Orienting early childhood education (ECE) towards sustainability has been on the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development [1], and sustainability is also integrated into the curriculum for preschool in Sweden [2]. In this poster, we present an ongoing research project titled “Eco-certified Preschools and Children's Learning for Sustainability: Researching Holistic Outcomes of Preschool Education for Sustainability (HOPES)” funded by the Swedish Research Council (Dnr. 2018-04445) and approved by Swedish Ethical Review Authority (2020-00005). The purpose of the project is to contribute to the evidence-informed development of pedagogical practices that facilitate children’s meaningful learning for sustainability at preschools. The project explores and compares: i) children’s knowledge and views of sustainability; ii) teachers’ views and teaching practices concerning sustainability; and iii) principals’ views and actions on sustainability both at eco- and non-eco-certified preschools. In this project, ‘eco-certified preschools’ refers to those preschools that work explicitly with sustainability and were certified by “Green Flag” and/or the “Preschool for Sustainable Development” program.
The project integrates several theoretical perspectives, particularly an integrated approach to sustainability from a holistic perspective, in which environmental, social, and economic dimensions are interconnected. The Whole School Approach (WSA) to sustainability was also used as a theoretical frame when exploring principals’ views and actions on sustainability in the operations of preschools [3]. The project employs a mixed methods approach [4] that allows for the integration of qualitative and quantitative data through semi-structured interviews, questionnaire surveys, observations, and policy document analysis. Data have been collected from children (n=403), preschool teachers (n=585), and principals (n=50) from 50 preschools through two-stage cluster random sampling. Content analyses were applied, and quantitative data were subjected to Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminatory Analysis.
Results from an analysis of the preschool curriculum indicated that sustainability was explicitly integrated in the curriculum using a holistic perspective and that children's agency was addressed [5]. The findings of principals’ data reveal that principals at eco-certified preschools have a more nuanced and multifaceted view of sustainability in their leadership practice, indicating that eco-certification plays an important role in making a difference (Article, in review). Analyses of children’s and teachers’ data are in progress. The project also provides insights into the role of eco-certification in children’s learning for sustainability, supporting the development of evidence-informed pedagogical practices in preschools both in Sweden and internationally.
References
[1] United Nations. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.2015.
[2] Skolverket. Curriculum for the Preschool Lpfö 18. 2019
[3] Wals, AEJ, Mathie, RG. Encyclopedia of Educational Innovation, 2022, 1-8.
[4] Creswell, JW, Clark, VLP. Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research (2nd ed.).2011.
[5] Borg, F, Pramling Samuelsson, I. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2022, 30(1), 147-163.
2025.
OMEP Bologna 77thInternational Conference: the World Organization for Early Childhood Education