Understanding Sustainability in Early Childhood Education

Case Studies and Approaches from Across the UK

Diane Boyd, Nicky Hirst, John Siraj-Blatchford, Diane Boyd, Nicky Hirst, John Siraj-Blatchford

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781317283201
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This unique book explores research related to education for sustainability within early childhood education in the United Kingdom. Divided into the four home nations, it examines what education for sustainability looks like in practice, discusses the different application and positions of each region, and considers the contribution of early childhood education to support the Sustainable Development Goals.

Each chapter considers the relevant early years framework and includes associated case studies which highlight connections between statutory guidance, policy and positive early years pedagogical practice. The authors use an education for sustainability lens to explore the critical issues and explicit and implicit links embedded in each of the curricula frameworks. Each chapter acknowledges the context of outdoor learning with discussion related to different interpretations of ecological sustainability. This exploration should help readers to consider the idea of sustainability within early childhood education.

The book considers early childhood education as a distinct and valuable phase beyond the readiness for school discourse and recognises the importance of having skilful and knowledgeable adults to work with young children from birth. It offers a unique resource for students, practitioners, leaders and researchers engaged in the study of education for sustainability in early childhood and the importance of the early years for the development of life-long pro-environmental attitudes.

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1	Early childhood education for sustainability within England Nicky Hirst

In 2009, Professor Julie Davis published her review of international research findings and noted “a research hole” related to children being considered “agents of change” in early childhood environmental education. The paper considered three different categories of learning, “around the concepts of in the environment, about the environment and for the environment” (Davis and Elliott, 2014:4). In 2014, Julie Davis and Sue Elliott (2014:5) observed the development of a “newer” body of research which “makes more explicit, the philosophical and pedagogical links between early childhood education and education for sustainability, often advocating for an embedded and enacted culture of education for sustainability within early childhood education, rather than focusing mainly on investigating children’s knowledge about the environment or engagement in the environment”. This chapter explores early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) within the context of the statutory early years framework in England, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (DCFS, 2008a; DfE, 2014, 2017), and the associated discourse related to sustainability within primary education. Using an early childhood education lens, this chapter also explores the guidance for early years practitioners, including variants of teacher education, as a platform to visualise education for sustainable development (ESD) with young children.

The EYFS and sustainability

Following a pilot phase in 2007, the EYFS was implemented for all children from birth to five years in England. The framework recognised “that a child’s experience in the early years has a major impact on their future life chances” (DCSF, 2008a:7) and the principles were cognisant of the role of the family as central to young children’s learning and development. Following the inquiry by Lord Laming into the death of Victoria Climbié, the two green papers Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003) and Every Child Matters: Change for Children (DfES, 2004) led to the Children Act (2004). The EYFS was introduced by the Labour Government to bring together Every Child Matters, the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA, 2000) and the Full Day Care National Standards for Under 8s Day Care and Childminding.

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Following the election of the Coalition Government in 2010, Puffett (2010) highlighted the deficit message that the government wanted to “ban” the term “every child matters” and replace it with “help children achieve more”. There were concerns at the time that this change in the preferred terminology suggested a move away from a holistic view of the child to a more narrow, educationally focused ideology.

The EYFS (DCSF, 2008a:8) stated that the principles of the framework must “guide the work of all practitioners”. The original version was organised into four distinct principles with complementary themes. The principles were:

■ A unique child

■ Positive relationships

■ Enabling environments

■ Learning and development

The idea of a principled early years framework is undisputed; however, it is important to acknowledge the micro-system of the early years setting, the family and community as valuable “sites of socialisation” for young children (McDowall Clark, 2013:13). Whilst the sociological idea of agency (Corsaro, 1997) is captured within ECEfS, the idea of children as agentic in their own learning is often unconsciously translated within a culture of compliance related to early years outcomes and goals. When working with babies and young children there is also a need to pursue meaningful interactions with parents and care givers to be politically and ethically conscious educators. Peter Moss (2011) cites Oberhuemer’s democratic professionalism (2005:4), where early childhood educators “understand their role as practitioners of democracy” and “while recognising that they bring an important perspective and a relevant local knowledge to the democratic forum, they are also aware that they do not have the truth, nor privileged access to knowledge” (Moss, 2011:4).

The areas of learning and ECEfS

The original EYFS was revised following a consultation period and an independent report by Dame Clare Tickell (2011), which was influential in the changes to the framework in 2012. Further revisions followed, in 2014 (DfE, 2014) and more recently in March 2017. The original six areas of learning (DCSF, 2008a) were replaced with a “reconfigured model of learning and development” (Tickell, 2011:27) with three prime and four specific areas of learning.

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Three prime areas of learning:

■ Personal, social and emotional development

■ Communication and language

■ Physical development

Four specific areas of learning:

■ Literacy

■ Mathematics

■ Expressive arts and design

■ Understanding the world

(Statutory framework for the EYFS, DfE, 2017)

The statutory guidance suggests that practitioners working with babies and young children should focus on the three prime areas, whilst recognising that the foundations of all learning are laid from birth. Focus on the prime areas is complemented and reinforced by learning in the specific areas; for example, when young children are physically engaging in the natural environment, they are learning about their world. The emphasis shifted from an implicit suggestion about how young children learn. In the EYFS (DCSF, 2008a) this was most obvious in three of the commitments under the theme of learning and development – play and exploration, active learning and creativity, and critical thinking – and led to an explicit reference by Tickell (2011:27) to the characteristics of effective learning. Scrutiny of the statutory framework (DfE, 2014, 2017) illustrates that although there is little information on the characteristics of effective learning, there is a requirement for reception teachers to provide information to Year 1 teachers on how each child has been learning in relation to “characteristics”, as part of the statutory assessment, the EYFS Profile (DfE, 2014). The characteristics of effective learning refer to how young children learn and it could be argued that these characteristics align with the idea of education for sustainability within early childhood education.

In planning and guiding children’s activities, practitioners must consider the different ways that children learn and reflect these in their practice. Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:

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■ Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and “have a go”;

■ Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements;

■ Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

(DfE, 2017:10)

The word “sustainability” is visibly absent from the EYFS (Gilbert, Rose and Luff, 2014; Weldemariam et al., forthcoming); however, the characteristics noted above need to be nurtured and developed during the early years, thus, ECEfS is a useful lens to explore adult–child interactions for a broader, more holistic understanding of how young children learn. Exploratory play is how babies begin to understand their surroundings and the relationships between themselves and others, using all their senses and every part of the body. Play is an ideal vehicle for trying things out, taking risks, making mistakes and challenging oneself. Play supports confidence building and helps young children to come to terms with the unpredictability of the world and associated human and non-human relationships. Physical activity is associated with well-being, resilience and holistic development (Wilson, 2012) and active learning as a characteristic is not just about being physically active, but acknowledges the cognitive domain, the mental activity associated with meta cognition and motivation. In a world where the future is unpredictable, supporting young children to develop a growth mindset (Dweck, 2007) helps children to challenge, keep on trying and find ways to overcome obstacles. Creativity and critical thinking captures the idea of human discovery and it is worth reflecting on the definition from the original (and useful) principles into practice cards:

When children have opportunities to play with ideas in different situations and with a variety of resources, they discover connections and come to new and better understandings and ways of doing things. Adult support in this process enhances their ability to think critically and ask questions.

(DCSF, 2008c:card 4.3)

This reflects Nancy Stewart’s (2011:78) claim that this aspect is about “thinking flexibly . . . and coming up with original ideas”.

Communication is an important aspect of the thinking process, and open-ended questions and dialogic learning (Alexander, 2010) are key features of effective pedagogy with all learners including young children. Democratic practice is situated within ECEfS and adults need to “welcome curiosity, uncertainty and subjectivity” (Moss, 2011:4).

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ECEfS and understanding their world

At the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, member states adopted a new global development agenda, Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The new agenda unites global development and environmental goals in one framework. There is no single definition of sustainable development. Most challenge the status quo, believing that human development means nothing without a healthy planet.

Siraj-Blatchford, Smith and Pramling Samuelsson (2010) highlighted ESD in the early years with their report for the World Organisation for Early Childhood (Organisation Mondiale Pour l’Education Prescolaire – OMEP), and whilst they acknowledged the familiar Brundtland definition of sustainability, as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987:43), they redefine the agency focus and refer to Sen’s “capability centred approach” (Siraj-Blatchford, Smith and Pramling Samuelsson, 2010:5). According to Siraj-Blatchford, Smith and Pramling Samuelsson (2010), this perspective acknowledges language as discourse with a move away from the deficit notion of “need” to the more empowering idea of agency. Elliot and McCrea (2016) draw interesting parallels with developments associated with the emergence of theories around the new sociology of childhood (Corsaro, 1997), which viewed young children as social participants, and the promotion of children’s rights to participate in decision making about matters that affect them (UNICEF, 1989).

In 2008, Tricia Herbert asserted that there was significant research evidence noting that simply knowing about environmental issues has little impact upon behaviour (Gould, 1991 cited in Herbert, 2008; Orr, 2004 cited in Herbert, 2008) and she cites the early years as the most fruitful time to forge emotional bonds with the natural world. She acknowledged that within the developed world (what some may refer to as the minority world), few “lucky” children have opportunities to spend their days freely observing and exploring with an attentive adult. The finality of some of the key language within the EYFS – “completion”, “outcomes” and “readiness” (DfE, 2014, 2017) – is at odds with the notion of slow learning in an emergent culture. “Knowledge and understanding the world” (DCFS, 2008a) was one of six interconnected and holistic areas of learning and this was replaced with the specific area (one of four) “understanding the world” (DfE, 2014, 2017). The idea of guided discovery and the Vygotskian zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978) offer a pedagogical platform for practice; however, it needs to be acknowledged that the evaluation of children’s understanding may also create a micro-culture of assessment and testing with very young children. When considering education for sustainability, Herbert (2008:63) reminds us that “it can never be delivered, in a scheduled programme; its focus is not academics but making sense of the child’s own world. It has no standardised assessments, but it is learning that engages the mind, hands, heart and spirit in equal measure”. This argument resonates with early childhood education in general, where didactic teaching is far removed from the need for sustainable citizenship as an emergent capability (Siraj-Blatchford, Park and Mogharreban, 2016), where adults are able to naturally identify and embed re...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Understanding Sustainability in Early Childhood Education
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Early Childhood Education for sustainability within England
• 2 Early Childhood Education for Sustainability within Northern Ireland
• 3 Early Childhood Education for Sustainability within Scotland
• 4 Early Childhood Education for sustainability within Wales
• 5 The Legacy of Maria Montessori
• 6 The Legacy of Rudolf Steiner
• Index