Secondary school student and teacher perspectives about citizen science-based environmental education and youth agency

Education is thought to play a key role in driving positive environmental action. This study explores Hong Kong student (ages 11–19 years) and teacher perceptions about experiential environmental education and citizenship action, after engaging in environmental citizen science. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 46 students and 18 teachers across eight local and international schools, informed by behavioural psychology constructs such as motivation, self-efficacy and agency. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed how students and teachers saw citizen science as a novel approach to explore environmental issues in situ, however, definitions of what effective citizenship actions differed: students needed to see tangible impact of their actions, while teachers focussed more on what students were learning. We offer practical ways to nurture youth agency by prioritizing teacher and youth voices when scaffolding experiential environmental education activities for learning and taking action.