Taking Children Seriously EPSD_Report4

8/7/2019 Taking Children Seriously EPSD_Report4

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Produced 2010 by Centre for Environment and Sustainability, GMVwww.chalmers.se/gmv

Production: EPSD - European Panel on Sustainable DevelopmentGraphic design: Annelie Karlsson, GMVPaper:Algro design / Maxipreprint / Font: Helvetica and GaramondPrint: Intellecta DocusysPhoto: stock.xchng: Horton Group (page 9), Anissa Tompson (page12, 61), betta5 (page 17), Armin Hanisch (page 21)ISBN: 978-91-979374-0-5


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most people want prosperity, sae,

supportive and just communities in which

to live and a lie supporting environment

to underpin it all. They want these at the

same time. Which is what sustainable de-

velopment is progressing and achieving

our economic, social and environmental

goals together, as a mutually reinorcing

system.

Higher Education Partnership or Sustainability, 2004


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List o contents

Foreword, by Bo Samuelsson

Early childhood education

an investment in a sustainable uture o nations, by Jan Eliasson

Background

Executive Summary

Recommendations

Introduction

But Why Education or Sustainable Development in Early Childhood?

Capacity Development

The Policy Context

Policy Conclusions

The ve key areas identied or development

List o Abbreviations

Reerence Group Members

Reerences

5

7

10

13

21

25

33

38

49

57

59

62

63

65


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At their Summit meeting in Gothenburg in June 2001, Europes heads of state andgovernment reached agreement on a European strategy for sustainable development.

The social and economic dimensions of the Lisbon strategy were complemented by anenvironmental dimension. Thus, the Gothenburg Summit represents a breakthrough forsustainable development in the European Union (EU).

The University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology made a commit-ment to serve, through the joint Centre for Environment and Sustainability (GMV), as ahub for research and scientic follow up of the EU sustainable development strategy. Inorder to fulll this commitment, the two universities have established a European Panelfor Sustainable Development (EPSD), together with Lund University. In addition, indi-

vidual members from other universities and research institutes contribute to the work ofthe Panel. The Centre for Environment and Sustainability (GMV) in Gothenburg is thelead organization in the EPSD.

The rst report produced by the Panel in 2004 was From Here to Sustainability Isthe Lisbon/Gothenburg Agenda Delivering? This was put forward as an independentcontribution from academics to the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy for growth,competitiveness and jobs. The second report Make the Kok-report sustainable wasproduced by the EPSD as a reection on, and a response to, the mid-term review on theLisbon strategy chaired by the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Wim Kok. Thethird report Towards a Smart Growth Strategy for Sustainable Development aimed tocontribute to the re-launch of the EU sustainable development strategy. It contained acritical assessment of A Platform for Action, the proposal for an updated strategy putforward by the European Commission.

After a few years of silence the EPSD is now back with its fourth report. TAKINGCHILDREN SERIOUSLY - How the EU can Invest in Early Childhood Education fora Sustainable Future. The present report takes its point of departure from the fact thatyoung children have a right and a shared responsibility in achieving a sustainable future.

The report presents current research on childrens interest and ability to understand ques-

Foreword


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tions on the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.It also maps early childhood education within EU and in the world regarding quantityand quality. Activities by EU, UNESCO, OMEP and other international organizations arepresented. As a consequence a number of crisp recommendations for the future develop-ment of Early Childhood Education within EU are given. Also, a global sharing is on thesketch board.

The main author of the report was Prof. John Siraj Blatchford, University of Swansea,UK. A number of researchers and knowledgeable persons have constituted a referencegroup and further contributed to the report: Katarina Grdfeldt, GMV, Gothenburg;Ilan Chabay, Ylva Hrd af Segerstad and Magdalena Svanstrm, Chalmers Universityof Technology; Monica Haraldsson Strng,and Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson, Universityof Gothenburg; Marie-Louise Jungnelius and Frans Lenglet, The Swedish International

Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (SWEDESD), Gotland University;Annika kerblom, Lund University; Eva rlemalm-Hagser, Mlardalen University, StenLjungstrm and Kerstin kesson, Universeum, Gothenburg, Lori Adams Chabai, Districtof Columbia Public Schools, Washington DC. Jan Eliasson, Former President of the UNGeneral Assembly and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, has been asked to con -tribute with his perspectives.

The report was edited by Maria Svane and Annelie Karlsson, GMV. It is endorsed by theEPSD.

Bo Samuelsson

Chairman of EPSD and of the reference group


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It is urgent to realize that the process towards sustainable development lies in the capabil-ity of our children but also in that we as adults recognize them and take them seriously.The UN convention on the rights of a child declares that childrens basic needs andopportunities to reach their full potential should be met. Despite this, very little attentionhas been paid by nations or institutions to meet this need and to provide accessibility ofeducation for sustainable development in early childhood for all children. Also in inter-national agreements, like The Millennium Development Goals and Education for All, theyoungest age group is not sufciently taken into consideration.

The authors of this report state that education for sustainable development (ESD) is allabout the future.Young children have the greatest stake as citizens in the future.I agree with them.

What we need now is sustainable action. ESD in early childhood must be recognised as achildrens right and human rights issue.

This report highlights pathways towards a sustainable future drawing on the creativenessof children.

It is well-known that investments in programs targeted toward the youngest childrenwithin early childhood education will pay back at a much higher rate than investments inlater schooling and job training. Despite this, very little attention has been paid by institu-tions to improve the accessibility and content of education for sustainable developmentin early childhood.

This report identies the key priorities for development in terms of a combined initia-

Early childhood education

an investment in asustainable uture o nations


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tive involving early childhood education and care (ECEC) and education for sustainabledevelopment. The report highlights the need of a more balanced view on the impact offormal as well as informal education. For the purpose of sustainable development, it isimportant for all children to develop their mother tongue and to become able to commu-nicate both in this and in foreign languages . Young children are capable of sophisticatedthinking. In relation to environmental issues it is important to involve them and to en-courage their enthusiasm and curiosity for their surrounding world and big questions.

They will relate these issues to their level of understanding and experiences. All childrenshould be given the right to communicate about questions they meet in their social andphysical environment. ECEC may serve as a catalyst in developing a wider recognition ofthe need to consider education beyond its institutional contexts.

Jan EliassonFormer President of the UN General Assembly

and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden


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The current initiative began in 2004 with an international conference on Education forSustainable Development held in Gothenburg entitled Learning to Change our World.Subsequent conferences and workshops led to the publication of discussion papers in theperiod 2005-7 focusing on sustainable development in higher education, in schools and

in preschools, in teacher education, and in public and informal learning. Specic recom-mendations associated with each of these areas of concern were ofcially tabled at theUNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Bonn2009.

In subsequent discussions of the reference group early childhood was identied as apriority for attention and ve areas of policy were identied as of paramount importance.It is notable that each of these has subsequently been identied as key challenges in thejoint progress report of the European Council and the Commission on the implementa-tion of the Education and Training 2010 work programme (EC, 2010):

The dissemination of best practice Curriculum Integration Community engagement Teacher education Supporting countries where the current lack of adequate provision of early child-

hood education is itself an issue of sustainability

The 2009 Gothenburg Recommendations related to early childhood education weregrounded on notions that children are competent, active agents in their own lives andthey recognised that children are affected by, and capable of engaging with complex envi-ronmental and social issues. In fact they are often required by circumstance to engage incomplex environmental and social issues, and at times they are even the primary victimsof such events. The Recommendations therefore steered away from romanticized notionsof childhood as an arena of innocent play that positions all children as leading exclusivelysheltered, safe and happy lives that remain untouched by events around them. Educationfor Sustainable Development should be considered to provide an overriding orientationor perspective through which a broad range of problem solving competencies may be

Background


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applied. In European contexts these competencies are dened by the Framework for Eu-ropean Cooperation in Education and Training 2010-2020. According to Adam Pokorny,Deputy Head of the European Commission Unit associated with the Coordination ofLifelong Learning Policies, a consensus has recently been reached regarding the rethink-ing that is required related to the nature of the Early Childhood Education and Care(ECEC)* services provided and of how children experience them:

The general perspective of the Gothenburg Recommendations that you have sent to us reects in many ways our

concerns on ECEC by emphasising the importance of holistic quality education of the child in the early years

as a basis for lifelong learning and to promote a sustainable society. We strongly believe that sustainable develop-

ment must be the guiding light both in daily life in pre-schools, school, adult education universities and longer term

planning. To have an interdisciplinary approach to ECEC issues, to promote quality by the professionalisation of

staff and involving parents and the wider community into the eld are in the focus of our forthcoming studies on

competence requirements of ECEC staff and on parental support in early literacy acquisition. In the light of the

above your work is important to us.(Correspondence, 4 February 2010)

If Europe is to compete and prosper as a knowledge-based economy based on sustain-able, high levels of employment and reinforced social cohesion as envisaged in theEurope 2020 strategy (EC, 2010), the role of education and training in a lifelong learningperspective is crucial. Yet the 2010 joint progress report suggests that its implementa-tion remains a challenge. A key problem that is identied has been the failure in manycases to adopt a holistic view of lifelong learning that encompasses the full life cycle. Thelifelong learning strategies of many countries remain focused on particular sectors or

target groups and more coherent and comprehensive approaches need to be adopted. Asignicant argument made in the following pages is that it may well be that developmentsin ESD in early childhood would provide a catalyst for this.

* Acronyms such as ECE, ECEC and ECCE are commonly used in ofcial documentswithin the EU. These acronyms refer to early childhood education, early childhood educa-tion and care and early childhood care and education, respectively. ECEC will be usedthroughout this report.


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Education or Sustainable

Development is a lielong

process rom early childhood

to higher and adult educa-

tion and goes beyond ormal

education.

UN Economic Commission or Europe

N Economic Commission or Europe


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Executive Summary

The economic, environmental, social and cultural challenges that Europe is facing areincreasingly recognised. What may be less understood are the challenges to be met withinEurope and within each member state and the need to develop an effective education forsustainable development at all levels. Education for sustainable development provides a

vision of education that seeks to balance human and economic well-being with culturaltraditions and respect for the environment.

Stakeholders must have the means to engage in discourse around issues that affect themand in this context it should be recognized that it is most signicantly the lives and liveli-hoods of young children that are at stake. When these issues are complex and of vitalimportance, society must make every effort to prepare and equip its citizens to partici-pate in making decisions at the level of public policy and in their personal practice. Yetmisinformation, partial truths, and entirely bogus statements are encountered frequentlyin the discourses around complex and controversial issues. Scientic literacy is crucial and

it is in the early years that fundamental understandings and positive attitudes towards theproduction of scientic knowledge are formed.

In many preschools children are already investigating issues related to energy conser-vation, waste disposal and changes in their local environment children can share theirthoughts and ndings, and record them by drawing, writing, recording on charts andusing digital imaging. They nd that repetition and discussion of underlying processes arepart of the scientic inquiry.

Following the launch of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable De -velopment (2005-2014), the UN Economic Commission for Europe drew up a separateEducation for Sustainable Development strategy in 2005, and recognised that:

Education for Sustainable Development is a lifelong process from early childhood to higher and adult education and

goes beyond formal education. As values, lifestyles and attitudes are established from an early age, the role of education is

of particular importance for children. Since learning takes place as we take on different roles in our lives, Education for

Sustainable Development has to be considered as a life-wide process. It should permeate learning programmes at all levels,

including vocational education, training for educators, and continuing education for professionals and decision makers.


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Yet progress in early childhood education has been very slow so far. The DG Educationand Culture (2010) Inventory of innovative practices in education for sustainable devel-opment included only one project involving children under the age of 8 (of a total of

30 from 17 countries) as a wide range of examples of innovative ways to deliver formal,informal and non-formal education for sustainable development. The early childhoodpractice that was included was an Austrian national network (OKOLOG) for schoolsinvolving 6 to 25 year olds. A total of 212 in 33 countries stakeholders were apparentlycontacted and given the opportunity to nominate practices to this 2008 study.

In September 2010 UNESCO also published a draft version of a report directly focusedupon Education for Sustainable Development Good Practices in Early Childhood(UNESCO, 2010). This was in response to numerous requests for case studies and de-scriptions of good practices in ESD. The document provides details of 11 programmes

promoting ESD in early childhood settings. But only 3 of the 11 practices included wereEuropean; including a project from an cole maternelle in Paris involving three classroomgroups of 4-6 year olds in the production of short animated lms using webcams in as-sociation with the Playmobile toy company. Another European project (from Portugal)involved a class of 3 and 4 year olds where the children had collaborated in the develop -ment of lists of environmentally appropriate and inappropriate behaviors and patrolledthe pre-school (and local community) to ensure that they were adhered to. This led to thedevelopment of recycling activities, energy savings and the implementation of an organicgarden. A EUR 28 million German project for 3 to 6 year olds was also included in theUNESCO report. The Leuchtpol project is focused on Energy and the Environmentand includes provisions at further and higher education level for teacher training with anaim to involve 4,000 pre-schools (about 10% of national provision) by the end of 2012.

The Organisation Mondiale Pour Lducation Prscolaire (OMEP)(World Associa-tion for Early Childhood Education) is now providing signicant leadership in the areaof Early Childhood ESD. ESD was the major theme in its 2010 World Assembly andcongress in Gothenburg and the OMEP website carries guidance for practitioners andpractical examples of activities to be carried out with young children: http://www.ece-sustainability.org/ A wide range of other stakeholder groups and associations are provid-ing support to schools predominantly in the area of environmental education and havesignicant potential for extending their work into early childhood education.

The case for investing in education for sustainable development in early childhood can bemade in terms of human rights, social justice and practical expedience. All children havethe right to education, and research from longitudinal studies and from neuroscience hasshown that it is in the early years (birth to age 8) that children have the greatest capacityto learn. It is also in early childhood that the foundations of many of our fundamentalattitudes and values are rst put into place. Of even more fundamental signicance it


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should be recognised that ESD is all about the future and it is young children who havethe greatest stake as citizens in the future. ESD in early childhood must be recognised asa citizenship and human rights issue and early childhood must be recognised as the mostappropriate and natural starting point for all policy and practical sustainable developmentthroughout a system of lifelong learning.

If we are to respect our children and their human rights and citizenship we must recog-nize that they have a right and they also share a responsibility with us in achieving Sus-tainable Development.

Notions of equality of opportunity and individual freedom provide major principles ofcontemporary philosophical and political consensus. From the perspective of the socialcontract the role of the State in education and in the social services is therefore accepted

as one that should provide a level playing eld. However if we are to ensure children arein a position to take advantage of the level playing eld that is demanded by the contractmodel of social justice, then we must at rst achieve equalities of outcome in the pre-school period:

Poverty should not be seen only as a lack of income, but also as a deprivation of human rights. unless the

problems of poverty are addressed, there can be no sustainable development.

(UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2002)

Investments in the foundation stage of early childhood also provide a higher rate ofreturn than investments later in life. Research shows that a wide range of early childhood

disadvantages (or risk factors) have the potential to lead either directly or indirectly toeducational underachievement, whereas other resilience factors provide a child with theresources to overcome these risks. Parents can pass on risks and resilience to their chil-dren and there is therefore a need to support families, not just children, and to combineand integrate.


Perhaps the rst question to be answered in the context of ESD in early childhood re -lates to the capabilities of young children. We know from a range of international studies

that young children have a generally low level of factual knowledge and understanding ofenvironmental issues. We also know that children develop an early awareness of culturaldifferences. But at present we know very little about childrens emergent understandingof the economy or economic behaviour. Research shows that the single most importantinuence in promoting environmental awareness and concern is identied as childhoodexperience in the outside environment. It also shows that:


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When environmental issues are included in the curriculum even quite young chil-dren are capable of sophisticated thinking in relation to the issues

Some school focused educational interventions have been shown to effect changein students environmental knowledge and/or attitudes and (in a few cases) behav-iour

Studies of intergenerational inuence suggest that students, after participating inenvironmental education activities, are capable of inuencing the environmentalattitudes and/or behaviours of their parents

The Policy Context

We know that high quality pre-school education can help to alleviate the effects of socialdisadvantage, and some countries have therefore made the expansion of early child-

hood programmes a national priority, especially for reaching disadvantaged groups. Butresearch shows that those who would gain the most from early childhood care are oftenexcluded. Low-income families and immigrants tend to have less access to good qualityearly childhood care.

At a global level the most signicant priorities remain those of dealing with health andmalnutrition. Improved access to free maternal and child health care is crucial for educa-tion as well as for public health. Through effective early childhood care and education(ECCE) children have a better chance of escaping poverty and breaking out of the vi-cious cycles of disadvantage. UNESCO data show that a child born to a mother who can

read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of ve, and yet international communityis still not on track to deliver the promise of quality basic education for all by 2015. Infact, for many countries, the global food, fuel and nancial crises are threatening to stallor even reverse the progress made over the past ten years. Yet despite the strength ofthe research evidence that shows the economic benets of investment in the early years,only one of the ve benchmarks adopted by the Council to be achieved in the strategicframework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020) concernsearly childhood education, and even then the youngest children (below 4 years of age) arenot included:

..at least 95% of children between 4 years old and the age for starting compulsory primary education should

participate in early childhood education (op cit)

Recent trends show that the EU average of participation in early learning has risen dur-ing the past 7 years (+ 6% relative change). But a number of countries remain far belowestablished benchmarks. Different reasons contribute to this disparity: operational andnancial constraints in increasing the supply of ECEC within the country, as well as cul-tural norms and pedagogical approaches.


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The most effective earlyyears educational provi-sions support parentpartnerships in earlyeducation and seek to im-prove the home learningenvironment of youngchildren recognising thatthe work involves bothchildren and adults aslearners. This in itselfprovides a justicationfor more joined up think-

ing in terms of life longlearning and learning tolearn.

A higher participation inearly childhood education

would reduce educa-tional inequality, improve gender equality, foster economic growth and help improve thesustainability of the present-day welfare state, especially in the light of an ageing popula-tion. It would also support sustainability of social cohesion as new ethnic, language andreligious groups join across the global spectrum. ECEC provides strong foundations forchildren in terms of its introduction to the language of the school, cultural awareness andsocial harmony.

Current EU policy thinking on ECEC emphasis strongly the importance of the integrat-ing excluded, marginal, poor and migrant groups. This should be more widelyrecognised as a major objective for sustainable development.

In terms of education for sustainable development it is clear that ESD has been formallyincluded in EU policy and in its rhetoric education for Sustainable Development is recog-nised as a lifelong process from early childhood to higher and adult education and involv-

ing both formal and informal education. Yet there is no evidence that in the Europeancontext the connection between ECE and ESD has been made.

Moreover, while the EC has a large number of EU programs facilitating the developmentof and exchange in different forms of education (secondary, higher, adult, life long learn-ing), such as ERASMUS, COMENIUS, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig, Jean Monnet,there is nothing in the eld of ECEC.


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ECEC needs to be recognised as a process that can never be restricted to formal (pre-school) settings. Provisions need to be made to support ECEC in the informal and non-formal (semi-structured) settings of family, mutual assistance groups, self-help groups,church groups, as well as the day care centres, and nurseries where it is institutionalised.It would be equally mistaken to consider ESD restricted to formal education. Non-formal and informal settings are equally (and often even more) important than what ishappening or can happen in so-called educational institutions. This is one other reason

why ECE and ESD may be seen to be quite naturally associated.

The European framework for cooperation in education and training has been developedfollowing international evaluation of the key competences required for a successfullife and for a well functioning society. The competence, approach has been explicitlyadopted in this context in order to achieve a higher degree of integration between the ca-

pabilities and the broader social objectives that an individual has. The relevance of ESDto achieving this is obvious.

Many areas identied in the joint progress report of the Council and the Commission onthe implementation of the Education and Training 2010 work programme as in need ofdevelopment are highly relevant to ESD and ECEC (EC, 2010). These include the pro-motion of inquiry-based learning, creativity and innovation and approaches that seekto impart social and civic competencies, a sense of initiative and of entrepreneurship andcultural awareness that goes beyond simply imparting knowledge. Most signicantly ofall to the case for developing ESD in early childhood are the reports calls to make educa-tion and training more relevant to students and to the outside world.


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In our discussion of the competencies dened in the European framework for co-operation in education and training ve key areas were identied as priorities fordevelopment in terms of a combined initiative involving ECEC and ESD:

1. Communication in the mother tongue and in foreign languagesEarly years education should ideally be conducted in each childs mother tongue andresearch suggests that any short term disadvantages that children experience as aresult of their minority language tend to be short term except where these disadvan-tages are confounded due to disadvantages such as family poverty. But it is especiallyimportant for migrant cultures and children to be able to express themselves in thedominant language community, and ESD topics can provide particularly motivat-ing and meaningful contexts for communication between ECEC practitioners andchildren and their families both within and across member states. The diversity of

knowledge and experience that may be provided by migrant communities should alsobe recognized as potentially rich resources for European sustainable development.

2. Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology(including ICT)ECEC provides an established platform for collaborative problem-focused, project-based and enquiry-based learning. Mathematics, science and technology are oftenbeen assumed to be too complicated for young children. Yet there are many docu-mented examples that show this is not the case; much depends on the educator. Thepriority here must be to disseminate more widely the exemplary work that is alreadytaking place.

3. Learning to learn

Many of the current problems of EU policy in the area of life-long learning are as-sociated with the different ways in which countries interpret the subject as relevantto different age groups. Any focus upon ECEC in this context would act as a catalystfor recognition of the needs of wider age groups in the process of supporting learn-ing at any age. In a similar way many documents have referred to, and made separateprovisions for formal, informal and non-formal education. There has been aperceived need to clarify more fully where ECEC ts in. In this way ECEC may haveoften slipped through the cracks of policy making. But again ECEC may serve as a

catalyst in developing a wider recognition of the need to consider education beyondits institutional contexts. Can boundaries/disconnections between different seg-ments/sections of education be overcome by creating a more coherent holistic visionof lifelong learning within the EU?

4. Interpersonal, intercultural and social competences, civic competenceThese competences overlap entirely with the objectives for social and cultural educa-


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tion for sustainable development. They address the common aim of equipping indi-viduals to participate effectively in increasingly diverse social contexts, and to resolveconict where necessary. Equally the civic competence that equips individuals to fullyparticipate in civic life is required as much in sustainable development as in any othersphere of social activity, conict or dialogue. From an ECEC perspective provisionsfor the development of greater competence in cultural awareness and expression areclosely related as it is widely recognised that it is only on the basis of understand-ing of ones own ethnicity and cultural expressions that one can begin to respect the

wider diversity of cultures.

5. Initiative and EntrepreneurshipYoung children possess an inherent ability for creativity, risk taking and innovation,and they do not rule out possibilities before they have been attempted. Also young

children do not recognize, nor are they restricted in their thinking, by any distinctionbetween the world of the home and community, and that of the school. ECEC couldbe a major driver for initiative and innovation for sustainability.


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Recommendations


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1. The citizenship o children o all ages should be recognised as well

as their rights and responsibilities as agents involved in many day-to-

day practices that are considered signicant to achieving sustainable

development.Tis recognition includes an awareness o, and concern or: the negative inuences o commercial advertising upon children; their direct economic inuence as consumers; their inuence on wider patterns o amily consumption; and the need to create community cultures o sustainability, also around pre-

school settings)

2. ESD must be recognised as an integral part o ECEC. Also, ESD

and ECEC should be integrated in pre-service and in-service teacher

education at all levels.Te 2010 joint progress report o the Council and theCommission on the implementation o the Education and raining 2010 workprogramme suggests that, while there are indications that in some countries ini-tial teacher education prepares teachers to use the key competencies approach,

the majority o teachers are those already in service (EC, 2010). Tereore, in-service teacher training should receive greater emphasis, while embracing thekey competencies approach. ESD should become part and parcel o both typeso teacher training.

3. There is a need to develop a better and more holistic, understand-

ing o lielong learning.Young children have an inuence on the adults aroundthem. At the same time the world o government, industry, culture, business,commerce and voluntary associations is not separate rom that o young chil-dren. Tose employed and active in that world are not workers alone, many are

the parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles o young children. Teir networksand their eorts in terms o early childhood education may play a key role in thedevelopment o more sustainable utures.

The European Panel on Sustainable Development proposes the followingrecommendations to be taken into account in the further development of EarlyChildhood Education within the EU:Recommendations


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4. The European Commission and its organs should enable greatercollaboration and co-ordination with local, national and interna-

tional eorts to provide proessional development and curriculum

support materials or ESD.Tis would serve to: contribute towards intercultural understanding and a wider recognition

o mutual interdependency; and involve local level collaboration that can provide access to, and a greater

visibility o, ethnic minority community contributions and cultural her-itage.

5. More systematic research is required to identiy, evaluate and

promote existing good ESD practices in early childhood that inte-grate sustainable living practices, basic human rights and learning

through experience and doing. More communication and exchange oexperiments and innovative practice should be done: in countries, in regions,EU-wide and in the wider international context. Te EU through its variousorgans, programs and mechanisms should be instrumental in encouragingthis.

6. The EU should encourage innovation in terms o combining and

integrating ESD with and in ECEC through ramework programs

and/or through a new EU-wide program,as instituted or other areas oeducation (e.g. Erasmus). Trough such programs, actual practitioners, na-tional organizations and international networks will receive encouragementand fnancial means to engage in innovation, to undertake research and eval-uate results, and to share fndings and evidence. Where appropriate the workshould be participatory and action-centred, and carried out through transdi-ciplinary collaboration with proessionals rom all sectors and disciplines.

7. Fragmentation has been identifed as a major barrier to eective imple-mentation o practice in ECEC, ESD and lielong learning. More coordi-nated approaches to unding are thereore required. As a frst step towardsthis endprovisions should be specically made or early childhoodeducation within all existing European Commission budgets deal-

ing with ESD and lielong learning developmental.


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It took Britain hal the resources o the

planet to achieve its prosperity; how

many planets will a country like India

require?

(Mahatma Gandhi, in response to the ques-

tion whether India would achieve the British

standard o living ater independence)

As China and India continue their eco-

nomic rise, western powers will increas-

ingly realize that their remaining com-parative advantages in tradable sectors

those in the so-called knowledge-

based industries and services cannot

be sustained indenitely. Chinas and

Indias wage advantages will not soon

disappear, as they did in Japan and

have begun to do in the tiger econo-

mies. China still has some hal a billion

people waiting in the rural areas to enter

urban labour markets which will prevent

wages rising ast in the urban econo-mies. Soon many developed countries

will be orced to recognize that re-

maining competitive is likely to require

competing on price and quality, even in

the knowledge economy sectors. This

implies tough times or sustaining west-

ern living standards and, combined with

strains over limited energy resources,

major international tensions ahead.

Global and environmentally sustain-able - solutions will require open inter-

national dialogue o the highest order.

(Little and Green, 2009)


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Sustainable Development

The future economic, environmental, social and cultural challenges that Europe is facing areincreasingly recognised. What may be less understood are the challenges to be met within Europeand within each member state and the need to develop an effective education for sustainable de-

velopment at all levels.

Sustainable development was rst dened in 1987 by the Brundtland World Commission on Envi-ronment and Development (WCED), as:

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own

needs.

(WCED, 1987)

Sustainable Action

An initiative to support parents and children acting together to live more sustainable lives mayusefully adopt a minor adaptation of the Brundtland denion, so that Sustainable Actions may bedened as actions that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability to meetfuture needs or the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Adopting this modiedapproach would help avoiding any assumptions that the terms development and growth might inany simplistic way be synonymous. The document also hopes to move beyond the more biological-ly informed understandings of the term development that are focused on outcomes and evolution,and to encourage initiatives informed by the understandings of development commonly applied inthe arts and in music where they are used to describe theprocesses applied in realising the possibilities of a particu-lar action, object or theme.

As Little and Green (2009) point out, citing Pearce (2007),more recent and complete denitions drawn from theBrundtland Commission report (WCED 1987) containtwo additional key concepts: The concept of need, in particular the essential

Introduction

Sustainable Actionsmay be dened as actions

that meet the needs o the

present without compromis-

ing the ability to meet uture

needs.


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needs of the worlds poor, to which overriding priority should be given The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organisation on the

environments ability to meet present and future needs.

Equality

Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) have shown that inequality is the root cause of many of societysmost serious problems. The authors show that levels of violent crime, mental illness, drug ad-diction, illiteracy, obesity etc. are almost always higher in more unequal societies and that eventhe most afuent are adversely affected by inequality. Their study of 30 years of statistical datasuggests that in rich countries the smaller the gap between rich and poor the happier, healthier,and more successful the population is in terms of established indexes. The following graphshows that the US, the UK, Portugal, and New Zealand in the top right of this graph, are do -

ing much worse than Japan, Sweden or Norway in the bottom left.

Wilkinson and Pickett draw extensively on UK data and have show that in a more equal UKthe population would have a signicantly better quality of life. For example, the data suggeststhat if inequality was cut by half: levels of trust would increase by 85%; rates of imprisonmentand teenage births would fall by 80%; mental illness would decline by two thirds; and murderrates and obesity would halve. The analysis shows that rather than economic growth leading toa happier, healthier, or more successful population, there is no statistical relationship betweenincome per head and social well-being in the rich countries of the world. Its not just poorpeople who would do better in a more equal society either. The evidence suggests people atevery level would benet. The poorest would, however, gain the most and the analysis showsthat these ndings hold true across developed nations, or, for example, across the 50 states ofthe USA.

Health and Social Problems are Worse in More Unequal Countries

Index of: Life expectancy Math and Literacy Infant mortality Homicides

Imprisonment Teenage births Trust Obesity Mental illness

incl. drug &alcohol addiction

Social mobility


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In this context it is interesting to note that the Strength-ening Climate Resilience (SCR) consortium has recentlydrawn attention to the need for a smarter, more integrated

approach to DRM (Mitchell et al, 2010). A Climate SmartDisaster Risk Management (CSDRM) approach has there-fore been developed to provide:

an integrated social development and disaster risk management approach

that aims simultaneously to tackle changing disaster risks, enhance adaptive

capacity, address poverty, exposure, vulnerability and their structural causes

and promote environmentally sustainable development in a changing climate.

(Mitchell et al, 2010)

Mitchell et al, (2010) argue that the voices of all members

of the community including women, children and othermarginalised groups must be empowered to inuence deci-sions.

Agenda 21 which was adopted by most of the worlds governments at the Rio de Janeiro EarthSummit (UNCED, 1992) referred to the need to consider sustainable consumption. Since Rio ithas been widely accepted that people in rich countries need to change their consumption patternsif sustainable development is to be achieved. The work of Amartya Sen has also been inuentialin conceptualising the subject. Sen argued that the WCED (1987) need centred view of develop-ment was illuminating, but incomplete (Sen, 2000). Individuals should be seen as agents who

can think and act and not like patients whose needs had to be catered for (ibid). It is only bytreating people as agents that they will ever be able to think, assess, evaluate, resolve, inspire, agi-tate, and through these means, reshape the world (ibid). Sen therefore redened sustainable devel-opment as development that promotes the capabilities of present people without compromisingcapabilities of future generations (Sen, 2000). Sens capability centered approach to sustainabledevelopment has the aim to integrate the idea of sustainability with the perspective of freedom, sothat we see human beings not merely as creatures who have needs but primarily as people whosefreedoms really matter.

This perspective resonates strongly with the position taken by Schumacher (1999) where he ar-gued:

Development does not start with goods; it starts with people and their education, organization, and discipline. Without these

three, all resources remain latent, untapped, potential

(ibid)

Education or Sustainable Development

Since the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) convened in Johannesburg in 2002it has been widely recognised that education has a major role to play in the realisation of vision

... the voices o all mem-

bers o the community in-

cluding women, children and

other marginalised groups

must be empowered to infu-

ence decisions.

we see human beings not

merely as creatures who

have needs but primarily as

people whose reedoms re-

ally matter.


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of sustainability that links economic well-being with respect for cultural diversity, the Earth andits resources (UNESCO 2007). There is also general agreement that education for sustainabledevelopment (ESD) has to be an integral part of quality Education for All (EFA) as dened in the

Dakar Framework for Action (WEF, 2000).

Resolution 57/254 of the United Nations General Assembly declared the period 2005-2014 as theDecade for Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) with an overall goal to:

integrate values, activities and principles that are inherently linked to sustainable development into all forms of educa-

tion and learning and help usher in a change in attitudes, behaviours and values to ensure a more sustainable future in social

environmental and economic terms

(UNESCO, 2007)

The UNESCO objectives of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) are to (UNESCO,2007): Facilitate networking, linkages, exchange and interaction among stakeholders in ESD Foster an increased quality of teaching and learning in education for sustainable development Help countries make progress towards and attain the Millennium Development Goals through

ESD efforts Provide countries with new opportunities to incorporate ESD into education reform efforts

Education for sustainable development provides a vision of education that seeks to balance hu-man and economic well-being with culturaltraditions and respect for the environment.

The United Nations 2005 World SummitOutcome Document refers to the inter-dependent and mutually reinforcing pil-lars of sustainable development as socialdevelopment, economic development, andenvironmental protection. The challengefor educators is to develop educationalsystems, curriculum and pedagogic prac-tices that are sustainable in terms of eachof these pillars. It is also important tounderstand that for any development tobe sustainable, it must be supported by thethree pillars acting together. Any practicesand policies developed without taking eachinto account are likely to fail. From the perspective of sustainable development the most efcientor effective environmental, economic or social strategy may not be the most sustainable. Sustain-able developments often require compromise solutions and trade-offs.


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The choices made in any one area may need to be mod-erated by the other two. To take a concrete example, ina water supply crisis the most environmentally sophis-

ticated, state of the art water treatment plant mightnot be practical especially if it requires costly or highlyskilled regular maintenance. In this case the introduc-tion of a more appropriate (even if less green or eveneffective) technology capable of being supplied and/or maintained by the local community might be moresustainable and save more lives. A classic example of thismay be provided by the introduction of cloth lters toreduce contamination in the water suppliesii of poor vil-lages where disinfectants and fuel for boiling are difcult

to obtain. In Bangladesh an old cotton sari is folded tomake four or eight layers and then folded over a wide-mouthed container before collecting surface wateriii .

ESD is concerned with the three spheres of environ-ment (including natural and man made resources andecosystem services), society (including employment, human rights, gender equity, peace and humansecurity) and economy (including poverty reduction, corporate responsibility and accountability).Issues such as HIV and AIDs, migration, climate change and urbanisation all involve two or moreof these spheres. In practice, education for sustainable development has the potential to integrateand build upon a number of established areas of curriculum development including futures

education; citizenship; peace education; multicultural and gender education; health education;environmental education; design and technology education and; media literacy. It also providesa platform and rationale for the further development of more recent curriculum initiatives such asthose concerned with developing childrens understanding of scientic concepts, citizenship, andeconomic principles such as sustainable credit and savings.

For many adults, the scientic questions that are of greatest concern are those rst raised by themedia: Is (e.g. British) beef safe to eat? Do genetically modied crops damage the environment?Should we inoculate our children against a particular disease? Public enquiries are also carried outto assess the siting and safety of local industrial, energy or waste facilities, and scientists are often

reported as expert witnesses. Stakeholders must have the means to engage in these discoursesaround issues that affect them. When these issues are complex and of vital importance to all ofhumanity, as in the case of global climate change, society must make every effort to prepare andequip all its citizens to be able to participate in making decisions on the level of public policy andof personal practice. Yet misinformation, partial truths, and entirely bogus statements are en-

ii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloth_lteriii This effectively lters out most cholera bacteria and other pathogens as they are attached to particles andplankton.


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countered frequently in the discourses around complexand controversial issues. Scientic literacy is crucial.

The public understanding of science is also a major (if

not the major) justication for emphasising the impor-tance of lifelong learning as popular misunderstand-ings regarding the nature of science run deep and thesubject continues to be mis-taught in the early years ofeducation (Murcia and Schibeci, 1999, Akerson et al,2010, Hanuscin et al, 2010). Yet it is in the early yearsthat fundamental understandings and attitudes towardsthe production of scientic knowledge are formedand studies have shown that children can benet fromeducation about the nature of science (Akerson and

Donnelly, 2010). If one is to make signicant progressin dealing with the problem of the public understand-ing of science, then actions to correct these misunder-standings must be introduced from the earliest years ofeducationivv. ESD in early childhood education can playa critical role in preparing all members of a society forlearning, understanding, thinking critically, whatever theirfuture career or occupation.

In fact, in the very best of our preschools children arealready investigating issues related to energy conserva-

tion, waste disposal and changes in their local environment. They are also addressing questionssuch as What do seeds need to sprout? What will happen to this object in water? and Whatother uses can be made for this material? In the best practice, children can share their thoughtsand ndings, and record them by drawing, writing, recording on charts and using digital imag-ing. They nd that trying something just once is often insufcient, and repeating and discussingprocesses is a part of scientic inquiry. While this kind of work is already being carried out in

iv See Siraj-Blatchford (2001) http://www.327matters.org/Docs/omepabs.pdf and Kayte Edwards (1999)http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/exploringPractice/Literacy/ScienticLiteracyInEarlyChildhood.aspx v Education for Sustainable Development may also be seen as a limit case in a crisis related to the public un-

derstanding of science and it is in the context of sustainable development that popular misunderstandings of the natureof science are often revealed in their most extreme forms. The so called ClimateGate controversy provides a causeclbre in this respect. Following the publication online of hundreds of leaked emails, claims were made by sceptics thatthe academics had massaged their statistics in providing evidence of climate change. The scientic community nallyrallied around to clarify the fact that there was substantial and wide ranging evidence that showed that man-made global

warming existed and would have catastrophic consequences if not tackled urgently. But arguably the major damage thatwas caused was to science itself as the controversy undermined the publics condence in the subject even further. Theproblem is that in every controversy of this sort, the public is being encouraged to question the legitimacy of sciencebecause scientists are shown to disagree with each other. This is especially ironic when we consider that it is preciselythese critical peer-review and testing processes of science that give science its strength and authority.

>>> ... it is in the early years

that undamental under-

standings and attitudestowards the production o

scientic knowledge are

ormed.

>>> Education or Sustain-

able Development is a

lielong process rom early

childhood to higher and adult

education and goes beyond

ormal education.

>>> The DG Education and

Culture Inventory o innova-

tive practices in education

or sustainable development

included only one project

involving children under the

age o eight


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a minority of excellent early childhood settings it urgently needs to be documented further andpromoted.

Following the launch of the United Nations decade of Education for Sustainable Development(2005-2014), the UN Economic Commission for Europe drew up a separate Education for Sus-tainable Development strategy in 2005vi, and recognised that:

Education for Sustainable Development is a lifelong process from early childhood to higher and adult education and goes be-

yond formal education. As values, lifestyles and attitudes are established from an early age, the role of education is of particular

importance for children. Since learning takes place as we take on different roles in our lives, Education for Sustainable Develop-

ment has to be considered as a life-wide process. It should permeate learning programmes at all levels, including vocational

education, training for educators, and continuing education for professionals and decision makers.

(UNECE, 2005)

Yet progress in early childhood education has been very slow so far. The DG Education and Cul-ture Inventory of innovative practices in education for sustainable developmentvii included onlyone project involving children under the age of 8 (of a total of 30 from 17 countries) as a widerange of examples of innovative ways to deliver formal, informal and non-formal education forsustainable development. The early childhood practice that was included was an Austrian nationalnetwork (OKOLOG) for schools involving 6 to 25 year olds. A total of 212 in 33 countries stake-holders were apparently contacted and given the opportunity to nominate practices to this 2008study.

In September 2010 UNESCO (2010c) also published a draft version of a report directly focused upon

Education for Sustainable Development Good Practices in Early Childhoodviii

. This was published inresponse to numerous requests for case studies and descriptions of good practices in ESD. The doc-ument provides details of 11 programmes promoting ESD in early childhood settings. Three of the 11practices included were European, and these included a project from an cole maternelle in Paris involv-ing three classroom groups of 4-6 year olds in the production of short animated lms using webcamsin association with the Playmobile toy company. Another European project (from Portugal) involved aclass of 3 and 4 year olds. The children had collaborated in the development of lists of environmentallyappropriate and inappropriate behaviours and had patrolled the preschool (and local community) toensure that they were adhered to. This led to the development of recycling activities, energy savings andthe implementation of an organic garden. A EUR 28 million German project for 3 to 6 year olds wasalso included. The Leuchtpol project is focused on Energy and the Environment and includes provi -

sions at further and higher education level for teacher training with an aim to involve 4,000 preschools(about 10% of national provision) by the end of 2012.

vi Economic Commission For Europe Committee On Environmental Policy, High-level meeting of Environ-ment and Education Ministries (Vilnius, 17-18 March 2005) (Agenda items 5 and 6) UNECE Strategy For EducationFor Sustainable Development, adopted at the High-level meetingvii a report prepared for the DG Education and culture by GHK in association with Danish Technology Instituteand Technopolis Order 31 (14 October 2008)viii U N E S C O Education for Sustainable Development in Action Good Practices N4


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The Organisation Mondiale Pour Lducation Prscolaire (OMEP) (World Association for EarlyChildhood Education) is now providing signicant leadership in the area of Early Childhood ESD.ESD also provided a major theme in the OMEP 2010 World Assembly and congress in Gothen-

burg. The OMEP website carries guidance for practitioners and practical examples of activitiesto be carried out with young children: http://www.ecesustainability.org/. A wide range of otherstakeholder groups and associations are providing support to schools predominantly in the area ofenvironmental education and have signicant potential for extending their work into early child-hood education.


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The case for investing in education for sustainable development in early childhood can be made interms of human rights, social justice and practical expedience. All children have the right to educa-tion, and research from longitudinal studies and from neuroscience has shown that it is in the earlyyears (birth to age 8) that children have the greatest capacity to learnix. It is also in early childhood

that the foundations of many of our fundamental attitudes and values are rst put into place.Experience and research (Pramling Samuelsson and Kaga, 2008, Siraj-Blatchford and Bjrneloo,2009, Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2010) show that even very young children are capable of sophisti -cated thinking in relation to socio-environmental issues and that the earlier they are introduced tosustainable development the more inuential those inuences become in their future lives. But ofeven more fundamental signicance it should be recognised that ESD is all about the future andit is young children who have the greatest stake as citizens in the future. ESD in early childhoodmust be recognised as a citizenship and human rights issue and early childhood must be recognisedas the most appropriate and natural starting point for all policy and practical sustainable develop-ment throughout a system of lifelong learning.

In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA, 2009) devoted special attention to theright of children to be heard, reafrming:

that the general principle of participation forms part of the framework

for the interpretation and implementation of all other rights incorporated

in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

(UNGA, 2009)

The General Assembly called upon States to assure thatchildren are given the opportunity to be heard on all

matters affecting them, without discrimination on anygrounds, and by adopting and/or continuing to imple-ment regulations and arrangements that provide for, andencourage, as appropriate, childrens participation in allsettings, including within the family, in school and in

ix This evidence is summarised in Siraj-Blatchford, I., and Woodhead, M. (Eds.) (2009) Effective Early Child-hood Programmes, The Open University in association with the Bernard Van Leer Foundation

But Why Education

or Sustainable Developmentin Early Childhood?


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their communities. In order to respect children and theirhuman rights and citizenship, the society must recognizethat children have a right but also share a responsibility

to achieve Sustainable Development.

Historically, the political philosophy of Social Justice hasbeen progressively founded upon notions of naturalrights, welfare and mutual advantage and contractualfairness. Social justice from a modern contract per-spective is considered to be achieved through fairnessand impartiality and through a consensus where every-one agrees that working together improves chances ofeveryone achieving their individual goals in life. Inequali-

ties according to this model are considered acceptable aslong as they work out to everyones ultimate advantageand welfare priority is given to the interests of only the

very worst-off. There are many problems that have beenacknowledged with this model of social justicex. De-spite its potential difculties the contract model may beconsidered to reect the democratic consensus acrossthe western world. As its major architect, Rawls hasthe unique distinction among contemporary politicalphilosophers of being frequently cited by the courts of

law in the United States and referred to by practicing politicians in the United States and United

Kingdomxi (Daniels, 1975).

Notions of equality of opportunity and individual freedom therefore provide major principles ofcontemporary philosophical and political consensus. From the perspective of the social contractthe role of the State in education and in the social services is therefore accepted as one that shouldprovide a level playing eld which is designed not so much to achieve equality of outcomes, butrather an equality of opportunity to successful. Success whether it be considered in material,economic and/or other terms of self realisation is, according to this consensus view, seen as theinevitable result of the free choices that individuals make in their lives. In educational terms themost signicant of these choices may be considered to be the deferred gratication that individu-

als accept in foregoing the short-term rewards of idle play or an early income to achieve long-termeducational achievements.

x In emphasising the importance of social goods, it has been argued that the model ignores the social pro-cesses and procedures that (re)produce inequality (Sen, 1992). The model may also be considered to have been founded

upon the ctional notion of an impartial standpoint (Corson, 1995, 2000)and it should be recognized that in manysocieties social conict is such that the level of stability and compliance assumed by the model is excluded in advance(Fisk1974).xi Wikipedia reference: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/search/?s=%22john+rawls%22

... society must recog-

nize that children have a right

but also share a responsibil-ity to achieve Sustainable

Development.

... i one is to ensure that

children are in a position to

take advantage o a level

playing eld provided in their

subsequent schooling, then

at rst equality o outcome in

the pre-school period mustbe achieved.

Investment in the oun-

dation stage o early child-

hood provides a higher rate

o return than investments

later in lie


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But it is important to recognise that in their early years individual children are not yet in anyposition to make such a choice. Household poverty or other barriers in early childhood often act

to exclude the very possibility of making such choices. The major issue to be addressed in thiscontext is that if one is to ensure that children are in a position to take advantage of a level playingeld provided in their subsequent schooling, then at rst equality of outcome in the pre-schoolperiod must be achieved. In fact this was until recently the declared aim of the UK educationalpolicy where the Every Child Matters outcomes framework set a target to halve child poverty by2010 when compared with 1997, and eradicate it completely by 2020. The aim has been to providesuccess for all but the most disabled children in school with at least 90% developing well across allthe areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage Prole by the age of ve:

The Early Years Foundation Stage will provide a level playing eld so all children start school with an equal chance of doing

well

(Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, 2008)

Tony Blair identied some of the structural problems of social justice and exclusion clearly:

...poverty is not just about poverty of income, but poverty of aspiration of opportunity, of prospects of advancement. We must

not in any way let up on the action we take to deal directly with child poverty. But at the same time, we have to recognise that

for some families, their problems are more multiple, more deep and more pervasive than simply low income. The barriers to op -

portunity are about their social and human capital as much as nancial.

(Blair, 2006)

The same arguments have also been regularly made at international levels for many years:

It is now widely accepted that on the one hand poverty should not be seen only as a lack of income, but also as a depriva-

tion of human rights: And - on the other hand - that unless the problems of poverty are addressed, there can be no sustainable

development. It is equally accepted that sustainable development requires environmental protection and that environmental

degradation leads directly and indirectly to violations of human rights.

(UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2002)

A recent study of disadvantaged children in the UK has shown that many children are already upto a year behind their peers in terms of learning and development at age threexii. James Heckman(2006), a Nobel prize-winner in economics, and his colleague Flavio Cunha also show that invest-ments in early childhood programs are justied by the returns provided to society as a whole.Investment in the foundation stage of early childhood provides a higher rate of return than invest -ments later in life, as is shown in the graph below (op cit).

They found that a dollar invested in early childhood yields three times as much as for school-agedchildren and eight times as much for adult education. Heckman and his colleagues have based their

xii Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education (2007)


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economic analyses on small, butvery rigorous, studies of earlychild development programs

in the United States. Com-bined with the overwhelmingevidence that shows that invest-ments in social wellbeing arenow more likely to follow fromgreater equality rather than fromeconomic growth, the ndingsof this analysis may be applieddirectly to argue for a strongerfocus upon ESD in early child-

hoodxiii

. Using data from Swedenand Cuba, Mustard (2009) hasalso been able to show how highquality ECD programs that sup-port language and literacy as well as maternal and child health goes a long way to creating safer andmore stable societies.

Research shows that a wide range of early childhood disadvantages (or risk factors) have the po -tential to lead either directly or indirectly to educational underachievement, whereas other resil-ience factors provide a child with the resources to overcome these risks. Parents can pass on risksand resilience to their children and there is therefore a need to support families, not just children,

and for the integration of adult and child interventions (Siraj-Blatchford and Siraj-Blatchford,2009).

The most robust research availablexivshows that childrens risk of underachievement can be im-proved directly by services working with families in the early years: reducing foetal and post-natal injury reducing child neglect and abuse reducing disease and infection lowering the incidence of poor bonding and poor attachment, improving parentchild rela-

tionships and relationships with siblings and other children

improving childrens self-regulation and self-esteem, and instilling in them positive behaviours improving the incidence of children experiencing a high-quality early home learning envi-ronment (HLE) (signicant factors include frequency of being read to; going to the library;

xiii The status inequalities created through inequalities of income and wealth directly drive consumption, andconsumerism may be seen as one of the major threats to sustainability and to the development of low carbon futures.

xiv According to a recent review of a total of 288 documents well over half of which were research reports oflarge-scale longitudinal, mixed method, and quasi-experimental studies as well as randomised control trials (RCTs) (Siraj-Blatchford and Siraj-Blatchford, 2009).

Rates o Return to Human Capital INvestment at Dierent

Ages: Return to an Extra Dollar at Various Ages


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painting and drawing; playing with letters and numbers; singing songs, and reciting poems andrhymes)

More indirect means of reducing the risk of underachievement include: improving maternal (or primary care-giver) education and qualications, especially to degree level reducing maternal anxiety and depression, and providing support focused on the relationship

between care-giver and child improving parental employment opportunities and reducing poverty increasing SES mixing for example of children and parents in early years setting)

Children may also be supported in overcoming risks through: improving the quality of stimulation and early home learning environment, especially for

boysxv

promoting parents involvement and interest in education children attending higher quality pre-schools supporting and educating the parents of children with behaviour problems programmes that target two or more child/family outcomes (such as behaviour and literacy),

as these may be particularly cost-effective home visiting, when well-focused, of appropriate intensity and quality, provides a useful tool

to improve child outcomes especially for younger children, or where parents do not seeksupport from centre-based provision.

(Siraj-Blatchford and Siraj-Blatchford, 2009)

xv Evidence from the UK suggests that parents currently tend to provide better early home learning environ-ments for girls than for boys (Siraj-Blatchford and Siraj-Blatchford, 2009) http://eppe.ioe.ac.uk/eppe/eppepdfs/RB%20Findings%20from%20Early%20Primary.pdf


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Increasing participation in the earliest years of the childs education is the rst step in the di -rection of making life long learning a reality, and should therefore be recognized as an integralpart of life long learning strategies. Council of The European Union (2009) conclusions on theupdated framework for European cooperation in education and training 2010-2020 underlines the

equity dimension of ECEC. High participation and high quality provision can be effective waysto address educational disadvantage. But perhaps the most signicant questions in the minds ofmany readers that has to be answered in this context relates to the capacity of young children tounderstand sustainable development. How do we know that early childhood learning can make adifference to sustainable development?

To be positively disposed towards something is to be intrinsically motivated by it. As Katz andRaths (1985) suggest, dispositions should always be understood as habits of mind, rather thanas mindless habits. Dweck (1999 has demonstrated that in early childhood mastery and help-less orientations to learning may be identied that are signicantly related to school achievement.

For Dweck, helpless children show a marked lack of persistence in the face of failure. When theyexperience difculty these children tend to see the problem in terms of their own incapacity toperform the task rather than seeing it as a matter of effort. They also have low expectations ofsuccess in future tasks (Dweck, 1999). Young children are motivated when they wish to please thesignicant others in their lives, and when they make efforts to avoid their disapproval. Educatorsare signicant people in young childrens lives and when they show an interest in, and value offESD, this is bound to be inuential. In an early years ESD therefore a great deal can be done tosupport children in developing positive dispositions towards the subject.

We know from a range of international studies that young children have a generally low level offactual knowledge and understanding of environmental issues. We also know that children developan early awareness of cultural differences. But, so far, despite their active participation in familyeconomy and its economic behaviour we know very little about childrens emergent understandingof economics.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) projects provide valuable models for the engagement of youngchildren and they also show what can be achieved with relatively modest resourcing. 168 govern-ments have signed up to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) which represents a major DRR



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initiative. Although disasters can affect anybodyat any time in most cases it is the poorest andmost vulnerable people that are affected rstand hit the hardest. It is for this reason thatmost DRR projects have so far been devel-oped in the poorer communities. For example,ActionAids Disaster Risk Reduction throughSchools (DRRS) project operates in Bangladesh,India, Nepal, Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Haiti, theDemocratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

The DRRS project works with children, teach-ers, parents, school management, local authori-

ties and other key actors to: Invest in school infrastructure to make

buildings and surrounding areas safer Use schools as centres for community ac-

tion, training and coordination on DRR Raise the awareness of children and their communities on climate change and disas-

ter prevention and mitigation Tracking how climate change is affecting communities Helping vulnerable children and their communities to claim the rights that will allow

them to live in safer conditions Campaigning for the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action by all

signatory governments Persuade and supporting governments to integrate DRR into all areas of their work

and to replicate successful DRR models Supporting civil society networks and experts at local, national and international

levels Documenting and sharing experiences and learning with peers, governments, aca-

demics and donors

When ActionAid and UNISDR sponsored the 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi,children from rural Malawi and Kenya were given a platform to explain the impact of

disasters on their schools, communities and on their education. Back et al in 2009 havepublished a review of child-focused and child-led disaster risk reduction approaches andtechniques, many of which involved children as young as ve. The review argues thatthere are signicant advantages in engaging children directly in the design and deliveryof DRR activities and that more needs to be done to involve children in such work. Thereview draws attention to the fact that the costs of delivering DRR with children, is lowerand the benets stream much higher (using a lifetime analysis and taking into account


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intergenerational benets). The review also found that most projects involved children inexpanding and transferring knowledge and in giving children a voice. The report recom-mends that efforts should now shift; to focus more on supporting children engaged inaction themselves to inuence and to transform practices.

Tanner (2010) cites a wide range of research evidence to argue that children from theage of three onwards are able to develop capacities to reduce risk based not just on thephysical aspects of risk, but also (and perhaps more signicantly) upon the culturallyconstructed aspects of risk requiring behavioural change:

The focus of attention therefore needs to shift from one that considers childrens agencynot only in terms of their ability to enact direct, autonomous risk management practices,to one that that considers children as risk communicators to create behavioural change

in other people in their communities. Such risk communication processes at household,school and community level remain poorly understood in different cultural contexts(Lindell and Perry, 2004). Adults commonly retain household and legislative governance,resources and higher levels of credibility in communities, and evidence suggests thatsuccessful child engagement must be conscious of wider issues of stakeholder inclusionand exclusion (Hill et al, 2004). As such, engagement of child-led efforts with adults andadult-led processes are central to their success. At the household level, the research resultssuggest that when parents are excluded from the process of awareness raising, action andempowerment, they may question the motivation or activities of their family members.

National and International legal action may provide additional ways forward. The UnitedNations Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratied interna -tional human rights treaty ever produced. The World Future Council (2010) cite a 1993case where the Philippine Supreme Court permitted a class action brought by Filipinochildren acting as representatives for themselves and future generations. The petition-ers wanted to halt governmentally licensed timber cutting within the remaining nationalforests. The plaintiffs alleged that present and continued logging violated their right toa healthy environment under the Philippine Constitution and would entail irreparableharm to them and future generations of the nation. The Court considered the issue ofintergenerational responsibility and decided that the petitioners had locus standi, i.e., werequalied to sue, on behalf of present and future generations in the Philippines.

The credit crunch is about borrowing from our children; the climate crunch is about stealing from them

(David Pencheon, D. 2010)

Early Environmental Education in practice

Detailed investigations of childrens understanding of specic environmental phenomena(e.g. recycling of waste and global warming) also show that there are many scientic mis -


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understandings. Despite this, surveys of youngpeople in various countries report generallypositive environmental attitudes. However, sev-eral studies nd students to be less environmen-tally conscious when the issue is related to theirown lives and material aspirations. Findingsfrom several studies also show girls to be morepro-environmental than boys in their attitudesand behaviours (Zelezny et al, 2002).

Research shows that the single most importantinuence in promoting environmental aware-ness and concern is identied as childhood

experience in the outside environment.A substantial review of literature on the effectsof early-life experiences on an individuals envi-ronmental beliefs was conducted by Ewert et al(2005). Five major variables regarding early-life outdoor experiences were identied. Themost important appeared to be direct outdoorexperiences (Bixler, 1997; Bixler et al., 2002;Corcoran, 1999; Palmer, 1993; Peterson andHungerford, 1982; Sward, 1999; Tanner, 1980;van Liere and Noe, 1981). But other variableswere also identied as playing a role in the de-velopment of environmental attitudes, such asformal education (Palmer, 1993; Tanner, 1980),the media (Corcoran, 1999), witnessing negativeenvironmental events such as the destructionof a natural area through development (Sward,1999; Tanner, 1980), and involvement withorganizations that provide outdoor experiences(Palmer, 1993; Peterson and Hungerford, 1981).

The research shows:

Even quite young children are capable ofsophisticated thinking in relation to envi-ronmental issues

Some school-focused educational inter-ventions, including residential eld courses and school-based initiatives, can effectchange in students environmental knowledge and/or attitudes and (in a few cases)behaviour. Effects, however, tend to be measured in the short term, and the evidence


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between themselves and others, and it is thedifferences between them that are often consid-ered to dene them. This is particularly prob-lematic when the similarities between people arecompletely taken for granted. Children need tolearn that skin colour is a totally arbitrary differ-ence, and that all human cultures and popula-tions, at home in Europe and throughout the

world have much more in common than theyhave differencesxvii.

Cultural prejudice and racism is a worldwidephenomenon and most national governments

have policies to counter the misinformationpeddled to less educated minorities by ma-nipulative extremists. Recent illustrations ofthe need for these educational provisions arediverse. They include the mistreatment ofethnic Albanians in Greece, attacks on Roma-nians in Northern Ireland (2009), and violenceagainst African farm workers in SouthernItaly (2010), In India, discrimination againstthe Dalits (so called untouchables) remainsa signicant problem and indigenous com-munities in many countries including the USA,Canada and Australia remain severely disadvan-taged. In 2009/10 increased racist attacks against Indians were reported in Melbourne.In South Africa, the deep scars inicted by apartheid will take a long time to heal andthese processes of reconciliation continue to be frustrated by extremists on both sides.The atrocities in Rwanda in the 1990s and Kenya in 2007 undoubtedly had many causesbut if the ethnic divisions had not been so great then it is clear that they could never havebeen exploited to promote genocide. It may be considered signicant that many of theethnic conicts that trouble the African continent were strongly nurtured in earlier timesthrough the colonial divide-and-rule policies of European states.

Most of the national and international policies currently developed to tackle interculturaland multicultural education, prejudice and bias operate within an ideological frameworkthat emphasises equality of opportunity. Williams (1987) argued that this concept hasbeen capable of uniting diverse political and educational campaigners precisely becauseof its vagueness.

xvii http://www.327matters.org/Paper.htm


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Unfortunately, the sort of unity that wasgained by such means might have been lessproductive than it is often supposed. Jewson

and Mason (1994) argue, for example, that thebenets of adopting such ill dened terms areoften short lived, leading to disappointmentand distrust in the long term. Historically, theprevailing discourse of equality of opportu-nity may have also actually limited popularunderstandings of multiculturalism. Until themid-1980s, most educationalists (and research-ers) assumed that multicultural education wassimply about, and for, black and ethnic minority

children. The wider context of prejudice andracism in society outside of the school and therole of white ethnic majority people in the pro-duction and reproduction of it had been largelyignored.

The main thrust for multicultural educationaldevelopment has always come from urban mul-ti-ethnic conurbations and as Jay (1992) found

outside of these areas there has often been widespread complacency - or worse. Whenwe approach social justice and intercultural education from the perspective of sustainable

development these subjects may be considered of universal relevance.

Adults can contribute a great deal in supporting children in their development of positiveperceptions of themselves and of others. A great deal of early years curriculum develop-ment along these lines has already been carried out around the world. For example, theEarly Years Foundation Stage Guidance (2007) for England suggests:

At 8-20 months - Planning and Resourcing: Work with staff, parents and children to promotean anti-discriminatory and anti-bias approach to care and education.

At 16-26 months - Note: Young childrens interest in similarities and differ ences, for example, theirfootwear, or patterns on their clothes and in physical appearance including hair texture and skin colour.

Note: Young childrens questions about differences such as skin colour, hair and friends.

Effective Practice: Talk with young children about valuing all skin colour differences.

At 40-60+ months - Note: How children express their attitudes such as about differences in skincolours.

When we approach so-

cial justice and interculturaleducation rom the perspec-

tive o sustainable develop-

ment these subjects may

be considered o universal

relevance.

I want to make some

money to buy ood, water

and tents or everyone in

Haiti.

Young children like Char-

lie Simpson show the po-

tential or developing social

entrepreneurs rom an early

age.


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Effective Practice: Develop strategies to combat negative bias and, where necessary, support childrenand adults to unlearn discriminatory attitudes.

Early education or economic sustainability in Practice

In his introduction to James Robertsons seminal 1999 brieng for EU policy makersThe New Economics of Sustainable Development, Jean-Claude Thebault argued that:

It is because this new economic thought puts the citizen and the common good at the centre of its concerns th

Taking Children Seriously EPSD_Report4

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