¶ … education has been given more attention by researchers and educationists since the publication of the Brundtland report in the late 1980s. The report introduced the world to sustainable development as a key global concern. Since then even school curricula have made efforts to include such concepts as natural resources and climate change. Interestingly, not enough attention has been given to the manner in which early childhood development may be instrumental in the whole process. This paper discusses the place of early childhood education especially in ensuring sustainable development. It is apparent that early childhood education is part of a whole that is the entire education system and this implies that it has just as much a role to play in tackling the issues of sustainable development especially those that are to be brought to the fore in the educational system.
The role education plays in the endeavor is substantial. A large volume of literature has been written on the place of education in this issue especially as a means of preparing people all over the world to take action so as to create the needed change. The declaration of the past ten years as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Education cements the fact that education will be instrumental in reaching global sustainability (UNESCO, 2004). The declaration by the UN has been adopted by various players at the national and continental levels, for instance, the European UN Economic Commission and the Committee on Environmental Policy has put forth a strategy for sustainable development education in Europe (UNECE, 2005). It is therefore clear that the public and the politicians have the good will to ensure that education is critical to achieving these goals of saving the world. Nonetheless, not much attention has been channeled to the manner in which early childhood education will play a role in the process. This concern was raised during 'The role of early childhood education for a sustainable society' workshop that was organized in 2007 by Goteborg University and UNESCO. In the course of the workshop, several views on the place of early childhood education as a pillar of ensuring a sustainable world were put forth. The conclusion made was that early childhood education had the capacity to make major contributions to ensure education for sustainability. Some of the strengths put forth were the cultural experiences, professional competences, interdisciplinary knowledge as well as the participants that were personally engaged.
Early Childhood Education and Learning for Sustainable Development and Citizenship
As I was growing up and gaining education, I understood that neither education nor sustainable development should be viewed as only a national concern. The two concern cultural, economic, political and social events of global concern. A perspective that takes this into account is in harmony with the definition sustainable development has been given (Hugglund & Samuelsson, 2009).
When applying sustainable development definition to educational goals, emphasis is made on integrating social, environmental, value and economical dimensions. In this regard, the conceptualization of education for sustainable development draws parallels from citizenship education, values education, peace education as well as education for democracy. Together, they constitute education practice and research that clearly has normative signatures which imply that political and ideological criteria shall direct policy and practice. This implied to me that education for sustainable development should take into account values concerning solidarity, democracy as well as justice which are instrumental for the survival of humankind and the earth (Haggland and Samuelsson, 2009).
During my early childhood education graduate program, I learned that most children take part in preschool when little. Before they turn two, 84% of all kids have been to preschool. Education policy considers preschool part and parcel of the educational system. As experienced later in the professional field, I found out that changes that have impacted preschool development include the development of a national curricula as well as a teacher-training program that is university based. The changes can be associated to those changes that have been noted in the educational policies, including the labor market as well as those changes at the level of the family. In certain ways, I experienced that preschool has been seen to be advancing the agenda of various players instead of supporting the learning of the children. The umbrella aim of preschool is to support the child-care needs of parents, make a contribution to equality of men and women, and to provide all the children a chance to develop social and intellectual abilities (Hagglund and Samuelsson, 2009).
The concept of making use of a child's immediate environment...
Early Childhood Development Research on the brain and early childhood development indicates that the first four years of life are a period of particularly rapid development of brain structures and function. According to Larissa Scott (2004) the potential of the brain can be enhanced by presenting the right experiences at the right times, in the right amounts. In the initial stages of life, children's brains can be compared to a sponge
Childhood Development Factors Influencing Early Childhood Development Darling and Steinberg (1993) proposed a model of parenting that integrated several prior models. They discriminated between parenting practice and parenting style, with the former representing domain-specific parenting habits and the latter domain-independent social interactions between parent and child. A critical distinction between parenting practice and style, based on their model, is that style communicates to the child how the parent feels about the child
Early Childhood Development Roles and Responsibilities of an Early Childhood Professional Early childhood professionals are often required to wear many hats, particularly because their job description changes almost on a daily basis. As a facilitator of learning, an early childhood professional acts as a guide. Usually, a guide is tasked with leading other people down new paths, and he does so by walking beside them, rather than in front of them (Child
The primary caregiver during the very early years of the child's life is the mother. Men play a fairly minor part in the early developmental years of the child. "In Malawi most men are traditionally distanced from their children; they rarely hold and play with them. (ibid) However this situation changes as the child grows up, and there is later more interaction between father and child. Overall, however, men are generally
Porch (2002) points out that research unequivocally shows that early childhood education paves the way for later educational success. As of now, few states offer fully funded early childhood education programs. As of 2002, only three states offered fully-funded pre-kindergarten programs (Porch 2002). The fundamental purpose of the Early Childhood Development Initiative was to increase awareness of the importance of early childhood education. Yet more work needs to be done
" It becomes even more apparent now that the early childhood milestones are important ones, and are associated with how the child will approach problems and resolve them going forward from a very early point in life, and that the parents' role in that process is important, and large. Kathleen a. Roskos and James F. Christie (2000) say that a child's cognitive ability lends itself to a perspective on play, on
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now