Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability

Through a series of practical demonstrations and hands-on collaborative workshop activities, the aim was to foster a sense of sustainable responsibility in practice with first year BA Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) undergraduate students. The primary objectives were to identify practical strategies to address the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and nurture positive dispositions when working with young children (Breatnach, Moloney & Pope, 2021). This links directly to Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework in Ireland (Government of Ireland, 2024) which views our youngest children as agentic global citizens. By working together, adopting more sustainable approaches with more natural, open-ended resources and considering ethical dilemmas in practice, the benefits were manifold. The students reported how this approach helped them to communicate with and get to know other students, to think more about sustainability in practice and aided their memory of key content the following semester.

Rationale

The pedagogical predicament to initiate this case study was: how could more practical links be made to the SDGs to promote sustainable responsibility in Year 1 undergraduates prior to professional practice placement with young children?

What is sustainable responsibility? The Sustainable Directory (2024) notes that ‘sustainable responsibility, in its simplest form, is about acting today in ways that safeguard tomorrow’s possibilities. …For beginners, sustainable responsibility is about making conscious choices that benefit both people and the planet, ensuring a healthy future for all.’

Across two year 1, Autum semester modules on the BA ECCE Programme, namely the Foundation Studies in ECCE and the Child Health & Wellbeing 1 modules, many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are implicit and module contents are underpinned by children’s rights (Moloney, Skehill & Pope, 2025). Key aspects within both of these modules explore the role of the outdoors for young children’s development (Pope et al. 2021) and consider what constitutes quality learning experiences for young children. 

More specifically, some of the SDGs addressed include: 

• Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• Goal 2: Zero Hunger- End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture;
• Goal 4: Quality Education;
• Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;
• Goal 13: Climate Action;
• Goal 15: Life on Land.

While students had some prior knowledge of SDGs, the aim of the practical hands-on sessions was to consider more sustainable approaches in practice when working with young children.

Why is it important to nurture sustainable responsibility?

Through active learning experiences, students considered their own sense of sustainable responsibility and learned how to nurture these values when working with very young children. By embedding children’s rights in alignment with the SDGs, this approach lays solid foundations in the earliest years, promoting Aistear’s view of the young child as an agentic global citizen (Government of Ireland, 2024). This should be further cultivated in primary and post primary education, creating an upward spiral whereby today’s youngest global citizens will be the third level students of the future, perpetuating a continuous cycle of sustainable responsibility.

Description of the Teaching and Learning Approach

What Worked And Why?

Teaching and learning was enhanced through the active participation of students involving hands on, practical activities that related theory to practice. Throughout different contexts within the workshops, nurturing sustainable choices was key and there were plenty of opportunities for discussion and reflection on sustainable responsibility in practice, including tensions or dilemmas such as, the use of food sources for play. Students reported that the hands-on activities were enjoyable, got them working together, considering children’s perspectives and thinking a lot more about sustainable practices.

Consistency in approach

Throughout the modules and within the assessment process, students were consistently prompted to reflect on learning experiences for children and ask the fundamental question ‘is this sustainable?’ 

Capacity Building & Advocacy

Working in collaborative, creative groups also promoted a sense of identity and belonging within the class. This was evident through student evaluations and final reflections on the module. Based on their shared insights, it was evident that students enjoyed working together and getting to know each other in this more informal forum. As part of their assessment for the module, working in groups, students designed and presented learning experiences for young children addressing sustainability as a core criterion.

To promote advocacy and visibility, this culminated with a collectively decorated Christmas window in the Early Childhood Practice room. Furthermore, a webpage (using SWAY https://sway.cloud.microsoft/…) combined with a newsletter initiative facilitated sharing these core messages with the wider MIC college community. While this did not form part of the module assessment, it allowed for more informal engagement in the process. In their final reflective pieces, some students did mention it as significant in enhancing their learning.

Student collaboration

The students were fantastic to participate and get involved which facilitated the preparation, the process and the clean-up afterwards. Based on student feedback, this approach also aided them to get to know each other as they worked together in this informal manner.  

Any Problems or Issues That Arose From This Approach?

Time was a consideration. 

It took considerable time to prepare for the workshops. Natural resources not available within the college had to be sourced and some required cooking in advance e.g. sustainable glue, boiled cabbage for natural dye. As the same lecturer delivered both modules with the students, different workshops required preparation within the same weeks which was a bit pressurised.

Engagement

Some students were slower to engage than others however, in the final reflections, the overall sense was overwhelmingly positive with students identifying key learning within the area of sustainability through the hands-on activities throughout the semester. Many students mentioned how they were looking forward to implementing this sustainable philosophy in practice.

Logistics

The class was a relatively large class with one lecturer (1:90) so many resources, significant planning and a flexible approach were required. To facilitate this process, at times initial demonstrations were provided for the full group. Then, students mainly worked in smaller groups, utilising outdoor spaces within the college campus. They were encouraged to pool resources and work autonomously in their small groups. Students were involved in displaying samples of their work and collaboratively, we documented the processes involved with photos, collages, videos and reflective voice memos. This facilitated sharing of key learning from smaller groups to the full class, reinforcing and consolidating the core concepts each week.

Tips for Implementation