Purpose: The article investigates how to make a broader understanding of sustainability relevant for early childhood education (ECE) guided by the four dimensions suggested by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: ecological, economic and social/cultural sustainability, and good governance. Design/Approach/Methods: Previous research on ECE on sustainability is discussed in relation to the four dimensions and to Biesta's concepts of socialization, qualification, and subjectification. Findings: The investigation finds that all four dimensions are necessary in ECE for sustainability, and it suggests how the dimensions can be understood, how they may overlap, and how they can be contradictive. Originality/Value: The article depicts how children's opportunities to engage and to disturb established ways of thinking can be facilitated through all dimensions.
Sammendrag Kapittelet undersøker om en bevisstgjøringsstrategi med fem refleksjonstrinn kan bidra til at ansatte i barnehager kan øke bevisstheten om forholdet mellom egen oppvekst og profesjonell praksis. Tema er kjønn og likestilling, og det fokuseres på ansattes utsagn om egne erfaringer, samt erfaringer med bevisstgjøringsstrategien. Studien er utført i to barnehager, og funnene indikerer at metoden kan fremme bevissthet om kjønn og bidra til å redusere gapet mellom det private og det profesjonelle.
This paper reports on student experiences with an interdisciplinary project entitled "The Difficult Conversation", the aim of which was to develop professional competences linked with parental cooperation in heterogeneous social contexts, ethical reflection, pedagogical tact, and judgment skills. Student experiences with the project were reconstructed by analyzing 43 sets of reflection notes developed by second-year students who participated in the project in February and November 2015, and in January and November 2016. The students argued strongly in favor of the value of "The Difficult Conversation" reporting that it linked theory with practice, permitted them to develop empathy for parents, and provided them with a better understanding of parents from different cultural backgrounds. The conclusions refer to creating conditions for this aspect of professional learning in kindergarten teacher education programs.
Social sustainability is linked to finding new ways of living together and strengthening social capital and participation, as well as to social justice and equity in societies, and it is becoming increasingly important for diverse multicultural societies. In this article, we trace understandings of social sustainability as established in Early Childhood Education (ECE) policy documents by following the chains of meaning connected to sense of belonging, local place and cultural diversity and through ECE collaboration with children’s parents/caregivers. Critical discourse analysis has been applied to trace the chains of meaning attached to these concepts in ECE steering documents in Australia, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Such analysis shows different ways in which the ECE polices indirectly work with social sustainability, as well as create critical distance from the sets of meanings established in each country (by proving a chain of meaning established in the policy documents of another country). In conclusion, we do not advocate in favour of any of the chains of meaning but argue for continual reflection and reflexivity, and we see research to be a particularly significant arena in which to unfreeze the taken for granted and sustainable notion.
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