International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education for Sustainability

Eva Ärlemalm-Hagsér, Professor in Early Childhood Education, has a background as a preschool teacher. She works as a professor in the Division of Early Childhood Education within early childhood teacher education, leading the research group Childhood During The Anthropocene – Education and Sustainability, at Mälardalen University, Sweden. Her research focus is on education for sustainability and children’s participation and agency within policy and practices – indoors and outdoors. Between 2008-2018 Eva was a convener of the Special Interest Group (SIG) Outdoor play and Learning within the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). In 2019, Eva initiated the Special Interest Group (SIG) Sustainability in Early Childhood Education within the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) and is now a convener in this Special Interest Group and a co-convenor of the Transnational Dialogues in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability research group (TND) since 2010. In August 2023, she organised an international TND conference: Where to next? Examining the gaps, issues and needs in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability research, at Mälardalen University. Her recent text publications include Researching early childhood education for sustainability: Challenging assumptions and orthodoxies; Becoming a preschool teacher: Multifaceted complexity, and Early childhood education for sustainability: A short history. She lectures in all levels at the University from preschool teacher programs to Master and PhD student courses and is actively involved in Higher Degree Research supervision with three current candidates. Sue Elliott, Ed. D., is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, New South Wales, Australia and a visiting scholar at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She is an experienced practitioner, academic and author in early childhood education with a focus on education for sustainability, outdoor playspaces and nature play. Notably, her sustainability advocacy work began in the 1990’s when she established a professional early childhood education for sustainability network in Australia, this has now expanded to six state networks and an active national alliance. Sue also has extensive networks internationally as a co-convenor of the TransNational Dialogues in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability research group since 2017. Her recent text publications include Researching early childhood education for sustainability: Challenging assumptions and orthodoxies, Early childhood education for sustainability: A short history and Early Years Learning in Australian Natural Environments. In 2023, Sue was awarded as a Fellow of the Australian Association of Environmental Education and is a consulting editor for the International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education and an associate editor for the journal Children Youth and Environments. She continues to engage in consultancy, research and Higher Degree Research supervision and is currently contributing to the Perth, Western Australia 2026 World Environmental Education Congress organising committee..

• 1.Sustainability approaches in early childhood care and education in Aotearoa.- 2. Contemporary ECEfS in Australia: Perspectives and possibilities.- 3.Indigenous Land relations as a way toward sustainable futures with young children of Turtle Island.- 4.Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Curriculum and Pedagogy.- 5.ECEfS in Finland – striving for ecosocial education.- 6.ECEfS as an impulse for transformation instead of a supplement to current educational concepts.- 7.Challenges and potentials of ECEfS in Japan: Transformative readings of the Japanese national guidelines to envision sustainable futures.- 8.Early Childhood Education for Sustainability in Malta.- 9.Challenges and possible paths in Education for Sustainability in Portugal.- 10.Reading instruction to promote sustainable development: A collaborative approach in one Grade 1 classroom in South Africa.- 11.ECEfS in Turkey from research to practice.- 12.Children’s opportunities to develop growing responsibility for and interest in sustainability issues in the Swedish preschool.- 13.Reframing “Quality” through the lens of ECEfS: Promising practices in the United States.