Listening to young children’s environmental narratives.

This paper will focus on how early years education might be given more priority in environmental education research given the formative and fundamental nature of this phase. A key challenge for those interested in the intersections between the environment, sustainability and education is to develop research foci and methodologies that help us to understand more about young children’s everyday environment experience and relationship with their environment. The authors argue for an analysis of i] children’s close encounters with the environment and ii] the stories / narratives that children hold about their relationship with the environment. The paper will explore the role of children (and educators) as active participants in this research endeavour and how important research questions might emerge from young children’s participation. Importantly, the convenors argue that more participatory approaches will help us to advance the use and impact of our research and ensure that our research ideas are not simply re-circulated in the academy.