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This international collection of case study chapters addresses early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) across diverse national contexts. The book offers critical reflections about what has been achieved to promote ECEfS through policy, research and practice; what might be the lessons learnt for sharing; and, what is yet to be achieved. In pragmatic terms, each national case study incorporates policy, research and practice, alongside illustrative initiatives, stories and images to engage readers. The work provides a systematic understanding of the global ECEfS field and facilitates identification of commonalities, divergences and issues for further analysis and synthesis. The reader is offered a broad text stance incorporating a comparative ECEfS knowledge base and transformative strategies for envisioning sustainable futures with young children. In particular, strategies towards a creative, courageous and radical education that prioritises ethical relationalities with the Earth and sustainable futures for both the human and the non-human species. This is a timely collection in a world where young children are born into climate crises, economic uncertainties and political instabilities alongside their fundamental rights being eroded. Sustainability is conceptualised worldwide in different ways historically, socially and culturally and this is celebrated by the contributing authors throughout the text. Many voices are shared from those working towards global sustainability in early childhood education.
This book is aimed at researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and practitioners.
List of contents
1.Sustainability approaches in early childhood care and education in Aotearoa.- 2. Contemporary ECEfS in Australia: Perspectives and possibilities.- 3.Indigenous Land relations as a way toward sustainable futures with young children of Turtle Island.- 4.Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Curriculum and Pedagogy.- 5.ECEfS in Finland - striving for ecosocial education.- 6.ECEfS as an impulse for transformation instead of a supplement to current educational concepts.- 7.Challenges and potentials of ECEfS in Japan: Transformative readings of the Japanese national guidelines to envision sustainable futures.- 8.Early Childhood Education for Sustainability in Malta.- 9.Challenges and possible paths in Education for Sustainability in Portugal.- 10.Reading instruction to promote sustainable development: A collaborative approach in one Grade 1 classroom in South Africa.- 11.ECEfS in Turkey from research to practice.- 12.Children's opportunities to develop growing responsibility for and interest in sustainability issues in the Swedish preschool.- 13.Reframing "Quality" through the lens of ECEfS: Promising practices in the United States.
About the author
Eva Ärlemalm-Hagsér, Professor in Early Childhood Education, has a background as a preschool teacher. She works as a professor in the Division of Early Childhood Education within early childhood teacher education, leading the research group Childhood During The Anthropocene – Education and Sustainability, at Mälardalen University, Sweden. Her research focus is on education for sustainability and children’s participation and agency within policy and practices – indoors and outdoors. Between 2008-2018 Eva was a convener of the Special Interest Group (SIG) Outdoor play and Learning within the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). In 2019, Eva initiated the Special Interest Group (SIG) Sustainability in Early Childhood Education within the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) and is now a convener in this Special Interest Group and a co-convenor of the Transnational Dialogues in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability research group (TND) since 2010. In August 2023, she organised an international TND conference: Where to next? Examining the gaps, issues and needs in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability research, at Mälardalen University. Her recent text publications include Researching early childhood education for sustainability: Challenging assumptions and orthodoxies; Becoming a preschool teacher: Multifaceted complexity, and Early childhood education for sustainability: A short history. She lectures in all levels at the University from preschool teacher programs to Master and PhD student courses and is actively involved in Higher Degree Research supervision with three current candidates.
Sue Elliott, Ed. D., is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, New South Wales, Australia and a visiting scholar at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She is an experienced practitioner, academic and author in early childhood education with a focus on education for sustainability, outdoor playspaces and nature play. Notably, her sustainability advocacy work began in the 1990’s when she established a professional early childhood education for sustainability network in Australia, this has now expanded to six state networks and an active national alliance. Sue also has extensive networks internationally as a co-convenor of the TransNational Dialogues in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability research group since 2017. Her recent text publications include Researching early childhood education for sustainability: Challenging assumptions and orthodoxies, Early childhood education for sustainability: A short history and Early Years Learning in Australian Natural Environments. In 2023, Sue was awarded as a Fellow of the Australian Association of Environmental Education and is a consulting editor for the International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education and an associate editor for the journal Children Youth and Environments. She continues to engage in consultancy, research and Higher Degree Research supervision and is currently contributing to the Perth, Western Australia 2026 World Environmental Education Congress organising committee.
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Summary
This international collection of case study chapters addresses early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) across diverse national contexts. The book offers critical reflections about what has been achieved to promote ECEfS through policy, research and practice; what might be the lessons learnt for sharing; and, what is yet to be achieved. In pragmatic terms, each national case study incorporates policy, research and practice, alongside illustrative initiatives, stories and images to engage readers. The work provides a systematic understanding of the global ECEfS field and facilitates identification of commonalities, divergences and issues for further analysis and synthesis. The reader is offered a broad text stance incorporating a comparative ECEfS knowledge base and transformative strategies for envisioning sustainable futures with young children. In particular, strategies towards a creative, courageous and radical education that prioritises ethical relationalities with the Earth and sustainable futures for both the human and the non-human species. This is a timely collection in a world where young children are born into climate crises, economic uncertainties and political instabilities alongside their fundamental rights being eroded. Sustainability is conceptualised worldwide in different ways historically, socially and culturally and this is celebrated by the contributing authors throughout the text. Many voices are shared from those working towards global sustainability in early childhood education.
This book is aimed at researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and practitioners.
