The Legacy Café—A Trial of Intergenerational and Sustainable Learning in an Early Childhood Centre in Liverpool

Abstract

Early childhood is a transformative period where attitudes and foundations for life are laid (Siraj-Blatchford et al. Education for sustainable development in the early years, 2010). The principles of education for sustainability reflect a holistic and interconnected approach, similar to the ecological context of early childhood. This interconnectedness is further highlighted with the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental and socio/cultural), that they are all interrelated (Brundtland, Our common future: the world commission on environment and development. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987). The ecological context centres the child in their own contextual and cultural environment. Bronfenbrenner (The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1979) noted a key element of this environment or community was its “a dynamic entity which is constantly changing” (Keenan and Evans, An introduction to child development. Sage, London, 2010: 35) reflecting flexibility and the bi-relational aspect when the child not only interacts with their environment, but influences it too. The Legacy Intergenerational sustainable skill cafe is a socially cultural integrated model, bringing generations within communities together, building a more sustainable society, a “community of practice” (Lave and Wenger, Communities of practices: learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998) researching through a “place of possibilities” (Dahlberg and Moss, Dialogue with Reggio Emilia. Listening, researching and learning. Routledge, London, 2006, p. 12). The elderly willingly share cultural traditions with families and children in disappearing or lost skills that are being ‘divorced’ (Langlands, Craft: an inquiry into the origins and true meaning of traditional crafts. W.W Norton and Company, New York, 2018) from our identity or cultural heritage, reflecting a “collective responsibility” (Dahlberg and Moss, Dialogue with Reggio Emilia. Listening, researching and learning. Routledge, London, 2006: 10) validating the position of the family as a socialising agent’ (Mbebeb 2009, p. 25).