“We Don’t Always Have to Be Talking about It”: Moral Reasoning in US Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Development

Shannon Audley (), Julia L. Ginsburg and Cami Furlong
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Shannon Audley: Department of Education and Child Study, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA
Julia L. Ginsburg: Department of Applied Human Sciences, Concordia University, Montreal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada
Cami Furlong: Department of Education and Child Study, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-22

Abstract: The climate crisis is both an environmental and moral issue. The United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a framework for a global response to systematically challenge the world’s reactions to the climate crisis, making sustainable education for all a priority. For such sustainability education to be effective, it should engage children in early childhood in, about, and for the environment, emphasizing the moral ramifications of climate equity and justice. We investigated in what ways 19 United States (US) nature-based early childhood educators focused their sustainability education (ECEfS) in, about, and for the environment. The types of activities that engaged about and for experiences were related to the moral principles of welfare, harm reduction, resource allocation, and equality, as well as teachers’ reasoning about these experiences with children. Our findings suggest that educators’ curricula and activities reflect potential moral issues related to sustainable development. However, educators did not engage children in moral reasoning about these issues. A possible explanation is US teachers’ beliefs about developmental practice and children’s capabilities leading them to rarely engage in moral reasoning about sustainability issues instead of scaffolding children to develop personal psychological resources, thereby supporting the SDG for sustainable education.

Keywords: education for sustainable development; moral reasoning; early childhood education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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