Abstract:

In recent decades, thinking about sustainability has shown great progress in the field of early childhood education. Several researches confirm that ecological awareness (Corraliza & Collado, 2019) and environmental awareness (Jørgensen, 2016) start to emerge and develop in early childhood. In Hungary, the National Core Programme for Kindergarden Education is the curriculum for early childhood education and sets out the requirements and principles that provide the framework for sustainability education. On the basis of these principles, the institutions draw up their own pedagogical programmes, which also include the principles of health education and environmental education of the institution concerned. The Hungarian National Strategy for Environmental Education (2019) recommends that kindergartens (for children aged 3-6) should formulate guidelines for sustainability education. At the same time, institutions with a Green Kindergarten certification have been operating since 2006, which apply sustainability education systematically in an ideal-typical way.

The aim of our research was to investigate the pedagogical elements of sustainability in the pedagogical programmes of kindergartens in a Hungarian county capital. A total of 20 kindergartens pedagogical programmes were included in the qualitative document analysis.

The research questions were:
(1) In what context is sustainability education presented in the kindergarten programmes of the study?
(2) What specific elements and activities are mentioned in the pedagogical programmes in relation to sustainability?
(3) What is the added value of environmental education in the programmes of the Green Kindergartens?

Results:
The term ‘sustainable development’ is used in only a few pedagogical programmes, but related terms such as ‘environmental awareness‘, ‘health preservation‘, ‘nature conservation‘, ‘acceptance of diversity‘ or ‘frugality‘ are common. The term 'environment' is most often used in the context of protecting children's health (‘safe environment‘, ‘healthy environment‘), and there is also a strong emphasis on the natural environment and the use of natural materials. Our results also showed that the environmental aspect of sustainability is being given priority in kindergartens, ahead of the economic and social dimensions of sustainability. The programmes primarily focus on establishing environmental awareness and promoting the discovery and appreciation of environmental values in order to achieve sustainable development. The holistic approach in the programmes studied is less prevalent, and the pedagogical elements related to sustainability show little coherence and a low level of complexity. A broader interpretation of sustainability is not present in the programmes of the Green Kindergartens either, and there are significant differences in content at the level of the documents. We also observed that the commitment to sustainability education is not connected to the existence of a Green Kindergarten certification.

Our results show that in the examined kindergartens, in addition to traditional environmental education, the needs and activities related to sustainability education appear more and more, but at the same time, the complex and holistic integration of this approach into the programmes cannot be considered complete.

Acknowledgement:
This study was funded by the Scientific Foundations of Education Research Program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (grant number: SZKF-10/2021).

Keywords:

Early childhood education, sustainability education, local kindergarten programme, document analysis.