Tracking education for sustainable development in ECEC institutions’ annual plans

ABSTRACT

Sustainable development (SD) is a central value in ECEC institutions and is highlighted in the Norwegian framework plan. ECEC institutions are required to work with SD, and the theme area is to be reflected in the institutions’ annual plans. The aim of this study is to explore ECEC institutions’ annual plans regarding SD. Data were collected through examinations of 30 randomly selected annual plans downloaded from the internet, and a document analysis approach was followed. The findings indicate that in total eighteen of the data sample contained no elaboration or consideration regarding SD whatsoever. It can be argued that SD is not grounded in the documents because the concept is considered a buzzword. The other key finding is that SD focuses on ecological topics, sorting and reduce non-recyclable garbage, caring for the environment and nature and more.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable development
• annual plans
• ECEC institutions
• buzzword
• document analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).