Early childhood education and learning for sustainable development and citizenship

• Since the end of the 1980:s when OECD published the Brundtland report, in which the concept of sustainable development as a critical global issue was introduced, the role of education for global survival has been frequently discussed and explored, by politicians as well as researchers. In the report, sustainable development is defined as “…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. In school curricula and practice, efforts have been made to include material and issues related to, for example, climate changes and nature resources in teaching and learning. Surprisingly little attention has however been paid to in what way and on what premises early childhood education may and should be involved. In our paper we will discuss some issues related to this. We will particularly bring forward and try to identify in what way preschool education can be seen as having a specific role in, and as carrying specific resources for, education for sustainable development. We will also discuss how the concept of learning in early education contexts can be related to sustainable development. As we see the concept of sustainable development as closely linked with citizenship, we will also consider this issue. Recent and on-going political transformations within the educational system in Sweden as well as planned and earlier research will serve as frames for our presentation.

Nyckelord

sustainable development

citizenship

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)