Early Childhood Education for Sustainability

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) defines a child as any person under age 18 (UN 1989; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] 2017). Early childhood care and education (ECCE) denotes the education of children from birth till 8 years of age (UNESCO 2017), which could be the starting point for the development of a sustainable society, particularly by embedding early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) in early years curricula (Davis 2010; Elliott 2019; UNESCO 2014). ECEfS is transformative, empowering, and participative education around sustainability issues, topics, and experiences via the creation of, and support of, learning communities in ECCE (Davis 2010).

Water, Waste Material, and Energy as Key Dimensions of Sustainable Management of Early Childhood Eco-Schools: An Environmental Literacy Model Based on Teachers Action-Competencies (ELTAC)

“…This has generated a multiplier effect of the training program that has favoured professional development in the centres and has involved families, staff, and other agents of the educational community. The teachers that are most involved in the collaborative training program have served as a driving force, energising other colleagues from non-participating centres, generating in them interest in incorporating aspects related to sustainability in the activities they carry out in class [62].…”

“…Framing early childhood education curriculum through the lens of the EfS has become a priority of study in recent years [55][56][57][58][59], which is also supported by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) with its associated publications [60,61], and by OMEP (World Organisation for Early Childhood Education) itself with the design of the Environmental Rating Scale for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood (2015) [62] that marks a before and after rating in the evaluation/self-evaluation process of the early childhood education teachers on their teaching practice linked to the inclusion of sustainability. Nevertheless, there is still much to do, including the need to establish a coordinated logic between the management models developed by the centre, the teaching practice in the classroom, and the transfer of knowledge beyond the walls of the classroom and the institution.…”

“…In short, EfS is emerging as a tool that has the power to alert educators and educational managers of new educational policies that take the inclusion of these approaches as a reference, which, in turn, bring with it an increase in sustainability practices that facilitate a change in the ways of doing, thinking, and being a 'citizen' [62]. In this task, dialogue, systemic thinking, collaborative work, anticipation, and other skills in sustainability become catalysts to facilitating educational tasks.…”

Too Young to Know? A Multiple Case Study of Child-to-Parent Intergenerational Learning in Relation to Environmental Sustainability

“…T he negative impacts of the current global environmental crisis and the growing demands on the Earth's limited resources call for a behaviour change towards sustainability (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2018). Early childhood education (ECEC) has been proposed as key to achieving a future which is culturally, economically, environmentally and politically sustainable by helping children acquire the skills and attitudes necessary to live a sustainable life (Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008;Spiteri, 2020;UNESCO, 2017). As active agents in their own development, children hold unique perspectives on various environmental issues (Lawson et al, 2018;Peterson et al, 2019;Spiteri, 2018Spiteri, , 2020.…”

“…Early childhood education (ECEC) has been proposed as key to achieving a future which is culturally, economically, environmentally and politically sustainable by helping children acquire the skills and attitudes necessary to live a sustainable life (Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008;Spiteri, 2020;UNESCO, 2017). As active agents in their own development, children hold unique perspectives on various environmental issues (Lawson et al, 2018;Peterson et al, 2019;Spiteri, 2018Spiteri, , 2020. As intergenerational agents of environmental change, children can bring about positive changes in the environmental behaviour of those around them (Davis, 2018;Peterson et al, 2019), particularly in the early years of life, resulting in child-to-parent intergenerational learning (IGL).…”