DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-087-0-0282

PERCEIVED CONSEQUENCES OF CHILDREN’S SENSE OF PLACE: A FOUR-PATHWAY DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL

Dominik Rubáš^{1, 2}, Eliška Prokopová¹, Magdalena Pohlová¹, Anežka Nejedlová¹, Tomáš Matějček^{3, 4}

¹ Department of Primary Education, Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education, Technical University of Liberec, Univerzitní nám. 1410, 461 17 Liberec, Czechia

² Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education, Technical University of Liberec, Univerzitní nám. 1410, 461 17 Liberec, Czechia

³ Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 00 Praha 2, Czechia

⁴ Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Pasteurova 3632/15, 400 96 Ústí nad Labem, Czechia

Sense of place is widely associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour. However, considerably less attention has been devoted to how children themselves perceive the consequences of their relationship to place. This study proposes a four-pathway developmental model grounded in qualitative data from 339 fifth-grade pupils in Czechia. Pupils provided written responses to an open-ended question exploring whether and how their attachment to the local region influences them. Using inductive thematic analysis, we identified four interrelated pathways through which children perceive the impact of place: (1) an emotional-regulative pathway, in which place shapes emotional well-being, safety and everyday comfort; (2) a moral-normative pathway, where place serves as a moral lens for evaluating social and environmental behaviour; (3) a behavioural-agency pathway, linking place to participation, everyday practices and environmental responsibility; and (4) an identity-formative pathway through which children connect place to belonging, future aspirations and possible selves. The findings indicate that children conceptualise sense of place not merely as emotional attachment, but as a multidimensional developmental structure that actively shapes self-concept, values and action orientations. The model advances theoretical discussions in geographical and environmental education and provides a framework for strengthening place-based and sustainability-oriented learning in primary education.

Klíčová slova: sense of place; primary education; environmental education; landscape protection; sustainability

stránky: 282-286, Publikováno: 2026, online: 2026