Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T12:01:19.244Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nature by Default in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2015

Sue Elliott*
Affiliation:
University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
Tracy Young
Affiliation:
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Sue Elliott, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Australia. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This essay critiques the relevance of historical antecedents about children's play in nature and how these historical and political mechanisms create cultural rovoked by Taylor's (2013) exploration of the pervasive influence of romanticised images of innocent children in nature and our own experiences of never-ending ‘nice’ stories about young children in nature, here we trouble how nature experiences may or may not preclude children's meaningful and agentic participation in sustainability. We question is engagement with nature, a tangible and easily accessible approach in early childhood education (ECE) promoting a ‘nature by default paradigm’ and potentially thwarting a fuller transformative engagement with sustainability. Thus, we argue the case for shifting our frames beyond idealised romanticised notions and human–nature dualisms to a ‘common worlds’ (Haraway, 2008; Latour, 2004; Taylor, 2013) frame guided by collectivist understandings within connective life worlds. Such a shift requires a significant recasting of ethical human–nature understandings and relationships in ECE.

Type
Submission for the AJEE Special Issue for the 18th Biennial AAEE Conference — Sustainability: Smart Strategies for the 21st Century.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antal, M., & Drews, S. (2014). Nature as relationship partner: An old frame revisited. Environmental Education Research, 21, 123. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/13504622.2014.971715Google Scholar
Arlemalm-Hagser, E. (2013). Respect for nature: A prescription for developing environmental awareness in preschool. Centre for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 3, 2544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA). (2013). Guide to the National Standard. Retrieved from http://files.acecqa.gov.au/files/National-Quality-Framework-Resources-Kit/NQF03-Guide-to-NQS-130902.pdfGoogle Scholar
Chawla, L., & Derr, V. (2012). The development of conservation behaviours in childhood and youth. In Clayton, S.D. (Ed.) The Oxford handbook of environmental and conservation psychology (pp. 527555). New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J. (2014). Examining early childhood education through the lens of education for sustainability: Revisioning rights. In Davis, J. & Elliott, S. (Eds.), Research in early childhood education for sustainability: International perspectives and provocations (pp. 2137). London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J., & Arlemalm-Hagser, E. (2014). Examining the rhetoric: A comparison of how sustainability and young children's participation and agency are framed in Australian and Swedish early childhood education curricula. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 15, 231244.Google Scholar
Davis, J., & Elliott, S. (2014). Research in early childhood education for sustainability: International perspectives and provocations. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations. (2009). Belonging, being and becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia. Canberra, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Dickinson, E. (2013). The misdiagnosis: Rethinking ‘nature deficit disorder’. Environmental Communication. doi:10.1080/17524032.2013.802704CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, S., & Cutter-Mackenzie, A. (2013). Pedagogical play types: What do they suggest for learning about sustainability in early childhood education? International Journal of Early Childhood, 45, 327346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, S. (2012). Sustainable outdoor playspaces in early childhood centres: Investigating perceptions, facilitating change and generating theory (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of New England, Armidale, Australia.Google Scholar
Elliott, S., & Chancellor, B. (2014). From forest preschool to bush kinder: An inspirational approach to preschool provision in Australia. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 39, 4553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, S., & Davis, J. (2009). Exploring the resistance: An Australian perspective on educating for sustainability in early childhood. International Journal of Early Childhood,41, 6577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hägglund, S., & Johansson, E.M. (2014). Belonging, value conflicts and children's rights in learning for sustainability in early childhood. In Davis, J. & Elliott, S. (Eds.), Research in early childhood education for sustainability: International perspectives and provocations (pp. 3848). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Haraway, D. (2008). When species meet. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Hedefalk, M., Almqvist, J., & Östman, L. (2014). Education for sustainable development in early childhood education: A review of the research literature. Environmental Education Research, 21, 975990. doi:10.1080/13504622.2014.971716.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellert, S.R. (2012). Birthright: People and nature in the modern world. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemmis, S. (2009). Action research as a practice-based practice. Educational Action Research, 17, 463474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, S. (2013). International perspectives on forest school: Natural places to play and learn. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Latour, B. (2004). The politics of nature: How to bring the sciences into democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lassoe, J., & Krasny, M.E. (2013). Participation in environmental education. In Krasny, M.E. & Dillon, J. (Eds.), Trading zones in environmental education: Creating transdisciplinary dialogue (pp. 1144). New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Louv, R. (2005). The last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.Google Scholar
Moore, R.C., & Marcus, C. (2008). Healthy planet, healthy children: Designing nature into the daily spaces of childhood. In Kellert, S.R., Heerwagen, J. & Mador, M. (Eds.), Biophilic design: The theory, science and practice of bringing buildings to life (pp. 153203). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Munoz, S. (2009). Children in the outdoors: A literature review. Retrieved from http://www.countrysiderecreation.org.uk/Children%20Outdoors.pdfGoogle Scholar
Planet Ark. (2011). Climbing trees: Getting Aussie kids back outdoors. Sydney, Australia: Planet Ark.Google Scholar
Plumwood, V. (1993). Feminism and the mastery of nature. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Plumwood, V. (2003). Feminism and the mastery of nature (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sobel, D. (1996). Beyond ecophobia: Reclaiming the heart in nature education. Great Barrington, MA: The Orion Society.Google Scholar
Taylor, A. (2013). Reconfiguring the natures of childhood. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsing, A. (2005). Friction: An ethnography of global connection. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend, M., & Weerasuriya, R. (2010). Beyond blue to green: The benefits of contact with nature for mental health and well-being. Melbourne, Australia: Beyond Blue Limited.Google Scholar
UNICEF. (1989). United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htmGoogle Scholar
Young, T., & Elliott, S. (2014). Ways of thinking, acting and relating about sustainability. Canberra, Australia: Early Childhood Australia.Google Scholar
Young, T. (2015). Can we see past what we imagine in early childhood education? EINGANA Journal of the Victorian Association for Environmental Education, 38, 1721.Google Scholar