Early childhood education sustainability pedagogies- Centre Visits- Signed Consent Form

Education for sustainability can enhance children's capacity to respect the natural world and contribute to a sustainable future (Barrable, 2019). Australia's recent Early Years Learning Framework (AGDE, 2022) promotes early childhood education for sustainability and highlights the importance of sustainability to nurture children's understandings of belonging, being, and becoming as part of a sustainable global community. As emphasised in the Early Years Learning Framework, sustainability practices empower children to respect the natural world and cultivate an appreciation of the environment. Quality Area 3 of the National Quality Standard (ACECQA, 2025) emphasises that an early childhood education and care setting’s physical environment should “support children to become environmentally responsible” (p.197). In aiming to maximise children’s engagement with both built and natural environments, the present study aimed to explore educators’ perspectives on pedagogical practices for environmental sustainability, specifically: "What pedagogies do educators use to ensure that they address environmental sustainability requirements outlined in the Early Years Learning Framework and National Quality Standard within their unique locations and communities?" Because of the diversity of early learning contexts and the significance of locality, the study was conducted in four distinctly different early learning centres - in two suburban areas in New South Wales and two in regional Queensland, Australia. Each centre was recognised for its exemplary approaches to environmental sustainability.The project involved conducting semi-structured interviews with nine early childhood educators at the four centres to explore their understandings of environmental sustainability and their pedagogical practices to promote it. The project entailed exploring the learning environment and environmental sustainability pedagogical activities, alongside centre policies for sustainability, to highlight educators' awareness of and insights into environmental sustainability. Transcripts from interviews with educators were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006, 2012, 2022) Six-phase Reflexive Thematic Analysis. The data were considered in light of the Principles, Practices, and Outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework (AGDE, 2022) and National Quality Standard (ACECQA, 2025). In this way, this study was able to focus on how environmental sustainability practices were implemented in the four distinctively different early childhood contexts. Five themes emerged from the analysis of the interview data related to concepts, practices, and implementation for environmental sustainability.Commitment to environmental sustainability: This theme highlights the perspectives of educators who dedicate their everyday practices to environmental sustainability.Playing as a context for learning about environmental sustainability: This theme emphasises the significance of natural resources, spaces, and recycled materials that facilitate children’s play while fostering environmental awareness.“Small” moments matter: Everyday practices promote children’s sustainable living: This theme focuses on everyday sustainable practices, ideas and actions that were planned and evident across the centres. Promoting children’s agency in the design and implementation of sustainability practices: This theme considers educators’ focus on children’s personal responsibilities and voices in caring for the environmental both within the centre and beyond, as well as their right to decide where to explore and what to play, in order to understand the purpose behind sustainability.Fostering educators’ confidence about environmental sustainability: This theme highlights ways educators enhanced their knowledge, skills, and relationships to promote their confidence in implementing sustainability practices. The research found that in drawing on the affordance of ‘place,’ ‘pedagogies of hope’ and possibility, educators at the four distinctly different centres were able to foster children's engagement in connecting with, responding to, and caring for the environment. While the centres varied in geographic structures and local contexts, they all appeared to successfully achieve sustainability practices consistent with the Early Years Learning Framework. Study findings suggest that the ways in which these educators supported children’s learning about environmental sustainability may provide examples and ideas for educators in other early childhood settings to explore ways to engage children with the concepts and practices of environmental sustainability while consistent with the Principles in the Early Years Learning Framework that focus on environmental sustainability within their teaching.