Early childhood education for sustainability: origins and inspirations in the work of John Dewey

ABSTRACT

In this article, the work of John Dewey is recontextualised and proposed as a basis for contemporary early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS). Five key themes are explored: experiential learning; curiosity and critical thinking; children’s experiences in nature; democracy and participation and classroom as community. In each case, claims are made through aligning the work of Dewey with exemplars from current early childhood practice. The focus is reflection upon the educator as facilitator of dynamic interactions between the learner and her/his experiences, fostering individual growth, influencing social change and, thus, creating possibilities for implementation of ECEfS within early years classrooms.

KEYWORDS:

• Dewey
• education for sustainability
• early childhood

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Anglia Ruskin University Research and Innovation Development Office for a Research Funding Observatory bursary that enabled the author to attend the conference John Dewey’s ‘Democracy and Education’ 100 Years On: Past, Present, and Future Relevance at Homerton College and Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.