Minds on Earth Hour – a theme for sustainability in Swedish early childhood education

Abstract

This educational science article illustrates education for sustainability in a theme about Earth Hour (energy conservation) in one Swedish preschool. This case study is based on audio recordings of dialogues between children aged five to six years and preschool teachers. It is guided by critical theory, which is also used as a conceptual tool to explore participation, agency and shared meaning-making. The main findings show that children are engaged and active as equal participants in the dialogue, being eager to understand and take part. However, the intended knowledge content fades into the background when other topics are brought up and as educational framing with purposefully framed play imposes regulations on the constructs of the dialogue content. Further consideration needs to be given to how communicative action together with participation and listening, as well as knowledge development and play, can be intertwined.

Keywords:

• education for sustainability
• critical early childhood research
• case study
• participation
• communicative action

Acknowledgements

This work present in this research was supported by funding for the research school ‘Childhood, learning and didactics’ from the Swedish Research Council, 721-2007-3671. The author wishes to thank all participants, the children and the preschool teachers for their contribution to this research project.

Note on contributor

Eva Ärlemalm-Hagsér is a doctoral student at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning at Gothenburg University in Sweden. She also works as a lecturer at the teacher education at Mälardalen University, Sweden. Her main interests are early childhood education with a child oriented approach, focusing on the lived curriculum. In the last years she is focusing on research on education for sustainability, and outdoor play and learning from a gender perspective.

Notes

1. In Sweden, the concept of ESD is used in policy and politics and also in research (Breting & Wickenberg, 2010; Öhman, 2011). In this text, I use ESD when I refer to researchers using the term or to specific policy texts. In this study, EfS is used, in line with the critique of development tantamount to economic growth (Knutsson, 2011).

2. Over 1500 Eco preschools fly the Green Flag, the symbol of the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, and around 190 preschools have been given ‘The School award for sustainable development or Diploma of Excellence in Sustainable Development’, administered by the Swedish National Agency for Education.

3. Earth Hour is a World Wildlife Fund (WWF, 2012) initiative that aims to take a stand against climate change by ‘switching off’ all lights for 1 hour.