Potential Connections Between Well-being, Relational Community and Green Transition in Primary Schools

Context and Problem
Several Danish primary schools are currently developing green or sustainable school profiles on their own initiative, despite limited policy support (Nordic Council of Ministers et al., 2021). In my research, I have explored how these schools articulate and motivate their engagement with Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE), their pedagogical and school development approaches to ESE, and their visions for future development. A recurring theme in responses from educators is the perceived connection between promoting sustainability and enhancing students' well-being and relational communities. Causality in these connections often revolves around the notion that security and trust form the foundation for agency and democratic participation—essential components for contributing to a more sustainable world. Building on these findings, this paper investigates:
How can we understand the relationships between practitioners’ focus on relational and well-being efforts and the development of ESE?

Methodology and Theory
The empirical foundation of this paper comes from a recently defended Ph.D. project. Methodologically, it employs a multiple case study approach (Flyvbjerg, 2006; Yin, 2009) conducted at three Danish primary schools. Over a year, the study involved interviews, observations of ESE-related activities, and future workshops with both adults and students. The theoretical framework is rooted in practice theory (Reckwitz, 2002; Schatzki, 2012), with particular emphasis on Kemmis and colleagues' concept of practice architectures (Kemmis, 2022; Kemmis et al., 2014), which facilitates analytical connections between situated practices and their links to the school's specific context at the meso level and broader societal structures at the macro level.

Perspectives and Discussions
The focus on well-being in these schools can be seen as a response to the growing importance of well-being and mental health in public discourse and (Danish) education policy (Katznelson et al., 2022). Simultaneously, this emphasis reflects an increasing awareness of emotional dimensions in relation to sustainability crises (e.g.Ojala, 2013; Pihkala, 2020; Verlie, 2019). It represents a hopeful affective turn (Zembylas, 2021) where schools emerge as first movers in recognizing the interplay between well-being, action competence (Mogensen & Schnack, 2010) and green transition.
However, the relationship between human well-being and planetary well-being often remains unclear or absent. While enhancing well-being can serve as a strategy to address sustainability challenges, it may also risk becoming a form of "feel-good sustainability," focusing primarily on fostering comfort within small, secure communities while avoiding the complexity, transformative, transgressive (e.g. Lotz-Sisitka et al., 2015; Ojala, 2019) and discomforting aspects (Boler, 1999; Lysgaard et al., 2019; Zembylas, 2015) of sustainability dilemmas. These tensions are not binary but highlight critical discussions within the ESE field and its practices.
Viewing well-being and democratic participation as integral to ESE practices also introduces utopian notions (Levitas, 2011), suggesting that sustainability is not only about restrictions and prohibitions but also about envisioning what constitutes a meaningful life—for us and for the planet.


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