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The first IJEC special issue on early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) was published in 2009. It included an article ) about the UN set of recommendations adopted for education for sustainable development (ESD) in early childhood education, which are also titled The Gothenburg Recommendations. The 2009 special issue also included papers with themes on citizenship, globalisation, diversity, cultural relevance, policy and pedagogy, but only a few were informed by empirical research. In the editorial for the 2009 special issue, John Siraj-Blatchford (2009) noted that these papers focused on interrogating dominant economic and political thinking, promoting the three pillars of sustainability, and investigating the challenges of globalisation. Almost a decade later as global climate change has become a cause for mitigation rather than prevention, it appears more than timely for us, as guest editors, to revisit ECEfS. Our intent in this editorial is to critically reassess the journey travelled so far and propose avenues for further exploration.We are driven by a firm belief that in early childhood education, we have an ethical responsibility to care and to act for sustainable futures for all, irrespective of the troubling political landscapes that thwart our calls for quantum global changes. In a recent compilation of articles about children and climate change, Currie and Deschenes (2016) make it patently clear that today's children will bear the brunt of climate change for years to come, their well-being and development will be negatively impacted, and global inequities for children will be exacerbated. Further, the current seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (2016) & Eva Ä rlemalm-Hagsér

This Swedish quantitative study aims to fill a research gap concerning how preschool teachers understand and work with education for sustainable development. Empirical data were collected in a questionnaire distributed to 187 Swedish preschools. The questionnaires consisted of 13 multiple choice questions and five open ended questions exploring how the preschool teachers interpret education for sustainable development and environmental education both as concepts and in practice. Both education for sustainable development and environmental education were mainly associated with nature experiences, recycling and reuse of resources. Descriptions reflecting the economic and social aspects of sustainable development were mainly missing. These views were reflected in the types of activities the children were afforded. Preschools supported by in-service training had a broader understanding of the concept and worked more actively with environmental and sustainability issues with the children. This suggests the need for support for providing children with quality education about sustainability issues.