Why sustainability isn’t ‘one more thing’ on your to-do list

Are you an early childhood educator or leader who wants to make a difference but feels overwhelmed by the thought of adding sustainability to your full plate? You’re not alone. The good news is that sustainability doesn’t have to mean more work.

A new book, A Changemaker’s Guidebook to a Regenerative Classroom by Dorothée Seeto and Lenka Miklos from Endless Play Studio, reveals how sustainability can be woven through your everyday practices to nurture 21st-century citizens and fill your own cup along the way.

If you find driving sustainability at your centre has been overwhelming, frustrating, or even depleting, could you be getting stuck:

• Thinking you need to do “sustainability education” with special gardening or recycling projects, for example, to teach ‘the green stuff’?
• Approaching sustainability as a silo instead of bringing education for sustainability into everything you do in your centre and every learning opportunity with children?
• Failing to get enough support from others in your team to teach sustainable ways of thinking and acting effectively?

For a more cup-filling approach to sustainability, the authors of the new guidebook suggest three important reframes are needed in early childhood education: 

• Viewing sustainability as a holistic endeavour,
• Shifting from silos to an integrated approach, and
• Taking a tailored whole-of-centre approach.

The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), also known as the Brundtland Commission, defined sustainability in its 1987 report Our Common Future as: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainability isn’t a subject to be taught as a silo; it’s a process and outcome, it’s thriving (socially and economically) within the limits of our planet (the environment). It’s a lot more than “the green stuff”!

So, what can we do in early education today to help children thrive within the limits of our planet tomorrow? As early childhood professionals, you are already doing incredible work to help children thrive. And the tweaks we need are nowhere near as significant as you might think.

You can turn many everyday play experiences into learning for a sustainable future

Driving education for sustainability at your centre in a way that is powerful for children, fulfilling for educators and durable for centres requires adopting an integrated approach – in line with the first practice of the EYLF 2.0 “holistic, integrated and interconnected approaches”. 

The good news: the whole of the EYLF 2.0 supports you in implementing education for sustainability, and it’s a lot less work than teaching in silos! 

It’s less about creating new play experiences and more about how you approach existing ones. Sustainability doesn’t sit outside what educators already do – it lives within every routine, story, play experience, and conversation.

As early childhood educator Lenka Miklos explains, the goal is not to transfer fixed knowledge, but to engage children and educators in collaborative, critical inquiry to notice, question, and challenge unsustainable actions in everyday life.

The best place to start is by using the planning cycle to reflect on opportunities offered by everyday situations. By weaving in children’s needs and interests with educators’ personal strengths and passions, along with what’s unique about the place, as well as intentions and pedagogical approaches that support education for sustainability, educators will start noticing and seizing opportunities in the everyday. 

It can be tempting to do what other centres do, but it’s not because some centres have great success with gardening and composting that it will work for you. If there’s no enthusiasm from educators about gardening or composting, then it will fail, and so might your other sustainability efforts at the same time. To succeed, your initiatives have to be true to your place and people. 

A regenerative, whole-of-centre approach to education for sustainability

At Endless Play Studio, we advocate for a regenerative approach, which means aiming for a win-win-win for children, educators, centres, the community, and the planet. This concept emanates from how the natural world works and is deeply rooted in Indigenous cultures, where regeneration is considered in every way of being, thinking, and acting. 

Nurturing 21st-century citizens is everyone’s responsibility, and every educator can contribute in a way that gives them energy.

• Are you interested in teaching children mindfulness? That’s key to sustainable citizens.
• Are you a creative soul? A STEM fanatic? A craft expert? A problem-solver extraordinaire? Well, you can most definitely put your skills to the test by helping children imagine and create sustainable solutions to our world’s problems.
• Are you passionate about First Nations cultures? There’s much you can do to help children learn from (not just about) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• Are plants and animals your favourite topic? You can help children see the natural world as a source of inspiration for the latest and greatest inventions.  
• Are you passionate about picture books? You can help children see and understand the interconnectedness and interdependency of many things on this planet through literature.

No matter your passions, strengths and experiences, you have something unique to bring to education for sustainability. When everyone contributes in a way that makes them feel seen and valued, the load becomes lighter for everyone, the classroom becomes a place of energy and optimism, and the benefits grow for all involved in both expected and unexpected ways.

Sustainability isn’t a subject to teach, it’s a way of being, thinking and acting that benefits everyone, now and in the future. This isn’t more work; it’s the work we have to do! A regenerative approach to education for sustainability is key to shaping 21st-century citizens and redefining what “thriving” means in early childhood education.

Want to learn more? Visit http://www.endlessplaystudio.com to get the new guidebook ‘A Changemaker’s Guidebook to a Regenerative Classroom’ and subscribe for updates.

About the Author

Dorothée Seeto is the founder and director of Endless Play Studio, offering training, advisory, and coaching services to help early childhood leaders embed education for sustainability in ways that are powerful for children, fulfilling for educators, and durable for centres. She grew up in France, where her family transformed a decommissioned garbage tip into a thriving garden a personal lesson in regeneration. Dorothée now lives on Darkinjung Country (Central Coast, NSW) with her husband and two young boys.