New Initiatives for Building Education for Sustainability in Initial Early Childhood Teacher Education in Sweden – Critical Aspects and Noticeable Needs

There is an identified need for research capable of enhancing understanding of effective practice in the embedding of Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Initial Early Childhood Teacher education (IECTE). Research further finds that innovative teaching strategies are needed to build new teachers’ capacity to prepare future citizens to manage critical sustainability challenges. This study meets this need by investigating how EfS is implemented in two IECTE programmes at two Swedish universities where EfS is embedded throughout the years of study, and the learning students demonstrate at the end of the programmes in relation to EfS. Findings reveal that students demonstrate a range of understandings related to EfS and the role of the early childhood teacher in EfS. Findings further suggest there is an overall need to deepen IECTE students’ EfS theoretical and pedagogical content knowledge to enable them to close a gap between the theory and teaching of EfS in early childhood education settings

Comparing education for sustainable development in initial teacher education across four countries

Purpose: This paper undertakes a cross-comparative inquiry into Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) related to governance, initiatives and practices in initial teacher education (ITE) across four countries with very different contexts – Sweden, Scotland, Canada, and Australia. It provides insights into issues arising internationally, implications for ESD in ITE, and offers learnings for other countries and contexts. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-comparative study design with overarching themes and within-case descriptions was applied to consider, compare and contrast governance characteristics, initiatives and practices from each context. Findings: The approaches to governance, initiatives and practices that each country adopts are unique yet similar, and all four countries have included ESD in initial teacher education to some extent. Comparing and contrasting approaches has revealed learnings focused on ESD in relation to governance and regulation, practices, and leadership. Research limitations/implications: Making comparisons between different contexts is difficult and uncertain, and often misses the richness and nuances of the individual sites under study. However, it remains an important endeavour as the challenges of embedding ESD in initial teacher education will be better understood and overcome if countries can learn from one another. Originality/value: Scrutinising different approaches is valuable for broadening views about possibilities, and understanding how policies and initiatives translate in practice

Engagerade i världens bästa? Lärande för hållbarhet i förskolan

In this thesis the aim is to acquire knowledge about and to scrutinise the ambiguity, complexity and contradictions within education for sustainability in the Swedish preschool, as well as analysing children’s agency and meaning-making and how they are manifested in relation to education for sustainability. In this qualitative research, the theoretical framework is guided by a critical theory approach as well as an ecofeministic perspective. The empirical material was obtained in four studies, which are presented in four articles focusing on different levels in the educational system, i.e. the national preschool curriculum, the envisioned curriculum and the enacted curriculum. Owing to the complexity of the objects of inquiry a bricolage methodological approach is used. The first article focuses on day care attendants’ comprehension of the concept of sustainable development and the pedagogical practices at their place of work in preschools. The second article scrutinises education for sustainable development in the Swedish preschool and the ways that young children are described as active participants and agents of change. The third article analyses the ways that young children were described and supported as active participants for change in the Australian and Swedish national steering documents for early childhood education. In the fourth article the dialogues between preschool children and preschool teachers are analysed in a theme about Earth Hour. In the final analysis all four articles are analysed as a whole to synthesise the findings and acquire knowledge about education for sustainability in the Swedish preschool. The findings show that education for sustainability is seen as an important task in the preschool educational activities and that preschool children participate in various activities (knowledge contents) dealing with sustainability issues. Children are also described as important actors in relation to their own lives in the present and in the future. Themes that become visible are related to: the present as an ongoing relation with the past and the future, places of agency, preschool children and nature, and preschool as an affirmative sustainability practice. In these themes hidden structures appear with unreflected and taken-for- granted assumptions: in relation to the knowledge contents, places for children’s agency and in children's relationship to nature. On the other hand, education for sustainability in the Swedish preschool can also be interpreted as a place where a transformative opportunity sometimes occurs. This is evident in the rhetoric of children’s rights and skills, a rights logic, as well as in the logic of care, which manifests itself in the respect for the child and respect for nature. The findings point to a complex web in which the present-day educational activities still contain notions and ideas from the early preschool days, along with more contemporary understanding of children, childhood and the preschool as a place where different political and practical agenda are expressed

Naturmöten och källsortering - En kvantitativ studie om lärande för hållbar utveckling i förskolan

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.

Barns delaktighet i det fysiska rummet : Svenska OMEP:s utvecklingsprojekt med stöd av Allmänna arbsfonden 2007-2010

Hur kan barns delaktighet öka i förskolan? Vilka hinder för barns delaktighet och inflytande finns? Vad kan vara lämpliga strategier och metoder för barns ökade inflytande i förskolan? Detta är frågor som Svenska OMEP (Organisation Mondiale pour l´Éducation Préscolaire) tillsammans med förskolebarn och förskolepersonal försökt att svara på genom projektet Barns delaktighet i det fysiska rummet. I projektet som stöddes av Allmänna arvsfonden deltog under åren 2007–2010, 533 barn och 133 förskolepersonal från tio svenska förskolor.Projektets resultat presenteras här kortfattat med förhoppning om att inspirera till utvecklingsarbete runt om i Sveriges förskolor

Mellan det globala och lokala – förskollärarstudenters meningsskapande om undervisning för hållbarhet i förskolan: Between the global and the local – preschool teacher students meaning-making on Education for Sustainability in Swedish Early Childhood Education

In previous studies on teacher education, student teachers and sustainability education, it has been found that there is a great need for more knowledge in higher education within the pedagogical field. Moreover, further studies are needed focused on problematizing how preschool teacher students understand and manage education for sustainable development. Such teaching can go beyond an environmental/scientific discourse through the integration of multiple dimensions of sustainability. The present study addresses this need by studying how preschool teacher students describe education for sustainable development and how global and local sustainability issues may emerge in preschool contexts. Furthermore, sustainable development is understood as a knowledge base that enable children to understand the world and develop their creativity and curiosity, and that they, in the future, like the intentions in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, will be able to engage or grapple with complex issues. The study is based on a critical theoretical approach and its method is critical text analysis. The empirical basis consists of nineteen essays written by preschool teacher students

New teacher strategies to support children’s active participation in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEFS)

The aim of this study is to analysis how preschool teachers give opportunities for children to develop competences by using the Environmental Rating scale for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood (ERS-SDEC). The research question was: Which strategies are needed by preschool teachers so children can become active participants, citizens, and agents of change in the everyday preschool practices? This research builds on previous research on ECEfS (Davis, 2009, 2014) and studies about ERS-SDEC (Larsson & Pramling-Samuelsson, 2020; Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2016). It answers to the need for more research about children’s agency in education for sustainability. The theoretical underpinning is built on critical theories (Fraser, 2010; Mouffe, 2008) and perspectives about children’s participation (Hart, 1992). Education for Sustainability, children’s active participation and agency (Davis, 2014) are conceptual frameworks for the study. This qualitative research is inspired by action research and involved an in-service study with participatory, collaborative and cyclical ways in order to produce knowledge and change (Rönnerman, 2004). The participating preschool teachers received information about the aim, method, and process, and consent and was collected from all participants. Ethical guidelines from the Swedish Research Council (2016) and EECERA (2014) were considered during the research. design and process. Overall, the teachers’ have started to develope new knowledge and understandings about ECEFS, children’s participation and agency when using ERS-SDEC in this study. The study has implications for both policy and practice. As, the preschool teachers have deepening their knowledge about ECEfS as well as critical exploring the policy.

New initiatives for building Education for Sustainability in initial early childhood teacher education in Sweden – critical aspects and noticeable needs

There is an identified need for research capable of enhancing understanding of effective practice in the embedding of Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Initial Early Childhood Teacher education (IECTE). Research further finds that innovative teaching strategies are needed to build new teachers’ capacity to prepare future citizens to manage critical sustainability challenges. This study meets this need by investigating how EfS is implemented in two IECTE programmes at two Swedish universities where EfS is embedded throughout the years of study, and the learning students demonstrate at the end of the programmes in relation to EfS. Findings reveal that students demonstrate a range of understandings related to EfS and the role of the early childhood teacher in EfS. Findings further suggest there is an overall need to deepen IECTE students’ EfS theoretical and pedagogical content knowledge to enable them to close a gap between the theory and teaching of EfS in early childhood education settings

Lärande för hållbar utveckling - är det någonting för förskolan, eller? : Rapport om OMEP:s projekt Lärande för hållbar utveckling i praktiken

Hur kan förskolan i Sverige bidra till arbetet för hållbar utveckling? Hur kan barns delaktighet i det arbetet öka? Vad kan vara lämpliga strategier och metoder för barns lärande för hållbar utveckling i förskolan? Detta är frågor som Svenska OMEP (Organisation Mondiale pour l´Éducation Préscolaire) tillsammans med förskolebarn och förskolepersonal försökt att svara på genom projektet Lärande för hållbar utveckling i praktiken under 2011. Projektarbeten från sex förskolor presenteras här kortfattat med förhoppning om att inspirera till utvecklingsarbete runt om i Sveriges förskolor