Remembering to Reimagine: Education for Sustainability with Toddlers in Swedish Preschools

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 7:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Children’s Perspectives

Abstract

This study examines the implementation of Education for Sustainability (EfS) with toddlers (aged 1–3) in a Swedish preschool, focusing on teachers’ perspectives and children’s lived experiences. Based on interviews, observations, and documents, this study explores how sustainability is embedded in daily routines—such as composting, water conservation, and engaging with living beings—through relational and sensory-based practices. These pedagogies challenge deficit views of toddlerhood by recognizing children as capable ecological actors. Teachers’ ecological memories and values shape their practices, carrying histories of care and intergenerational knowledge into the present. By reclaiming overlooked pedagogical spaces and highlighting toddlers’ agentic roles, the study contributes to the broader conversation on Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures in early childhood education.

Author

• Deniz Pamuk, Mersin University