Ripples of action: Strengthening environmental competency in an early childhood centre

Abstract

Ripples are ever increasing circles of movement that gather momentum and spread beyond the point where they're initiated. Each ripple has its own momentum, yet when it touches another it increases momentum, changing form and pattern as it continues to spread. In this article we use this metaphor to explore the idea that when an early childhood centre becomes a place where young children, parents, and teachers undertake environmental actions and practices, this strengthens collective and individual environmental competency. Our thinking has arisen out of a research project we undertook in a two-teacher kindergarten that has focused on an environmental curriculum for several years. In particular, we were interested in competencies that might be evident in the way the children, teachers, and families engaged with environmental actions and practices. Setting the scene In the last decade the early childhood education sector has become increasingly vocal about the importance of young children's involvement in environmental education, with the underlying knowledge that our world needs all of its citizens to live in a more just and environmentally sustainable way. In general, the predominant focus in early childhood education is on teachers providing experiences to engage young children with the natural world, based on the premise that these experiences underpin the development of values and an ethic of care towards the environment (New South Wales Environment Protection Authority, 2003; Palmer, 1995; Tilbury, 1995; Wilson, 1996). As Brownlee (2004, p. 9) so aptly states, between the two of you [child and teacher], in your love affair with life, you'll be growing curiosity and belonging, intellect and understanding and you will be keeping the spirit of wonder very much alive. Certainly, many of us who work in early childhood education recognise how children's intrinsic motivation to explore the world is driven by a human need to be connected to our world. These connections with the natural world enrich and sustain the essence of who we are as human beings for the rest of our lives (Wilson, 1996). Agenda 21, a comprehensive blueprint for environmental action launched at the United Nations' 1992 Earth Summit, challenged governments to reorient education systems to promote ethical ways to sustain life on our planet. This led to demands for governments to ensure that the education sector takes a more critical, participatory approach in society, addressing both social and environmental injustices (Fien & Tilbury, 2002). With renewed urgency, numerous environmental projects began in the schooling sector, focused on children and young adults working towards solutions for local environmental issues with their teachers, families, and communities. In New Zealand the publication of the Guidelines for Environmental Education in New Zealand Schools (Ministry of Education, 1999), the funding of regional environmental education coordinators, and the development of Enviroschools have been influential in spearheading some of these changes in the primary school sector (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, 2004). Some early childhood services also began to actively respond to the challenges presented by Agenda 21. The 2003 New South Wales Environment Protection Authority report on early childhood environmental education likened it to a patchwork of green: teachers in early childhood centres scattered across Australia were implementing exemplary environmental practice. It was beginning to happen in New Zealand too. Like the Australian experience it was driven by dedicated teachers in individual early childhood centres. At Hand in Hand, an inaugural early childhood environmental conference in Christchurch in 2006, teachers discussed ways that traditional early childhood approaches to environmental education could be expanded to take a more transformative, collaborative approach with young children, parents, and communities. …