-term ecological consequences due to their non-biodegradable nature. An estimated 1.4 million items of UK school uniform enter landfill yearly (BBC, 2022). This paper draws on a comparison of school clothing and uniform policies across all publicly funded secondary schools in Scotland (n=357) and a survey of school uniform clothing banks (n=11). Working with NGO and Education Scotland colleagues, a tripartite heuristic was developed to explain the findings and their implications for children’s rights. This heuristic device portrays school uniform concerns as relating to affordability, comfort and sustainability. The term ‘comfort’ was used to cover equality, diversity, inclusion and tactile comfort. The graphical depiction of the heuristic is part of the Scottish Government national guidance on school uniforms for schools and education authorities, children and young people, and parents and carers (Scottish Government, 2024a, b and c). New materialism is used to reconceptualise uniforms not as passive objects but as active participants in interconnected social and ecological systems. From fibre cultivation and manufacturing to daily embodied use and end of life disposal, uniforms both shape and are shaped by, environmental and social relations. Sustainable uniform design and manufacture and improved environmentally friendly care (e.g., cold water washing, repairing) offer pathways to reducing waste and extending the clothes’ lifespans. Community-driven initiatives such as swap shops and regional school uniform banks demonstrate how material practices can foster circular economy practices as well as supporting families living in poverty. Debates about the most sustainable and comfortable fabrics (Derafshi et al, 2025) highlight tensions between environmental concerns (including pesticide use in cotton farming), ethical production and bodily comfort. Recognising the embodied and material dimensions of uniforms demonstrates the need for policy reform which aims for social justice. Recommendations include limiting or eliminating branded items, supporting second-hand schemes, and promoting sustainable materials. Such approaches can reduce economic disparities, respect children’s rights to dignity and education and advance environmental goals.

BBC Newsround (2022) What do you do with your old school uniform? https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/61774208 Derafshi, M., Black, C., & Strawderman, L. (2025). Police officers’ uniform needs: an undershirt wear protocol. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 1-8. Ryan, M., Ricardo, L. I., Nathan, N., Hofmann, R., & van Sluijs, E. (2024). Are school uniforms associated with gender inequalities in physical activity? A pooled analysis of population-level data from 135 countries/regions. Journal of sport and health science, 13(4), 590-598. Scottish Government. (2024a). School uniform and clothing: Guidance for schools and education authorities, https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-uniform-clothing-guidance-schools-education-authorities/ Scottish Government. (2024b). School uniform and clothing information for children and young people, https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-uniform-clothing-resource-pupils/documents/ Scottish Government. (2024c). School uniform and clothing guidance: Information for Parents and Carers, https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-uniform-clothing-guidance-information-parents-carers/

Children are especially vulnerable to and disproportionately affected by present and future consequences of the global environmental crisis. Intergenerational justice requires that the present generation of decision-makers act to ensure sustainable life opportunities for coming generations, yet children's voices remain largely marginalised in climate governance (Daly et al., 2025). While children have the right to participate in all matters affecting them under international law, governments as duty bearers often fail to translate these legal entitlements into meaningful opportunities for participation. The severity of the climate crisis demands that all stakeholders, including children, be included in climate decision-making. This paper explores how video games can function as accessible and engaging tools for children's climate participation. Part of the Craft-My-Street project, which bridges gaming, learning, and participatory decision-making for climate action, this research draws on qualitative and quantitative data collected through interviews with teachers, focus groups, questionnaires and playtesting workshops with children across six schools in Ireland—two secondary schools and four primary schools. During the playtesting workshops, children learned nature-based solutions for climate change problems to later collaboratively mapped sustainability initiatives for their communities. They then through a customised version of the video game Minecraft that recreated their local contexts in a digital work, built and tested their climate actions. These gaming environments became spaces where children could articulate, visualise, and communicate their ideas about climate futures in their communities. The findings reveal that digital games serve as powerful enablers of children's participation rights in climate decision-making. The video games created accessible, child-friendly spaces where children can engage with complex sustainability challenges on their own terms, using familiar digital materials and interfaces. The digital-material nature of games allows children to move beyond passive consultation toward active co-creation of climate solutions, transforming abstract rights into actions. This paper argues that games are not merely pedagogical tools that inspire and motivate to action (Levchyk et al., 2021) but a critical infrastructure for realising children's participation rights (Martinez Sainz et al., 2025). As both spaces (virtual environments for engagement) and materials (digital interfaces, game mechanics, creative tools), games can configure new possibilities for children's climate participation. They can empower children as rights-holders capable of contributing meaningfully to climate governance while making their participation accessible to adult decision-makers. This research demonstrates how digital technologies can materialise participatory rights, creating conditions under which children's voices become integral to climate decision-making processes that affect their lives and futures.

Daly, A., Purcell, N., Calvo-Fernández, E. M., & Margaret Murray, E. (2025). Participation and Postpaternalism: Child/youth Climate Action and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The International Journal of Children's Rights, 33(3), 562-593. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-33030001 Levchyk, I., Chaikovska, H., Yankovych, O., & Rozhko-Pavlyshyn, T. (2021). Formation of sustainable development competencies in primary school children. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 12(2), 341-360. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2021.2.341.360 Martinez Sainz, G,. Rebel, M., Ioannidou, O., Sousa deSena, I., and Cocco, C. (2025) Children’s climate participation and voice: Games as a way to amplify children’s participatory rights in Ireland. PublicPolicy.IE https://publicpolicy.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Policy-Brief_Climate-Participation_Final.pdf