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Is Sustainability Education Suitable for Children in Early Years Education? What Forms Can It Take?

Xuyan Meng

Abstract


In recent years, as people pay more and more attention to environmental issues, sustainable development, as a topic related to the future and development of all mankind, has attracted a growing number of people's attention. As the concept of "sustainability" has penetrated people's lives, the definition of "sustainable development" has become broader. It is closely related to human activities or global issues, such as financial crises, environmental degradation, and political instability that affect people's lives and futures. To a large extent, education can be regarded as the foundation that determines the future development of human beings. As UNESCO (2014) stated that it will not be able to tackle with the problems and issues of sustainable development only with the political agreements, financial incentives or technological solutions. A comprehensive change in our thinking and acting, and our interaction with the ecosystems will be required. This is where education can play a key role. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD in this essay) was also born in this context. With the implementation of ESD, the application of sustainable development concepts and related publicity and teaching activities can be seen in colleges and universities around the world. Although there are few related teaching activities in the early stage of children's education, some studies showed that early childhood education can help promote the realization of a sustainable society. Combining some current cases and research, this paper argues that sustainable development education is also suitable for early childhood education.
This article will demonstrate that ESD is suitable for children at early ages through the following three chunks. The first chunk is about the definition of ESD and the connections between ESD and early childhood education. This article explains the reasons for integrating ESD with early childhood education in chunk two. Finally, starting from the discussion of suitable forms of sustainable development education that can be used in early childhood education, this paper argues that sustainable development education is suitable for young children.

Keywords


Sustainability development; Children education

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18686/ahe.v7i3.7173

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