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Educating For Sustainability in the Early Years: Creating Cultural Change in a Child Care Setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Julie Davis
Julie Davis*
Affiliation:
Queensland University of Technology
*
†School of Early Childhood, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia. Email: j.davis@qut.edu.au
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Abstract

The early childhood education field has been slow to take up the challenge of sustainability. However, Brisbane's Campus Kindergarten is one early education centre that is making serious efforts in this regard. In 1997, Campus Kindergarten initiated its Sustainable Planet Project involving a variety of curriculum and pedagogical activities that have led to enhanced play spaces, reduced waste, lowered water consumption and improved biodiversity. Such changes are not curriculum “add-ons”. A study of curriculum decision-making processes shows that a culture of sustainability permeates the centre. This has been by a process of slowly evolving changes that have led to a reculturation of many social and environmental practices. This study also shows that very young children, in the presence of passionate and committed teachers, are quite capable of engaging in education for sustainability and in “making a difference”.

Keywords

early childhoodcollaborationeducational changeempowermentleadershipprofessional developmentsustainability
Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 21 , 2005 , pp. 47 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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