Research Framework: The contemporary challenges of ecocitizenship are so acute that they will require a strong involvement from the youngest generations. In the 21st century, as a number of research has confirmed, the question of socialization between school, family, and the legacy of environmentalism arises.

Objective: If the environmental mobilization of children still raises questions, this article offers to deepen the inquiry with them in different settings where they experience through pedagogical initiative of non-classroom-based lessons, known as “outdoor school”.

Methodology: Using mixed research methods (observations, interviews, questionnaires), the survey deploys a path-based approach, following 21 pupils aged 9 to 12 years, as well as their teachers, parents, and peers, throughout the 2021-2022 school year in a community known locally as “the nature village of Doubs”.

Results: Through a situational study of transmission processes, this article analyzes the ambivalence of children’s mobilization, describing the dynamics, inversions and inertia of modes of self-expression, family and participation in school and social life.

Conclusion: This article puts into perspective the ways of “outdoor school” within hierarchical social relations, and the extent to which they assign to children the task of leading ecological reform by transforming their lifestyles.

Contribution: This research situates the complex role of the institution played by the “outdoor school” in the development of child ecocitizenship. It remains anchored in a stratification of life stages where commitment to ecological gestures and meanings is embedded in processes of reproduction of social groups and families.

• environment
• socialization
• child
• school
• family

https://journals.openedition.org/efg/17486