What about the Migrant Children? The State-Of-The-Art in Research Claiming Social Sustainability

Sidsel Boldermo,Elin Ødegaard

doi:10.3390/su11020459

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate research articles that relate to education for sustainability, primarily in early childhood, in order to describe to what extent a holistic perspective on education for sustainability has been applied, and how the social dimension is conceptualized. The review comprised research articles in Nordic Journals of Education, International Journals of Early Childhood Education, and International Journals of Education/Environmental/Sustainability education. The findings disclosed that researchers within the field of education for sustainability acknowledged, to a large extent, environmental, economic, and social aspects, and thus applied a holistic perspective. This review shows, however, that even if the social dimension were conceptualized as strongly related to topics such as social justice, citizenship, and the building of stable societies, few articles have investigated diversity, multicultural perspectives, or migrant children’s situations in the context of early childhood education for sustainability. This review discloses that the concept of belonging is rarely used in connection to migrants and refugees in research on early childhood education for sustainability. A further argument encourages the inclusion of these aspects in further research which claims social sustainability.

Highlights

As a demographic change is seen in many parts of the world, the issue of migrant children’s experiences of belonging is a topic that needs to be addressed on the early childhood education agenda for sustainability
By investigating what today’s research in early childhood says about multicultural perspectives, diversity and belonging in the context of education for social sustainability, our study aims to contribute to new knowledge that can strengthen the perspective on social sustainability and support the situation for migrant and refugee children in early childhood institutions
The 41 articles from the 14 journals investigated topics in a range from the teacher’s competencies and interpretations regarding Education for Sustainability, the teacher’s understandings of sustainability and the teacher’s as well as the children’s role in supporting social change and solving challenges of local and global patterns of unsustainable lifestyles, whether that be the issue of poverty and food security within the context of Education for Sustainability, nature play and children’s lived experiences as global citizens, or explorations of educators conceptual understandings and pedagogical practices related to early childhood education for sustainability

Summary

Introduction

As a demographic change is seen in many parts of the world, the issue of migrant children’s experiences of belonging is a topic that needs to be addressed on the early childhood education agenda for sustainability. To create optimal conditions for migrant children, we believe that a holistic education is of the utmost importance in the most formative years, as stated by the World Organization of Early Childhood Education, OMEP 2016 [3]. It has been argued that the turn from a focus on purely environmental issues within Environmental Education, towards more anthropocentric and pluralistic interpretations within Education for Sustainable Development, facilitates typically human needs such as human rights, democracy, and social issues at the expense of environmental issues [12]. We do not take a stand on that particular issue; we prefer to use the term Education for Sustainability, and apply the UNESCO 2012 [14] meaning of the concept of Education for Sustainable Development—education for social transformation and with the goal of creating sustainable societies

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Conclusion