Step by Step towards a Greener Future: The Role of Plogging in Educating Tomorrow’s Citizens

Abstract

The climate crisis remains a paramount challenge that contemporary society and forthcoming generations will grapple with. The significance of instilling sustainability awareness during formative years, particularly during adolescence, is underscored due to the potential for personality consolidation during this phase. In the educational context, physical education emerges as a valuable avenue to further the cause of a sustainable world by fostering student competencies across the three dimensions of sustainable development. Within this domain, activities such as plogging—an outdoor exercise that intertwines physical activity with litter collection—directly enhance environmental quality. However, a discernible gap exists in previous literature regarding high school students’ perspectives on this practice. Thus, this research aimed to integrate a plogging intervention within physical education lessons to assess student perceptions of this innovative activity. A cohort of 28 secondary school students (16 females and 12 males aged 15 ± 1.2 years) participated in this qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews consisting of nine questions were deployed to elicit narratives pertaining to their plogging experiences within an educational setting. Over four sessions, an active methodology rooted in plogging was employed, culminating in a hands-on excursion in a natural environment. The findings were bifurcated into two categories. The first pertained to reflections on the didactic experience, encapsulating its immediate impact and prospective implications. The second category offered a critical evaluation of plogging, underscoring predominantly affirmative views, especially those highlighting environmental benefits. Responses revealed high acceptance levels for plogging, a heightened awareness of littering, and a recognition of the tangible environmental benefits of such activities. For a sustainable future, it is imperative for adults to possess and impart profound environmental consciousness to younger generations. These insights can potentially catalyze further research on the integration of sustainability in physical education and the role of plogging as an instrumental classroom tool.