This article scrutinises the ways in which young children are described and supported as active participants for change within the Australian and Swedish national steering documents for early childhood education. A critical theory lens was applied, in combination with document analysis that looked for concepts related to environment and sustainability – i.e. the environmental, social, economic and political dimension of development, human place in nature, and environmental stewardship. Concepts concerned with critical thinking and children as active participants for change were used as specific dimensions of curriculum interpretation. The analyses show that, while both the Australian and Swedish curricula deal with content connected to environmental, social and cognitive dimensions, there is limited or no discussion of the political dimensions of human development, such as children as active citizens with political agency. In other words, children are not recognised as competent beings or agents of change for sustainability within these early childhood curriculum frameworks. Hence, these supposedly contemporary early childhood education documents lack curricular leadership to support children to contribute their voices and actions to civic and public spheres of participation as equal citizens.

This Swedish quantitative study aims to fill a research gap concerning how preschool teachers understand and work with education for sustainable development. Empirical data were collected in a questionnaire distributed to 187 Swedish preschools. The questionnaires consisted of 13 multiple choice questions and five open ended questions exploring how the preschool teachers interpret education for sustainable development and environmental education both as concepts and in practice. Both education for sustainable development and environmental education were mainly associated with nature experiences, recycling and reuse of resources. Descriptions reflecting the economic and social aspects of sustainable development were mainly missing. These views were reflected in the types of activities the children were afforded. Preschools supported by in-service training had a broader understanding of the concept and worked more actively with environmental and sustainability issues with the children. This suggests the need for support for providing children with quality education about sustainability issues.

Children today face a rapidly changing society with new social, economic, ecological and political challenges. This study attaches special importance to modern childhood, learning and didactics, and citizenship from a child-oriented perspective. Early childhood education for sustainability (as taught in Swedish preschools) is examined and the ways that young children are seen as active participants and agents of change are described. The theoretical framework of this qualitative study is guided by a critical theory approach. The empirical material is derived from 18 applications submitted by preschools to the Swedish National Agency for Education for a Diploma of Excellence in Education for Sustainability. The findings show that education for sustainability in Swedish preschools can be interpreted as a project defining human individual responsibility in a modern, pluralistic and contradictory world. Education for sustainability is seen as an important task in preschool educational activities, as is children's participation in various activities dealing with sustainability issues. Children are described as important actors in relation to their own lives in the present and in the future. In these various activities, hidden structures appear, along with taken-for-granted assumptions in need of reflective study. Children's participation and agency were mostly understood in terms of ‘taking part in’, and even though the overall rhetoric in the texts expressed a children's rights perspective, children were not really recognised to any great extent as active participants or as agents of change. An affirmative approach to change was detected in which underlying structures of inequity and gender inequality, and notions about human connectedness to nature and unsustainable lifestyles, are not problematised. Nevertheless, some transformative approaches are emerging, with children's participation and rights being interpreted and handled as an important part of the everyday practices in the preschools.

One of a preschool teacher’s most important competencies is to be able to talk with children and to invite them to share their ideas, knowledge, and experiences. This skill is of utmost importance within Early Childhood Education for sustainability. The aim of this article is to show various ways in which preschool teachers carry out systematic talks with children. Data come from a large Swedish development and research project, Sustainable Preschool, involving around 200 teachers in Early Childhood Education. During the spring of 2022, the preschools carried out theme-oriented projects linked to sustainable development. The participating preschool teachers were then asked to carry out systematic child talks with children about learning for sustainability and their understanding of the sustainability-related content. Using content analysis, three different approaches were identified as to how teachers communicate with children systematically about various content related to sustainability: (1) joint creation of meaning, (2) question and answer, focusing on remembering facts, and (3) following the children. There is a large variation in the teachers’ communicative competences. A key factor seems to be to create a shared inter-subjective atmosphere, while at the same time being open for alterity, that is, introducing new or slightly changed perspectives for the dialogue to deepen and continue.

Workplace-based learning experiences are integral to early childhood teacher education. In Sweden, the objectives of early childhood teacher education programmes require students to develop knowledge and skills about education for sustainability (EfS), in accordance with national policy documents. This includes how to work with EfS in everyday practice. The aim of this qualitative study was to critically analyse how pre-service teachers describe their workplace encounters with EfS, including dilemmas observed in practice and divergences in interpretation of EfS. The empirical data comprised 76 blogs (188 pages of text) written by pre-service teachers as a requirement for a university course report about EfS in early childhood education. A document analysis was employed to critically examine the blogs through a reflexive interpretive process. The findings were revealing of both the students’ meaning-making processes and their workplace supervisors’ understandings of EfS. The findings depict different cultures of ‘doing’ EfS in early childhood settings, reflecting pluralistic and divergent landscapes of understandings as well as an absence of transformative whole-institution approaches in the implementation of EfS. Les expériences d’apprentissage en milieu de travail font partie intégrante de la formation des enseignants de la petite enfance. En Suède, les objectifs des programmes de formation des enseignants de la petite enfance obligent les étudiants à développer des connaissances et compétences en éducation au développement durable (EDD), conformément aux documents de la politique nationale. Cela comprend l’intégration de l’EDD dans la pratique quotidienne. L’objectif de cette étude qualitative est de faire une analyse critique de la manière dont les enseignants en formation initiale décrivent leur découverte de l’EDD sur le terrain, y compris les dilemmes observés dans la pratique et les interprétations divergentes de l’EDD. Les données empiriques comprennent 76 blogs (188 pages de texte) rédigés par des enseignants en formation initiale, comme rapport exigé dans le cadre d’un cours universitaire sur l’EDD en éducation de la petite enfance. Une analyse de documents a été utilisée pour faire l’examen critique de ces blogs à travers un processus réflexif d’interprétation. Les résultats sont révélateurs tant du processus de recherche de signification de l’EDD chez les étudiants que de la compréhension qu’en ont leurs maîtres de stage. Les résultats illustrent différentes cultures de manière de « faire » de l’EDD dans les services d’éducation des jeunes enfants, reflétant la pluralité et la divergence des compréhensions ainsi qu’une absence d’approches transformatives globales des institutions dans la mise en œuvre de l’EDD. Las experiencias de aprendizaje en entornos de trabajo reales son esenciales para la formación de los profesores de educación infantil. En Suecia, el objetivo de los programas de formación de profesores de educación infantil es el desarrollo de conocimientos y habilidades en cuanto a la Educación para el Desarrollo Sostenible (EDS) con arreglo a las normativas nacionales. Esto incluye cómo trabajar con la EDS diariamente. El objetivo de este estudio cualitativo es analizar de manera crítica cómo describen los profesores en formación su experiencia con la EDS durante su contacto con un entorno de trabajo real, e incluye los dilemas que han observado y las diferencias de interpretación de la EDS. Los datos empíricos utilizados fueron 76 blogs (188 páginas de texto) escritos por profesores en formación que la universidad les requería para elaborar después un informe sobre la EDS en el marco de la educación infantil. Se utilizó un análisis documental para examinar de manera crítica los blogs en un proceso interpretativo de reflexión. Los hallazgos nos han mostrado los procesos de generación de significado tanto de los profesores en formación como de sus supervisores en lo relativo a la comprensión de la EDS. Los resultados retratan las diferentes culturas de trabajo con la EDS en el ámbito de la educación infantil, reflejan paisajes de comprensión variados y divergentes y muestran una ausencia de enfoques transformadores en toda la institución en lo que concierne a la implementación de la EDS.