Wild Citizens

The Wild Citizens project aims to help primary school children to become active ‘environmental citizens’, by discovering, monitoring and communicating about the wildlife that exists in their school grounds.They then actively creating conditions that encourage more wildlife to live there.

So far, the project has involved over 200 children from seven primary schools from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas in Southampton. It has been funded jointly by the university’s Public Engagement with Research Unit (PERu), and the Faculty of Social Sciences Higher Education Innovation Funding. Already, there is evidence that the children are gaining confidence in their ability to make a real positive difference to the wildlife around them.  

Our work on the Wild Citizens project has shown that there is genuine interest and drive from local schools and teachers in focusing on supporting their pupils to become active environmental citizens within their communities.

As a result, we have developed and established the Schools Environmental Education Network (SEEN), which aims to bring together individuals interested in environmental and sustainability education, to share ideas, experiences, updates and practical outdoor activities that can be readily used in schools across the city.

So far, we have had seven meetings either hosted at local schools or at the University. If you would like to know more, please contact us to join our mailing list.

For more information or would like to collaborate with us, contact us at educationKEE@soton.ac.uk.

Twitter @wild_citizens