Climate crisis activism in early childhood: building capacities to boost intergenerational learning

ABSTRACT

This viewpoint considers climate crisis activism through participatory pedagogical approaches to intergenerational learning, in the context of early childhood education. Given the dire predictions surrounding climate change, it is likely that in the immediate future, young children will continue to suffer the disproportionate consequences of intergenerational injustice, further violating their rights to clean, healthy environments even though they are the least responsible for the current climate crisis. Nevertheless, so far, early childhood has received less attention in relation to climate crisis activism than other educational sectors. This viewpoint seeks to address this gap by exploring how some research and educational approaches to intergenerational learning (as a form of knowledge co-creation between children and adults, and vice versa) about climate change could empower young children and adults to work together through climate change activism. Finally, new directions for future research in early childhood studies are suggested which are consistent with the need for ongoing consideration and theorisation of intergenerational learning in the context of early childhood education and climate crisis activism.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education
• intergenerational learning
• young children
• climate crisis activism

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Early childhood education refers to the education of children from birth up to age eight (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 2023).

2 The pumpkin-weather-child collaboratory explores the emerging relations and interactions between pumpkin, weather and young children as part of an on-going pedagogical inquiry, over time (Hennessy and Rooney 2021).