School Gardens as Commons: Fostering Relational Values for Biodiversity Through Participatory Environmental Education

Children are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of the current environmental, economic and health crises. As part of the European Union-funded PLANET4B project, the transformative potential of Hungarian biodiversity education on children’s values, worldviews and behaviour was assessed through a critical systemic analysis, key informant interviews, and various participatory methods applied in school gardens. This paper shares some key lessons learnt from a long-lasting study conducted in one of the partner schools via two projects. In 2018, the school set up a garden together with researchers who investigated the evolution of both human-human and human-environment interactions in the frame of a participatory action research process. Throughout PLANET4B this process was continued and assessed from a long-term perspective to see if and how values, behaviour and practices can be transformed over time at the practical, personal and political level. Occasions to spend more time in the garden, and practising commoning activities, generated an emerging safe collaborative space. Here shared values could be discussed and developed, and jointly held understandings on mutual responsibility and care could be formed. Beside positive changes in individual perceptions and social norms, newly emerging teaching practices were observed, which triggered the school to further invest in nature-based solutions. Based on these results, we argue that consciously selected and carefully designed in-class and extracurricular activities can create shared values for nature, and contribute to behavioural and organisational change. Moreover, learning new ways of living and doing, such as commoning, can raise doubts about the current system and show an alternative vision for a socio-ecological future based on solidarity.