Building a sustainable future for our children: comparative studies in early childhood education from China and Norway

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday III)

Group Submission Type: Refereed Round-Table Session

Proposal

The aims of this formal panel are threefold. First, we want to share and discuss with audience some experiences and practices in terms of early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) within political, academic and professional discourses in Chinese and Norwegian contexts. Secondly, we want to raise the awareness of the importance, emergent and shared challenges to build up education for sustainable development (ESD) in early childhood, including but not limited to how to work more collaboratively with all key stakeholders. Thirdly, we aim to inspire better policies and practices for ECEfS, through partnership with government officers, university professors, professionals and practitioners from international and local contexts, which would support to build up a sustainable future for our young children in China and Norway, and beyond.
All the shared experiences and practices are part of a cooperative research project funded by Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) and Beijing Normal University (BNU). One of the key focuses of this project is to strengthen the capacity to build up ESD through participation and dialogue in research and educational activities both within own culture and across the two cultures.
ESD, in its broadest sense, is education for social transformation with the goal of creating more sustainable societies. ESD touches every aspect of education including planning, policy development, program implementation, finance, curricula, teaching, learning, assessment, administration. ESD aims to provide a coherent interaction between education, public awareness, and training with a view to creating a more sustainable future.
The United Nations uses sustainability as an over-arching paradigm to address numerous interrelated challenges, e.g. poverty reduction, environmental protection, social justice, and education for all. “Sustainability is understood as the responsible action of individuals and societies towards a better future for all, locally and globally – one in which social justice and environmental stewardship guide socio- economic development. The changes in today’s interconnected and interdependent world are bringing new levels of complexity, tensions and paradoxes, as well as new knowledge horizons that we need to consider. Such patterns of change require efforts to explore alternative approaches to progress and to human well-being” (UNESCO, 2015: 20).
In order to achieve the SDGs goals, four pillars from the Delors Report, Learning: The Treasure Within: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be, need a further extension. A fifth pillar was added by UNESCO to address the special challenge of sustainability: learning to transform oneself and society. How to encourage such five pillars of learning and improve ECE for sustainability is especially challenging in such highly changing world?
Why China and Norway need to be together in building a sustainable future? China needs an inspiration to learn about how to do ESD. The Norwegian model is an attractive option since Norway has become a pioneer and has some good policies and practices in ESD. Furthermore, sustainable development is a top priority in policy agendas in two countries.
The following abstracts further elaborate the aspects that this panel session illuminates.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Environmental and Sustainability Education

Chair

• AiHua Hu, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Presenters

• Pin YE, Beijing Normal University

• TianXue Duan, Beijing Normal University

• YiMeng Wang, BeiJing Normal University

• Kristine Hoffman Aahaug, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Individual Presentations

• International continuous professional development of kindergarten principals and government officials within ECE: A collaboration between China and Norway in ESD - AiHua Hu, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences; Minyi Li, Beijing Normal University

• How key Decision-makers Understand Early Childhood Education for Sustainability: An explorative study in rural China - TianXue Duan, Beijing Normal University; YiMeng Wang, BeiJing Normal University

• Taoism Encounters the Deep Ecology: China meets Norway - Pin YE, Beijing Normal University; Minyi Li, Beijing Normal University

• How did political, academic and professional voices negotiate in early childhood education for sustainability in a state visit to China? - Kristine Hoffman Aahaug, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

• Implementing ESD through PBLs in kindergarten：pedagogy and practice - Xuehua Qiu, ShenZhen No.3 kindergarten; Minyi Li, Beijing Normal University; jingyi xu, ShenZhen No.3 kindergarten