Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation: Voices from Early Childhood Education (International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education, 11) 3031231813, 9783031231810

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International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11

Jane Spiteri

Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation Voices from Early Childhood Education

International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education Volume 11

Series Editors Annette Gough, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Noel Gough, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia Editorial Board Members Niklas Gericke, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden Susanna Ho, Ministry of Education, Singapore, Singapore Kathleen Kesson, Long Island University, Brooklyn, USA John Chi-Kin Lee, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong Justin Lupele, Academy for Education Development, Lusaka, Zambia Greg Mannion, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK Pat O’Riley, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Chris Reddy, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa Hilary Whitehouse, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia

This series focuses on contemporary trends and issues in outdoor and environmental education, two key fields that are strongly associated with education for sustainability and its associated environmental, social and economic dimensions. It also has an international focus to encourage dialogue across cultures and perspectives. The scope of the series includes formal, nonformal and informal education and the need for different approaches to educational policy and action in the twenty first century. Research is a particular focus of the volumes, reflecting a diversity of approaches to outdoor and environmental education research and their underlying epistemological and ontological positions through leading edge scholarship. The scope is also be both global and local, with various volumes exploring the issues arising in different cultural, geographical and political contexts. As such, the series aims to counter the predominantly “white” Western character of current research in both fields and enable cross-cultural and transnational comparisons of educational policy, practice, project development and research. The purpose of the series is to give voice to leading researchers (and emerging leaders) in these fields from different cultural contexts to stimulate discussion and further research and scholarship to advance the fields through influencing policy and practices in educational settings. The volumes in the series are directed at active and potential researchers and policy makers in the fields. Book proposals for this series may be submitted to the Publishing Editor: Claudia Acuna E-mail: [email protected]

Jane Spiteri

Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation Voices from Early Childhood Education

Jane Spiteri Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, Faculty of Education University of Malta Msida, Malta

ISSN 2214-4218     ISSN 2214-4226 (electronic) International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education ISBN 978-3-031-23181-0    ISBN 978-3-031-23182-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Series Editors’ Foreword

When you really want to get away from it all, why not consider an Island Escape. Our world has many islands and Goway has selected what it deems are idyllic islands offering that perfect vacation. This naturally includes outstanding resort facilities, exceptional scenery, sandy beaches, warm climate, and friendly locals. All this has been packaged into IslandsEscapes, the exclusive brand name of Goway’s division.1

The above promotion of “idyllic islands” by an Australian travel company is typical of the ways in which islands are often deployed to conjure idyllic representations of their environmental qualities (exceptional scenery, sandy beaches, and warm climate) and indigenous populations (friendly locals). Indeed, islands (both imagined and real) have inspired the human imagination for millennia. For example, in the Anglosphere, Daniel Defoe’s (1719) story of Robinson Crusoe, a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island, will be familiar even to those who have not read the print text. Often thought to mark the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre and perhaps as the first English novel, it is one of the most widely published books in Anglophone history. Its popular successors include Robert Louis Stevenson’s (1883) Treasure Island, R.M.  Ballantyne’s (1893) The Coral Island, and, more recently (and arguably more realistically), William Golding’s (1954) Lord of the Flies. Moreover, as Chris Ballard and Nicola van Dijk (2019, p.  12) observe: Islands lend themselves to dreams of perfection: the perfectness of a bounded space; the completeness of its possession; or even the perfection of the self in the isolation of an island environment. Islands have been the classical site for colonisation and social and scientific experiments – from the ancient Greeks in the Mediterranean to Europeans in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and from Robinson Crusoe to Dr Moreau and Jurassic Park in fiction and film.

In a contribution to a previous volume in this series, Olivia Copsey (2020, p. 403) draws attention to the complex sustainability problems facing the communities she refers to as “small island developing states” (a term also used by international agencies such as the United Nations) in the Western Indian Ocean and documents the  https://www.goway.com.au/goway-travel/who-we-are/our-brands/idyllic-islands/

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Series Editors’ Foreword

educational policies and strategies developed to address such problems in that region. She observes that “[d]espite their common idyllic paradise image, and view of their indigenous societies as living in an ‘ecological garden of Eden’ (Robin Dunbar, 1995, p. 47), small islands face many of the same problems as other developing countries,2 as well as some unique ones of their own”. Copsey (2020, p. 404) notes that small islands, especially, are prone to the effects of climate change, and some are already experiencing its damaging day-to-day effects, including sea-level rise, soil erosion, flooding, water shortages, and high frequency of natural disasters. Remoteness, poor food security, water scarcity, and vulnerable single-sector economies, as well as high population densities in coastal zones increase the susceptibility of island communities, and in some cases, threaten their very existence. Indeed, atoll islands such as Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and the Maldives are in danger of disappearing over the coming decades, and many of the women of the Carteret Islands are already climate refugees (UNFCCC, 2022). We therefore welcome the present volume, in which Jane Spiteri focuses on the island nation of Malta, which like many other small islands shares a colonial past that has influenced how its populace relates to and interacts with the natural environment. However, unlike many of the small island states of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and Caribbean, Malta is densely populated, highly urbanized, and is classified as an “advanced economy” by the International Monetary Fund.3 Within this unique island environment and society, children experience life differently from those living in larger countries. The cultural and economic values within which children are raised influence the types of, or lack of, experiences they have. Current research on small islands tends to focus on political, economic, and environmental protection measures with little reference to the impact of human activity affecting these islands, and risks losing sight of the material needs of the people living on these islands and the way they interact with their environment. To date, there has been very little research on the impact of culture and context on intergenerational environmental learning in the early years on small islands. Despite the international dialogue around the devastating impacts of climate change on small island states, much of the published research surrounding young children and early childhood education in mainstream literature has focused on children living in larger countries. The importance of connecting children with nature has long been a focus for environmental education, but this has often been where adults know best rather than being child-centred. Spiteri’s focus on voices from early childhood education contributes to the relatively recent (albeit expanding) advocacy for “philosophy for children”, which challenges conventional deficit models of the cognitive  We prefer not to describe communities in negative terms such as “developing countries” and “Third World” and recommend referring to minority world countries (North America, Europe and Australasia) and majority world countries (Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East) rather than the misleading Global North/South or reductionist West/Rest (see, e.g. Shahidul Alam, 2008; David Cheruiyot & Raul Ferrer- Conill, 2020). 3  https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/MLT 2

Series Editors’ Foreword

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capabilities of young children. Pioneers of this movement, such as Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp (1978, p. 86), affirm that “there are ways of engaging children in philosophical activities long before they are competent to read anything in the traditional philosophical repertoire”. Spiteri’s case studies demonstrate the uniqueness of young children’s living and learning experiences, and that what children do in their daily lives and how they influence their parents/family members in taking actions (i.e., recycling, turning off lights) demonstrates their understandings of their environments and environmental sustainability. This research is also related to two targets of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (United Nations, 2016): Target 4.2 is concerned with ensuring that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development and Target 4.7 is concerned with ensuring that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, albeit from not the usual perspective. We are delighted to have this new addition to our series, and we look forward to learning of the discussions stimulated by Jane’s research. RMIT University  Annette Gough Melbourne, VIC, Australia La Trobe University  Noel Gough Melbourne, VIC, Australia

References Alam, Shahidul. (2008). Majority world: Challenging the west’s rhetoric of democracy. Amerasia Journal, 34(1), 88–98. https://doi.org/10.17953/amer.34.1.l3176027k4q614v5 Ballantyne, R.M. (1893). The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean Edinburgh, UK: T. Nelson & Sons. Ballard, Chris, & van Dijk, Nicola. (2019). The perfect island. paradigm_shift, Edition 05, 12–17. https://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/perfection/perfect-­island Cheruiyot, David, & Ferrer-Conill, Raul. (2020). Pathway outta pigeonhole? De- contextualizing majority world countries. Media, Culture & Society, 0163443720960907. https://doi. org/10.1177/0163443720960907 Copsey, Olivia. (2020). A regional approach to eco-schools in the Western Indian Ocean. In Annette Gough, John Chi-Kin Lee & Eric Po Keung Tsang (Eds.), Green Schools Globally: Stories of Impact on Education for Sustainable Development (pp. 403–418). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­030-­46820-­0_22 Defoe, Daniel. (1719). Robinson Crusoe. London, UK: William Taylor. Dunbar, Robin. (1995). The Trouble with Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Golding, William. (1954). Lord of the Flies. London, UK: Faber and Faber. Lipman, Matthew, & Sharp, Ann Margaret. (1978). Some Educational Presuppositions of Philosophy for Children. Oxford Review of Education, 4(1), 85–90. https://doi. org/10.1080/0305498780040108 Stevenson, Robert Louis. (1883). Treasure Island. London, UK: Cassell & Co. United Nations. (2016). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). (2022). Impacts on Climate Refugees of the Carterets Islands, Papua New Guinea. Exhibit for the Bonn Climate Change Conference SB56, 6–16 June. Retrieved from https://seors.unfccc.int/applications/ seors/attachments/get_attachment?code=E08A4IBV OE450Z2EQXIPM1G3R3AO0OBM

Preface

As I write this book, in 2022, the world is grappling with an ongoing pandemic (COVID-19) and a climate crisis. Floods, wildfires and scorching heat waves are wreaking havoc across the globe. This enormous pressure our planet is under is a legacy of mismanagement of the ecosystem by previous generations, including ours. We, humans, are part of the environment we live in, but we are also part of the epidemic of planetary problems. No nation is immune to the impacts of extreme weather conditions, such as floods, droughts and excess deaths. This is not an empty threat. Unless urgent collective action is taken by governments around the world to protect humanity and the ecosystem, the unprecedented climatic conditions the world is experiencing are likely to escalate. Should this be the case, young children and vulnerable populations will be the hardest hit by the climate crisis. Consequently, they will pay the highest price. The future looks precarious, but perhaps now is our last opportunity to take action, individually and collectively, before it is too late. To respond to this crisis, a transformation towards the way we relate to the ecosystem is required. Education is key to raising environmental awareness and teaching people how to change their behaviour towards sustainability. The aim of this book is to explore the value of early childhood education in helping humanity overcome some of these hurdles. Young children’s understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability motivated my interest in writing this book. Adults often believe that at an early age, children are unable to understand these scientific and complex concepts, often trivialising children’s ideas. This book argues that children’s powerful relationship with nature and their understanding of environmental sustainability have been under-recognised and undervalued. To overcome this limited belief about children and nature, this book offers insight into environmental research with young children in critical and interesting ways. It proposes new principles for understanding children’s constructions of the environment and environmental sustainability. It provides evidence that we need to listen to what young children have to say in ways that we take their ideas seriously. Using creative research methods that are appealing to children, this book illustrates a number of ways by which children’s understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability can be understood. ix

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This book draws on examples from research conducted with young children, between the ages of 3 and 7 years, and their parents, teachers and headteacher, in Malta. It also includes chapters on adults’ understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability. This book will be of interest to researchers, postgraduate students, early childhood educators, parents and other professionals working with young children. Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education Faculty of Education, University of Malta Msida, Malta

 Jane Spiteri

Acknowledgements

This book would not have seen the light of day if it was not for the many people who have offered valuable advice. I am forever grateful for the guidance, encouragement and feedback from the Series Editors, Professors Annette and Noel Gough, who supported this book to come to fruition. To my son, Giulio, who inspires me daily with his diligence and commitment to becoming an agent of change. I would be remiss to not express my heartfelt gratitude to Gino, who inspired me to write this book, was there with me to support my writing journey and has made the writing process even more exciting. I am most indebted to the children, parents, teachers and head teachers, who have generously participated in this research. It would not have been fair on them to bury their data in a storage cabinet. This book has been in part informed by research I conducted as part of my PhD, at the University of Edinburgh. I am heartily thankful to Professor Peter Higgins, Professor Robbie Nicol and Dr Hamish Ross, whose guidance, enthusiasm and willingness to share ideas helped shape my approach to the research that is reported in this book. I also extend my tremendous gratitude to Prof Paul Pace, from the University of Malta, whose thought-provoking discussions have improved the story of this book. Many thanks to my friends and colleagues who have supported me through this journey. Part of the work presented in this book was funded by the University of Malta Research Seed Fund. I thank the anonymous reviewers of the book proposal, and the staff at Springer, Claudia Acuna, Malini Arumugam and Geetha Selvapandiyan, for their support. My warmest thanks to Susanna Ho and Shaofei Han, for their encouragement. I also acknowledge the scholars whose ideas inspired me to write this book. Finally, to all the children of the world, I dedicate this book to you. I hope this work will make a difference.

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Permissions

Reworked versions of the following material are integrated in this book with permission of the respective publishers. Permissions of the respective publishers and co-authors were obtained for material, developed and expanded on in this book, from: Spiteri, J. (2018). Why we should start early with ESD for lifelong learning. In W. Leal Filho, M. Mifsud, & P. Pace (Eds.), Handbook of Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development (pp. 109–128). Cham, Springer: World Sustainability Series. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­319-­63534-­7_8 Spiteri, J. (2020). Early childhood education for sustainability. In W.  Leal Filho, A. Azul, L. Brandli, P. Ozuyar, & T. Wall (Eds.), Quality Education. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (pp.  1–12). Switzerland, Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­319-­69902-­8 Spiteri, J. (2020). A reflection on research methods that engage young children with environmental sustainability. An Leanbh Og, 13(1), 149–170. https://omepireland.ie/wp-­content/uploads/2020/08/AN-­LEANBH-­OG-­VOL13.pdf Spiteri, J. (2020). Too young to know? A multiple case study of child-to-parent intergenerational learning in relation to environmental sustainability. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 14(1), 61–77. https://doi. org/10.1177/0973408220934649 Spiteri, J., Higgins, P., & Nicol, R. (2022). It’s like a fruit on a tree: Young children’s understanding of the environment. Early Child Development and Care, 192(7), 1133–1149. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1850444 Spiteri, J. (2020). Young children’s experiences in nature as a precursor for sustainability. In W. Leal Filho, A. Azul, L. Brandli, P. Ozuyar, & T. Wall (Eds.), Quality Education. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 1–12). Switzerland, Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­319-­69902-­8 Spiteri, J. (2021). Why is it important to protect the environment? Reasons presented by young children. Environmental Education Research, 27(2), 195–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1829560

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Permissions

Spiteri, J. (2021). Can you hear me? Young children’s understanding of environmental issues. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 30(1–2), 191–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2020.1859401 Spiteri, J. (2022). Early childhood educators’ perceptions of environmental sustainability: A phenomenographic investigation. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 47(5), 50–66. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.4 Spiteri, J. (2022). Early childhood educators’ conceptions of the environment: A ‘funds of knowledge’ approach. Environmental Education Research, https://doi. org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2098932 Spiteri, J. (2022). The untapped potential of early childhood education for planetary health: A narrative review. In W. Leal (Ed.). Handbook of Human and Planetary Health (pp.  297–311). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-­3-­031-­09879-­6_17 Spiteri, J. (in press). Young children’s conceptions of ecological and sustainability issues. In W.  Leal (Ed.). Handbook of Sustainability Science in the Future. Cham: Springer.

Contents

1

 Framing: Young Children’s Environmental Interests��������������������������    1 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������     1 Why the Environment Is Important���������������������������������������������������������     2 Why Early Childhood Matters ����������������������������������������������������������������     3 Why Early Childhood Education Matters������������������������������������������������     4 Why Small Island States Matter��������������������������������������������������������������     5 Setting the Scene��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������     6 Key Argument of the Book����������������������������������������������������������������������     8 Chapter Overviews����������������������������������������������������������������������������������     9 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    11

2

 Colonialism, Small Island States and Sustainability����������������������������   15 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    15 Defining the ‘Small’ Island����������������������������������������������������������������������    16 Isolation, Society, Politics and Belonging ����������������������������������������������    17 Malta’s Colonial History��������������������������������������������������������������������������    19 The Sustainability of Small Island States������������������������������������������������    23 Human-Environment Relationships as a Way to Environmental Sustainability��������������������������������������������������������������    26 The Environment, Environmental Sustainability, and the Maltese����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    27 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    30 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    31

3

Education and Sustainability: Debates, Tensions, and Possibilities in Practice, Policy and Research��������������������������������   37 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    37 International Recommendations for Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development ������������������������������������������    39 Education for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood: An Historical Overview ��������������������������������������������������������������������������    45

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Contents

Early Childhood Education for Sustainability: What Is It About? ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    48 Early Childhood Education for Sustainability: Pedagogy and Practice����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    50 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    53 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    54 4

Early Childhood Education for What?! The Maltese Education System, the Environment and Sustainability����������������������   61 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    61 The Maltese Education System: An Overview����������������������������������������    61 Educational Reforms in Malta ����������������������������������������������������������������    63 Early Childhood Education: A Closer Look��������������������������������������������    68 Training of Early Childhood Teachers����������������������������������������������������    72 Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development in Malta������������������������������������������������������������������������������    75 Early Childhood Education for Sustainability in Malta: Moving Forward from the Margins����������������������������������������������������������    80 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    81 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    82

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 Listening to Stories that Matter��������������������������������������������������������������   85 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    85 A Theoretical Framework for Listening to Young Children in Environmental Research����������������������������������������������������������������������    86 The Participants ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    89 Research with Young Children����������������������������������������������������������������    90 Ways of Listening to Young Children������������������������������������������������������    91 Observations����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    92 Researcher’s Journal����������������������������������������������������������������������������    94 Interviews��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    94 Interview Techniques with Young Children ��������������������������������������������    96 A Hand-Held Puppet����������������������������������������������������������������������������    96 Photography ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    98 Children’s Drawings����������������������������������������������������������������������������    98 Ethical Considerations ����������������������������������������������������������������������������    99 Data Analysis ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   100 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   101 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   102

6

 Malta and Its Environment: Stories Told by Children������������������������  105 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   105 The Two Schools��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   106 The Head of School – Mr. D��������������������������������������������������������������������   107 Case Studies in Kindergarten 1����������������������������������������������������������������   108 The Teacher – Ms. A����������������������������������������������������������������������������   108

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Case Studies in Kindergarten 2����������������������������������������������������������������   116 The Teacher – Ms. P����������������������������������������������������������������������������   116 Case Study in Year 1��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   124 The Teacher – Ms. L����������������������������������������������������������������������������   124 Case Studies in Year 2������������������������������������������������������������������������������   127 The Teacher – Ms. N����������������������������������������������������������������������������   127 Case Study in Year 2��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   137 The Teacher – Ms. M ��������������������������������������������������������������������������   137 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   143 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   143 7

 Young Children and the Environment: Visions of Nature ������������������  145 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   145 The Environment as Nature ��������������������������������������������������������������������   146 The Environment as a Sense of Place and Identity����������������������������������   147 Human-Environment Relationship����������������������������������������������������������   148 The Environment as an Asset������������������������������������������������������������������   150 Fear for the Environment ������������������������������������������������������������������������   151 A Positive Outlook����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   153 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   154 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   154

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Young Children and Environmental Sustainability: An Emerging Relationship����������������������������������������������������������������������  157 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   157 Conservation of Natural Resources����������������������������������������������������������   157 Environmental Responsibility������������������������������������������������������������������   159 Major Environmental Sustainability Issues of Concern and Proposed Actions – Litter and Air Pollution ������������������������������������   161 Major Environmental Sustainability Issues of Concern and Proposed Actions – Local Vs Global Environmental Issues ������������   163 Socio-Cultural, Political and Economic Dimension of Environmental Sustainability��������������������������������������������������������������   165 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   167 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   168

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Contextual, Cultural or What? Influences on Children’s Environmental Perceptions ��������������������������������������������������������������������  171 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   171 Child Characteristics��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   172 Lost for Words������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   173 Environmental Worldviews and Personal Experience ����������������������������   175 The Family ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   176 The School ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   180 The Media������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   181

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Politics�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   182 Culture������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   185 Religion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   186 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   187 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   187 10 Intergenerational  Learning: Environmental Literacy in the Family and Beyond������������������������������������������������������������������������  191 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   191 Adult-to-Child Intergenerational Learning����������������������������������������������   192 Parent-to-Child Intergenerational Learning ��������������������������������������������   193 Parent-to-Child Intergenerational Learning and Gender ������������������������   195 Child-to-Adult Intergenerational Learning����������������������������������������������   196 School-to-Child Intergenerational Learning��������������������������������������������   197 Grandparent-to-Grandchild Intergenerational Learning��������������������������   201 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   203 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   203 11 Early  Childhood Education for Sustainability in the Postcolonial Era: Knowledge, Identity, Power and Voice of Early Childhood Teachers ������������������������������������������������  209 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   209 The Significance of Place������������������������������������������������������������������������   210 Funds of Knowledge��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   212 Funds of Identity��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   213 Funds of Knowledge and Funds of Identity in ECEfS����������������������������   215 Teachers’ Funds of Knowledge����������������������������������������������������������������   216 Teachers’ Funds of Identity ��������������������������������������������������������������������   217 A Colonial Legacy ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   218 A Eurocentric Legacy������������������������������������������������������������������������������   220 Teacher Training��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   221 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   222 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   223 12 Bringing  the Stories Together: The Way Forward��������������������������������  225 Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   225 A Critical Reflection on the Implementation of ECEfS in Malta������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   227 A Way Forward����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   232 Conclusion ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   235 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   236 Name Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  239 Subject Index����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  245

Abbreviations

CIA DESD ECEC ECEfS EE EkoSkola EMU ESD EU EURYDICE FEE IIS IPCC IUCN MEDE MEPA MFED NCF NGO NMC NSC NSO OECD OMEP SD SDG SDSN UN UNCED

Central Intelligence Agency Decade for Education for Sustainable Development Early Childhood Education and Care Early Childhood Education for Sustainability Environmental Education International Eco-School Programme European Monetary Union Education for Sustainable Development European Union European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture Foundation for Environmental Education International Implementation Scheme Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Ministry of Education and Employment Malta Environmental and Planning Authority Ministry for Education National Curriculum Framework Non-Governmental Organisation National Minimum Curriculum New Sociology of Childhood National Statistics Office (Malta) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development World Organization for Early Childhood Education Sustainable Development Sustainable Development Goal Sustainable Development Solution Network United Nations United Nations Conference on Environment and Development xix

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UNCRC UNEP UNESCO

Abbreviations

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child United Nations Environment Programme United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO-UNEP United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-United Nations Environment Programme UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNGA United Nations General Assembly UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund WCECCE World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education WCED World Commission on Environment and Development WHO World Health Organization WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development ZPD Zone of Proximal Development

Chapter 1

Framing: Young Children’s Environmental Interests

Introduction It was a sunny and warm day in the Spring of 2010, and a lovely breeze caressed our faces as we walked in the countryside. Giulio, an articulate, intelligent boy, who was four years old, was talking excitedly about the beauty of the scenery around us. Bright-eyed, he told me how amazed he was by “this beautiful nature.” He went on to explain how he found nature very relaxing and how he would rather play outside than go to school. All he wanted was to go outside, in the forest to be precise, alone and empty-handed, to build himself a shelter and learn how to survive off the land. I was shocked beyond belief! A few weeks later, while on our way to school, he asked, “Mummy, what have we done to this Earth? We are killing it, aren’t we?” I was speechless! I wondered where this question came from. Why did he say “we”? Was he including himself in all this? What could a four-­ year-­old boy possibly know about the environment and sustainability? Where did this idea come from? Was this the result of his upbringing? How and where did he construct this idea? Wasn’t he too young to understand? Did I really know anything about young children’s thought processes and their ways of learning? More questions kept popping up in my head. Giulio continued with his interest at school, where later that day, he started a conversation with me about a conversation he had had with his teachers and peers about the need to protect the environment and trees. I reflected deeply upon these questions for a number of days. I could not help but wonder how an interest might be sparked in one place and continue in other contexts, such as the home and the school. Environmental research that connects interest across contexts provides a deeper level of understanding than if it were carried in one context alone.

According to John Dewey, we do not learn from experience, rather we learn from reflecting upon that experience. The above excerpt, taken from my research reflective journal, enabled me to reflect upon how stimulated young children are when they are in nature. Young children develop a relationship with nature when they engage with natural elements found in context, alone or with peers, where they

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_1

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develop deep interests of inquiry in their surroundings. Such examples occur across a diverse range of geographical, cultural and social contexts around the world. The excerpt above resonates with my own childhood too. Having spent my childhood playing outdoors while growing up in a rural area in Malta, I too had an endearing relationship with nature. Such a relationship has been heavily influenced by my family and peers, who afforded me learning experiences in a Mediterranean context, particularly on a small island state, the backdrop where this research is set. From an early age, positive experiences in nature have sparked my lifelong interest in the local environment and environmental sustainability, but not only. In secondary school, I became involved in an environmental group and my awareness of local and global environmental issues increased exponentially. Could I have influenced my son’s interest in nature? Highly likely! But it was also likely that he had learnt about the environment from other contexts, such as school or our extended family. Ultimately, I came to the realisation that as a young boy, Giulio could offer me a unique and honest viewpoint on the world around him. This powerful experience left me with a strong sense of admiration for young children’s capacity to learn, absorb cues from their surroundings and to develop as individuals, and inspired me to pursue the present research. In this book, we journey through a detailed understanding of young children, aged 3 to 7 years, living on a small island state and how they perceive the environment and environmental sustainability, and the influences upon these.

Why the Environment Is Important In a neo-liberal market, overconsumption is often advertised as a way of achieving happiness and economic growth, and as a sign of progress. To achieve this, humanity has exploited natural resources and disrupted the biosphere tremendously. Consequently, we have lost our connection with nature that has resulted in the current global environmental crisis. In sum, the current environmental crisis is rooted in the human-environment relationship. Our planet is now experiencing the Anthropocene epoch. The Anthropocene, is marked by the disruption of the ecological balance of the global ecosystem as a result of human activity that led up to the current environmental crisis  – climate change, rising sea levels and loss of biodiversity, soil and air (Steffen et al., 2007, 2018). As an ideology, the concept of the Anthropocene has been heavily criticised for its humanist perspective (Gough, 2021), and for focussing on environmental issues rather than on the behaviour that led us here (Malm & Hornborg, 2014; Ribot, 2014). While there is no room to delve deeper into this debate here, what is important is the realisation that as a result of the human-induced disruptions in the ecosystem, some populations are experiencing more devastating events than others, through no fault of their own. What many fail to realise is the fact that all of this progress can be lost if we fail to learn the lessons from the current crisis.

Why Early Childhood Matters

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In the history of humanity, there has never been a more compelling time to address issues of global environmental sustainability. There is an urgent need for action towards restoring a balance in the global ecosystem, particularly for the benefit of all life systems on the planet, including children who will inherit our environmental, economic, and social problems. To this end, environmental degradation has been the subject of much research and international debates, which has resulted in increased recognition of the importance of safe-guarding the environment by the public. In this book, the term “environment” is understood as being made up of “the biophysical environment, namely the interaction of the ecological and physical phenomena of the Earth, including the role and effects of human impact” (Christie & Higgins, 2020, p. 2). Gough and Gough (2022) refer to the current era as the Capitalocene, that is a time marked by the age of capital. Regardless of which term best describes the current epoch, the current environmental crisis calls for urgent action. Education has the potential to teach children how to engage with the human and the more-than-­ human world, therefore encouraging a new way of living and interacting with the ecosystem and learning how to address sustainability issues (Gough, 2021; United Nations [UN], 2022).

Why Early Childhood Matters Early childhood, the period from birth up to 8 years of age, is a critical period for brain development, and it is by far the greatest and most significant period of human development on which the rest of life is built (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2018; United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund [UNICEF], 2019). The early formative years lay the foundation for the child’s social, emotional and cognitive development (Pilcher & Fox, 2017). Values, attitudes, behaviours and skills acquired in early childhood may have a lasting impact in later life (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2010; OECD, 2018). The development of lifelong environmental literacy is believed to start in the early years too (Davis, 2009, 2018; Engdahl, 2015; Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008; Spiteri, 2020; UN, 2015;  United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2017). This has been confirmed by neuroscience and behavioural research, showing that during the first 5 years of life, the human brain undergoes rapid architectural changes (Centre on the Developing Child Harvard University, n.d.), providing a foundation for both human flourishing and the development of a sustainable society (von Borries et  al., 2020). Such development is also influenced by early childhood experiences that could have both positive and negative impact on brain development (Centre on the Developing Child Harvard University, n.d.). In fact, the early years are the most sensitive to the influences of external environment (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Scientific research suggests that “Stimulating early experiences lay the foundation for later learning” and these are

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“essential (though not sufficient) for the development of optimised brain architecture. Stated simply, stimulating early experiences must be followed by more sophisticated and diverse experiences later in life” (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2007, p. 4). Early childhood experiences are shaped by the interactions between the child and significant others in a context. These interactions, also known as biological embedding, influence not only the child’s brain and biological development but also the child’s development over the course of a lifetime (Hertzman, 2000). Therefore, the early learning experiences children share with others in their context impact their future development: physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially. As social actors, children engage in bidirectional influences with their environment, where they are shaped by their environment but they also play a role in shaping it (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006).

Why Early Childhood Education Matters Historically, education has been key to enacting change at all levels of society and to creating a future that is culturally, economically, environmentally, and politically sustainable (UNESCO, 2017). Other than a fundamental human right, education is believed to be key to advancing human development and achievement (UNESCO, 2020). Education, across all sectors, has also been recognised for its potential to teach individuals the knowledge, values and skills needed to adapt to the challenges of climate change and other environmental issues (UNESCO, 2016, 2020). Starting with early childhood education and care (ECEC),1 high-quality education is important for “personal development, social integration, successful lifelong learning and later employability of all children” (European Commission, 2021, p. 7). The term “early childhood education” is related to terms such as “early childhood care”, “early childhood development”, and “early childhood care and education”, which are often used interchangeably. Over time, ECCE has been shaped by global economic demands, and has subjected children to the power of global economic situations (Dahlberg et al., 2007). The OECD had a remarkable influence on promoting ECCE as an area of education with potentially high returns of investments for society (OECD, 2018; Schleicher, 2019). Recently, the European Commission’s Report (Education Information Network in Europe [EURYDICE], 2019) acknowledged ECCE as providing the foundations for lifelong learning and development. Investing in high-quality ECCE programmes and services has been shown to benefit children and societies in multiple ways, including advancing well-­being, learning and development, and support young children in developing positive attributes through experiences that recognise their strengths and diversity from an early age (Davis, 2010; Pramling Samuelsson, 2011; OECD, 2017, 2018;

 The term Early childhood and education (ECEC) in this chapter refers to the education for children from birth to 8 years old has been defined by UNESCO (2021). 1

Why Small Island States Matter

5

Schleicher, 2019). Furthermore, ECCE can enhance a child’s capacity to participate effectively in a community, a workplace and society (The Sustainable Development Solution Network [SDSN], 2014). The early years are ideal for helping children develop the values and skills to deal with the socio-cultural, economic, environmental and political issues of sustainability (Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; Spiteri, 2020). Since habits and behaviour are formed early in life, early childhood is a time which could potentially develop environmentally-concerned citizens, with lifelong commitment towards protecting nature (Elliott, 2018; Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008; Spiteri, 2020; Wilson, 2019). In fact, it has been shown that educating young children how to connect with nature, encourages them to become citizens of the Earth who are conscious about the environment (UNESCO, 2021). Such actions are more likely to foster environmental stewardship into adulthood. Consequently, an investment in the early years will benefit society while ensuring children’s future success. Education, therefore, has the important task of reorienting children to the environmental realities of today, and the realities we cannot forecast yet. This seemingly obvious, but often neglected reality, requires a move away from the current reductionist approach to curriculum-making, towards new and interdisciplinary pedagogies and curricula (Gough, 2021; Fazio, 2020).

Why Small Island States Matter Even though small island states are often studied independently from one another, collectively, they face unique and diverse environmental challenges. Geographically, small island states are more prone to natural disasters, such as climate change and economic shocks; but they are equally resilient (Baldacchino, 2018; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2022). Another commonality amongst small island states worldwide is that they share a colonial past that has, over centuries, influenced the ways in which their inhabitants interact with the natural environment and how they relate to it (Mayo et al., 2008). Due to their limited availability of natural resources, small island states often rely on human capital and education for their survival, making education an important resource to the islands’ fragile economies. Over time, the need for survival, limited land area, and human activity has placed a lot of pressure on the natural resources of small islands, significantly changing their ecosystems. In this regard, the international community still has a lot to learn from small island states, their environmental challenges and their communities. Children living on small island states experience life differently from children living in larger countries. The cultural and economic values within which they are raised determine the kind, or lack, of experiences they have within the natural environment. Regardless of these different experiences, the impact of culture and context on the environmental learning of young children living on small island states has not been explored thus far. In fact, current research on small island states and

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their communities tends to focus on political, economic and environmental protective measures, with little reference to the impact of human activity affecting these islands, therefore, losing sight of the actual needs of the people living on these islands and the way they interact with the environment. Furthermore, despite the international dialogue around the devastating impacts on small island states, much of the published research surrounding young children and early childhood education in mainstream literature has focused on children living in larger counties (Spiteri, 2022). Indeed, little attention has been given to understanding how environmental education (EE) is implemented in early childhood education settings on small island states. In an era when EE has been described as the most pressing educational concern of our time, further insights into the realities of children living on small island states and how they relate to the natural environment around them are required. This book has taken up this challenge in the context of early childhood education in Malta. In doing so, this book will provide insight into the development of environmental literacy in the early years from the perspective of young children living on a small island state (Malta). To illustrate these perspectives, this book presents the stories, in the form of case studies, of 12 young children (under age 7). These stories illustrate the children’s developing conceptual knowledge about the environment and environmental sustainability, and how these have been influenced by their socio-­ cultural context.

Setting the Scene In recent years, in Malta, children are spending little time in natural settings and more time in indoor settings. This is not to say that all children in Malta lack experience in the natural environment but from my personal and professional experience, this seems to be the case most of the time. Lack of natural spaces, and the increase in urbanisation and traffic could be contributing factors. Despite the increasing concern over children’s lack of real-life experiences in nature, in schools, most teaching and learning is textbook-based and takes place mostly in the classroom. This is the case for environmental learning too. This issue has grown in importance in light of recent environmental concerns. However, teachers still find it challenging to include experiences about certain environmental issues in the classroom, especially in early childhood. Perhaps, such difficulty stems from the assumption and narrow interpretation that young children can hardly understand what the environment is. From personal experience, I have found that when adults and children are asked questions about the environment, they immediately start talking about the activities they engage in, or focus on an issue that bothers them. Here is an example of what adults in my research have told me: Jane, are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure children can understand the word ‘environment’, what it means and how sustainability works?

Setting the Scene

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I think you need to go home and sleep on it before you interview children. If I were you, I would not do it because it would not work. What could they (young children) possibly know about the environment and sustainability?! They are still too young.

My personal reflection upon these issues generated more questions and so I turned to literature for an answer. In short, I have found adults are quite certain about what children can and cannot understand about the environment. This is indeed an interesting problem for educational research that further sparked my intellectual curiosity about the subject. Indeed, during the research process there were times when children knew more about the issue under study than adults did, and in turn, children asked several questions about it. As a result of this process, some of my questions were partially answered, while new ones emerged. Needless to say, the adults who expressed such concerns, while they were well-meaning, had a deficit view of children and their capabilities. I owe it to children to look more deeply at their ideas, and learn more about their ideas about the environment, environmental sustainability, and about their motivations to care for the environment. In this book, I aim to give young children a voice by paying attention to what they have to say about the environment and issues related to it, and the meanings that lie behind their ideas. This book is underpinned by the ontological perspective that acknowledges children’s right to a voice, as suggested by the Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] (UN, 1989). Since the 1990s, educational researchers have promoted research that listens to children’s understanding of their social worlds. In doing so, researchers moved away from deficit models in early childhood research towards a strengths-based view of children’s rights to express their ideas as individuals capable of discussing these ideas. By listening to children and creating space, time and opportunities to listen to their voices, my book acknowledges young children’s capacity to discuss issues, such as the environment and environmental sustainability, that affect them now and in the future. It also accepts children as human beings capable and competent of expressing their opinions, and of being active participants in different contexts. I recognise children as environmental stakeholders and participants capable of constructing their own environmental knowledge within different contexts. Influenced by socio-cultural and bio-ecological theories (Vygotsky, 1978; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and a postcolonial lens (Viruru, 2005a, b; Nieuwenhuys, 2013), this book assists with this debate and provides new insight into early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS). As such, this book acts as a window to investigate how young children make sense of the environment, environmental sustainability, and the meanings they create about these in their contexts from their life experiences and interactions with other children and adults, and the learning opportunities in their families, schools and communities. Thus, I follow the advice of ECEfS researcher (Barratt Hacking et al., 2013; Cutter-Mackenzie, 2009; Davis, 2010; Elliott & Davis, 2013) and adopt methods for conducting research with children rather than on children, which in turn provided the theoretical basis for the methodology of my study. Specifically, this book views young children as having agency in their own learning and as having the ability to change their socio-cultural contexts (Clark & Moss, 2011; Dahlberg et al.,

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2007). It is hoped that my focus on young children will inform Maltese education generally, and ECEfS in particular. With this in mind, this book aims to look for deeper, analytic and theorised understanding and explorations of children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, and how these were influenced by the socio-cultural context of a small island state.

Key Argument of the Book Children are not only part of a family; they are also part of society, and they construct their learning in social settings (Corsaro, 2003; Rogoff, 2003). Therefore, their social settings must be explored to understand the contextual influences on their perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability. This book presents an empirical piece of literature that is situated in contemporary scholarly research and argues for the need to listen to children’s voices about the environment and environmental sustainability issues. It is written from a Maltese perspective, using empirical material collected within the Maltese context. As a result, it discusses ideas around children’s environmental literacy from a Maltese perspective. Along the way, I will also include some of my lived experiences within the Maltese environment and how these too could have possibly shaped this research. As someone who was born and raised under colonial rule, during my early years, I too have been influenced by the political governance and the economic turns brought about by colonialism in Malta. I kept putting off writing this book for a number of years, for one reason only – fear. The paralysing fear of failure of not being good enough. In addition, the book not being relevant to an international audience haunted me daily. Regardless, the reasons for writing this book are many. First, environmental learning in early childhood education on small island states seems to be an excluded category of environmental education. Second, in the past few decades, the field of ECEfS has been growing steadily, yet research focussing on intergenerational environmental learning beyond the early childhood settings is still scant. Third, this book answers this need in the field of ECEfS and provides new insights into the pedagogies and practices within and beyond the school grounds. It also looks at how these could be potential opportunities for environmental learning in the early years. Hence, this book highlights the implicit learning opportunities afforded to young children by the community around them, via children’s stories. The affordances in these contexts help young children make sense of the environmental challenges around them and they also learn to make use of the cultural capital afforded by the other members of their community to deal with these issues. As such, this book moves away from a humanistic framework of environmental learning in the early years towards a post-human and more-than-human framework (Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles et al., 2020; Malone et al., 2020). Ultimately, the overarching aim of this book is to understand how environmental learning happens in the early years, and how different generations can learn together to care for the

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Earth. It calls for consideration of how we, as adults, recognise and interpret children’s ideas about these issues and engage with them in ways that children’s voices are taken seriously. Going forward, this book addresses the following questions: • What understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability do young children have? • What influences young children’s understanding of phenomena related to the environment and sustainability? • Where might children’s voices be positioned when designing pedagogy and curricula? Evidence is provided to show that: • Young children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability are co-constructed in context, via interactions with peers, family and teachers; • Young children create meaning of their world via their life experiences, and make decisions and choice about the present and future state of the environment based on these; • Young children express hopes and desires to build a better future for current and future generations of human and more-than-human species on the planet. While this book is set in the context of early childhood education on an archipelago of islands in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, the principles of the discussion apply to an international audience, and across sectors and age groups.

Chapter Overviews Chapter 2 first backgrounds the context of this study. It defines small island states and provides an understanding of the colonial history they share. In this chapter, I problematise the influence of colonialism on human-environmental relationships, and how sustainability issues on these islands have been created in response to colonial rule, with particular focus on Malta. Chapter 3 focuses on the link between education and sustainability. By briefly reviewing international policies, I provide an understanding of the trajectory of environmental education since its inception to the present day by exploring the international policy documents that led up the emergence of ECEfS as a field of educational research. This chapter also overviews the debates, tensions, pedagogy and practices in ECEfS. To get a better perspective of ECEfS on small island states, Chap. 4 describes the Maltese education system in general, while focusing on early childhood education in particular. Here, I briefly review the local policy context and the rationale behind the recent changes in the curriculum by the government. Despite international calls for the inclusion of ECEfS across the early years’ curriculum, the field in Malta could be undermined by neoliberal policies that still focus on school readiness. Then, I move on to describe the emerging research in the field of ECEfS and how this could be implemented within the Maltese education system, first and foremost

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by a vision of young children as capable, lifelong learners capable of enacting change for sustainability. Chapter 5 explores the theories about how children learn in the early years and the international debates in the field. These theories drive this research and influence the choice of methodology and methods adopted in this research process. Next, I delve into the qualitative methodologies, as well as the participatory methods that can lead early childhood researchers to listen attentively to young children’s voices. Such work can be imbued with ethical dilemmas that researchers may encounter when employing research methods that listen to young children’s voices. A discussion about the ethical principles and practices, along with the tensions and dilemmas, associated with researching young children’s voices concludes this chapter. To get beyond adult perspectives of children’s voices, in Chap. 6, I present the case studies of 12 children as children’s stories. I have sought to involve children as the main participants in this research as well as teachers, head teachers, and parents to find ways to gain deeper insights into children’s environmental learning experiences. Since the  engagement of children in the research process is central to the approaches utilised in this book, in this chapter, I present the data in this chapter in a way that is true to the children’s voices, as presented by them rather than as presented by the adults around them. Accordingly, the first of four chapters to explore deeper understanding of children’s environmental perceptions is Chap. 7. In this chapter, I explore young Maltese children’s perceptions of the environment, and the way they experience and understand it, based on their socio-cultural background. Here, I show how a relationship with the environment starts in the early years, via everyday experiences. Chapter 8 is the second chapter exploring deeper understanding of children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability, and the relevance of these to the Maltese context. In this chapter, I show how concepts of environmental sustainability start to emerge in the early years, but so do scientific misconceptions. Chapter 9 is the third chapter in which I delve deeper into the individual characteristics and socio-cultural events that influence the children’s understanding of children’s environmental perceptions. Here, the insights gained from visits to the schools and the family home, and the interviews with teachers and parents are powerful in understanding the environmental influences represented in the diverse settings. The bi-directional influences that are important for environmental learning in diverse settings (formal and non-­formal) are explored in Chap. 10. Here, I show how it is not only adults who influence children’s understanding of the environment and environmental issues, but children too can influence adults’ behaviour in this regard. In particular, I present how important grandparent-to-grandchild intergenerational learning can be, especially since this is still an under-researched area of ECEfS.  In Chap. 11, I take up the challenge of going beyond young children’s understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability and explore if, and how, these perceptions remain relevant, valuable and perhaps also significant to teachers. In this chapter, I delve into funds of knowledge and funds of identity as theoretical framing for interpreting and describing the ways that teachers recognise and value  – or otherwise  – environmental

References

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literacy, and how these influenced them personally and professionally within their sociocultural context. In the final chapter (Chap. 12), I bring the findings together by summarising the key arguments and associated evidence presented in this book. Based on these findings, I emphasise that early childhood education in Malta needs to be revisited to include ECEfS in a way that reflects young children’s environmental understanding and their needs, interests and knowledge. This chapter also serves as a vehicle where I problematise environmental issues on a local level that will eventually have a global impact. Finally, throughout this book, and particularly in this last chapter, future directions are offered, reflecting the central argument of this book, which places children’s voices at the centre of policy, curricula and pedagogy in the early years.

References Arlemalm-Hagser, E., & Elliott, S. (2020). Analysis of historical and contemporary early childhood education theories in the Anthropocene. In S. Elliott, E. Arlemalm-Hagser, & J. Davis (Eds.), Researching early childhood education for sustainability: Challenging assumptions and orthodoxies (pp. 3–12). Routledge. Baldacchino, G. (Ed.). (2018). The Routledge international handbook of island studies. Routledge. Barratt Hacking, E., Cutter-Mackenzie, A., & Barratt, R. (2013). Children as active researchers. The potential of environmental education research involving children. In R.  B. Stevenson, M. Brody, J. Dillon, & A. E. J. Wals (Eds.), International handbook of research on environmental education (pp. 438–458). Routledge. Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 793–828). Wiley. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2010). The foundations of lifelong health are built in early childhood. Harvard University. Retrieved from http://www.developingchild. harvard.edu Centre on the Developing Child Harvard University. (n.d.). INBRIEF: The science of early childhood development. Harvard University. Retrieved from https://46y5eh11fhgw3ve3 ytpwxt9r-­wpengine.netdna-­ssl.com/wp-­content/uploads/2007/03/InBrief-­The-­Science-­of-­Early-­ Childhood-­Development2.pdf Christie, B., & Higgins, P. (2020). The educational outcomes of learning for sustainability: A brief review of literature. The University of Edinburgh. Clark, A., & Moss, P. (2011). Listening to young children: The mosaic approach (2nd ed.). National Children’s Bureau Enterprises Ltd. Corsaro, W. A. (2003). We’re friends right? Inside kids’ culture. Joseph Henry Press. Cutter-Mackenzie, A. (2009). Children as researchers: Exploring the possibilities and challenges in environmental education. Paper presented at the 5th World Environmental Education Congress, Montreal, Canada, 10–14 May 2009. Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, A., Malone, K., & Barratt Hacking, E. (2020). Research handbook on childhoodnature: Assemblages of childhood and nature research. Springer. Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (2007). Beyond quality in early childhood education and care: Languages of evaluation (2nd ed.). Routledge.

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Davis, J. (2009). Revealing the research ‘hole’ of early childhood education for sustainability: A preliminary survey of the literature. Environmental Education Research, 15(2), 227–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620802710607 Davis, J. (Ed.). (2010). Young children and the environment. Early education for sustainability. Cambridge University Press. Davis, J. M. (Ed.). (2018). Young children and the environment. Early education for sustainability (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. Elliott, S. (2018). Children in the natural world. In M. Davis (Ed.), Young children and the environment. Early childhood for sustainability (2nd ed., pp. 32–54). Cambridge University Press. Elliott, S., & Davis, J. (2013). ECA’s best of sustainability edition. Investigating early childhood education for sustainability: Insights from history and literature. In S.  Elliott, S.  Edwards, J.  Davis, & A.  Cutter-Mackenzie (Eds.), Early childhood Australia’s best of sustainability. Research, practice and theory (pp. 4–10). Early Childhood Australia. Engdahl, I. (2015). Early childhood education for sustainability: The OMEP world project. International Journal of Early Childhood, 47(3), 347–366. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s13158-­015-­0149-­6 European Commission. (2021). Early childhood education and care and the Covid-19 pandemic: Understanding and managing the impact of the crisis on the sector. European Commission. Retrieved from https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/60724 EURYDICE. (2019). Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe: Eurydice Report (2019 edn). EURYDICE. Retrieved from https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-­policies/eurydice/ content/key-­data-­early-­childhood-­education-­and-­care-­europe-­%E2%80%93-­2019-­edition_en Fazio, X. (2020, September 18). Reorienting curriculum for the Anthropocene. UNESCO Futures of Education Ideas LAB. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/futuresofeducation/ fazio-­reorienting-­curriculum-­for-­anthropocene Gough, A. (2021). Education in the anthropocene. Oxford Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality in Education, 19, 1–21. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/ acrefore/9780190264093.013.1391 Gough, N., & Gough, S. (2022). Watchmen, scientific imaginaries, and the capitalocene: The media and their images for science educators. In M.  F. G.  Wallace, J.  Bazzul, M.  Higgins, & S.  Tolbert (Eds.), Reimaging science education in the Anthropocene. Palgrave studies in education and the environment (pp.  277–292). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-­3-­030-­79622-­8_17 Hertzman, C. (2000). The case for an early child development strategy. ISUMA: Canadian Journal of Policy Research. 1(2), 11–18. IPCC. (2022). Climate change 2022. Impacts, adaptations and vulnerabilities. Summary for policymakers. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/ report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf Malm, A., & Hornborg, A. (2014). The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative. The Anthropocene Review, 1(1), 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019613516291 Malone, K., Tesar, M., & Arndt, S. (2020). Theorising posthuman childhood studies. Springer. Mayo, P., Pace, P. J., & Zammit, E. (2008). Adult education in small states: The case of Malta. Comparative Education, 44(2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060802041746 National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2007). The timing and quality of early experiences combine to shape brain architecture (Working Paper #5). Harvard University. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/reports_and_working_papers/ working_papers/wp5/ Nieuwenhuys, O. (2013). Theorizing childhood(s): Why we need postcolonial perspectives. Childhood, 20(1), 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568212465534 OECD. (2017). Starting strong 2017: Key OECD indicators on early childhood education and care. OECD Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/education/starting-­ strong-­2017-­9789264276116-­en.htm

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OECD. (2018). Engaging young children: Lessons from research about quality in early childhood education and care, starting strong. OECD Publishing. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.178 7/9789264085145-­en Pilcher, S., & Fox, S. (2017). State of early learning in Australia 2017. ACT.  Retrieved from https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/everyonebenefits/pages/73/attachments/original/1504689599/ELEB-­Report-­web.pdf?1504689599 Pramling Samuelsson, I. (2011). Why we should begin early with ESD: The role of early childhood education. International Journal of Early Childhood, 43, 130–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s13158-­011-­0034-­x Pramling Samuelsson, I., & Kaga, Y. (Eds.). (2008). The contribution of early childhood education to a sustainable society. UNESCO.  Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ images/0015/001593/159355e.pdf Ribot, J. (2014). Cause and response: Vulnerability and climate in the Anthropocene. Journal of Peasant Studies, 41(5), 667–705. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2014.894911 Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford University Press. Schleicher, A. (2019). Helping our youngest to learn and grow: Policies for early learning, international summit on the teaching profession. OECD Publishing. Retrieved from  https://doi. org/10.1787/9789264313873-­en SDSN. (2014). Young children as the basis for sustainable development. Issue Brief, 18 February 2014, prepared by the Thematic Group on Early Childhood Development, Education, and Transition to Work. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Retrieved from http://unsdsn.org/wp-­content/uploads/2014/02/ECD-­Brief1.pdf Spiteri, J. (2020). Early childhood education for sustainability. In W.  Leal Filho, A.  Azul, L. Brandli, P. Ozuyar, & T. Wall (Eds.), Quality education. Encyclopedia of the UN sustainable development goals (pp. 1–12). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­319-­69902-­8 Spiteri, J. (2022). How can environmental sustainability be achieved? The perceptions of young children. International Journal of Early Childhood, 54, 13–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s13158-­021-­00312-­9 Steffen, W., Crutzen, P. J., & McNeill, J. R. (2007). The Anthropocene: Are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature? Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment, 36(8), 614–621. https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-­7447(2007)36[614:TAAHNO]2.0.CO;2 Steffen, W., Rockstrom, J., Richardson, K., Lenton, M., Folke, C., Liverman, D., Summerhayes, C.  P., Barnosky, A.  D., Cornell, S.  E., Crucifix, M., Donges, J.  F., Fetzer, I., Lade, S.  J., Scheffer, M., Winkelmann, R., & Schellnhuber, H. J. (2018). Trajectories of the earth system in the Anthropocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PANS), 115(33), 8252–8259. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810141115 UN. (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989 entry into force 2 September 1990, in accordance with article 49. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx UN. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development (A/ RES/70/1). United Nations. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/ documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf UN. (2022). Sustainable development goals: Quality education. United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-­development-­goals/ UNESCO. (2016). Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. UNESCO.  Retrieved from https:// unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245656 UNESCO. (2017). Early childhood care and education. UNESCO.  Retrieved from http:// en.unesco.org/themes/early-­childhood-­care-­and-­education UNESCO. (2020). Education for sustainable development: A roadmap. UNESCO. Retrieved from https://www.gcedclearinghouse.org/sites/default/files/resources/200782eng.pdf

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UNESCO. (2021). Global partnership strategy for early childhood. UNESCO.  Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380077 UNICEF. (2019). An environment fit for children: UNICEF’s approach to climate change. UNICEF.  Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/media/73331/file/An-­Environment-­Fit-­for-­ Children-­2019.pdf Viruru, R. (2005a). The impact of postcolonial theory on early childhood education. Journal of Education, 35(1), 7–29. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA0259479X_104 Viruru, R. (2005b). Postcolonial theory and the practice of teacher education. In S.  Ryan & S. Grieshaber (Eds.), Practical transformations and transformational practices: Globalization, postmodernism and early childhood education (pp. 139–160). Emerald Group. von Borries, R., Guinto, R., Thomson, D. J., Abia, W. A., & Lowe, R. (2020). Planting sustainable seeds in young minds: The need to teach planetary health to children. The Lancet: Planetary Health, 4(11), E501–E502. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-­5196(20)30241-­2 Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. Wilson, R. (2019). What is nature? International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 7(1), 26–39. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1233589.pdf

Chapter 2

Colonialism, Small Island States and Sustainability

Introduction In history, mythology and children’s stories, living on an island has always been presented as a utopia, a holiday paradise with sandy beaches, clear blue water and palm trees. Anchored in the collective memory of humanity since ancient times, islands around the world have fascinated many. Hugely influenced by Homer’s famous epics, and predominantly set in the Mediterranean region, the opportunity to live far away on a remote island all to oneself, sometimes detached from the rest of the world, is quite enticing, at least initially. In films, islands are often pictured as a place of refuge or an ideal location for seafarers and shipwrecks, and as the ideal land that emerges out of nowhere to save the distressed. Islands can be tiny, like Filfla (Malta), or they can be as huge as a continent, like Australia. The lure of living on a small island state, and perhaps discovering a hidden treasure, has intrigued the imagination of many, including children, invaders and colonisers, making small island states the subject of myth and wanders. This could not be further from the truth. The ideas of ‘dolce far niente’ (sweet idleness) and the ‘siesta’ (afternoon nap) often associated with island living, were instilled in me by my late grandfather, Ġanni Cassar (aka iż-Żunnara), whom I adored and with whom I had spent the first four and half years of my life. My grandfather was proud to be Maltese and he loved the Maltese islands dearly. Yet, I was quite confused when in the mid-1970s, as a very young girl who used to spend endless hours playing in his living room, I was greeted by an enormous picture of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It was the mid-to-late 1970s and the British had just left Malta for good. Entering that living room felt like entering a different space and time, where I lost my Maltese identity. There, I was transported into a different world, one in which I longed to be British.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_2

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In later years, at school, I read about the adventures of Robinson Crusoe, by Defoe (1719), Lord of the Flies, by Golding (1954), and many others. In these stories, people were often stranded on an island, all to themselves, and had to find a way to survive. Despite the fact that I have lived on an archipelago of small islands almost all my life, I too wanted to live on an uninhabited island all to myself. Inspired by these stories and others, I too wanted to explore an island like Charles Darwin upon the observations of the fauna of the Galapagos Islands and northern Australia. Close to the village where I lived, there is a tiny uninhabited island (Filfla). At age 6, I proudly informed my teacher about my intentions to buy the small island, travel to the mainland daily by boat to get supplies and go back to enjoy some peace and quiet time all to myself, in a pristine natural environment. What I did not know back then was that the density of the Maltese islands was already suffocating me and I was already developing a love for nature. Bottom line: there is something special about small islands and their populations which cannot be explained by their small size or isolation alone. It is how they cope with the spatial facts they have been dealt, as well as their links to a global network of activities, interests and exchange. Understanding the lifestyle of people living on a small island will help you, the reader, make sense of the stories in this book as they unfold. Going forward, I will introduce some of these key ideas and familiarise you with the ideas behind the concept of a small island, and the context of this study (Malta), and the way people live there.

Defining the ‘Small’ Island Here, there are two linguistic components we need to deal with – a noun and an adjective. Let me start by focusing on the noun first. What is actually an island? In simple terms, the Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.) describes an island as “a piece of land completely surrounded by water.” The Encycloepedia Britannica (2015) describes an island as “any area of land smaller than a continent and entirely surrounded by water. Islands may occur in oceans, seas, lakes, or rivers. A group of islands is called an archipelago.” Yet, an island is much more than that. Around the world there are about 80,000 islands that are permanently inhabited by approximately 600 million people, two-thirds of which are situated on Java, Honshu, Great Britain, Luzon and Sumatra (Baldacchino, 2018). The geographer Depraetere (2008) listed 86,732 islands, measuring more than 0.1 km2. Islands differ in terms of size, geographic location, history, culture, climatic conditions and geology, with some inhabited seasonally, and others, all year round (Baldacchino, 2018; The World Bank, n.d.). Hundreds of these inhabited small islands are situated in the Mediterranean Sea alone. Those that are uninhabited, have an undisturbed ecosystem, while others, like Malta, are densely populated, with serious ecological consequences. Biologically speaking, islands are “enclosed biotopes rich in endemism” (Ratter, 2018, p. 7). Animal diversity on islands is significantly lower compared to larger countries and continents (Ratter, 2018). Dwarfism and gigantism are

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characteristics of island populations – the former is a kind of species adaptation to lack of food; the latter is a result of lack of competition for food, allowing each generation to grow progressively larger (Ganzhorn et al., 2016). Now, it is time to move on to the adjective. What is ‘small’? A definition of small is provided by The Cambridge Dictionary as being “little in size or amount when compared with what is typical or average.” While several definitions of ‘small’ abound in the literature, when it comes to small islands, they are defined by the small size in population. The World Bank (n.d.) defines small states on the bases of a population of 1.5 million or less. Despite the fact that islands on planet Earth cover only 2% of its surface (Ratter, 2018), “small states are simply too numerous and – sometimes individually, but certainly collectively  – too important to ignore” (Neumann & Gstöhl, 2006, p. 3). Consequently, a universally-accepted definition of a small state does not exist, a problem tied exclusively to the politics of small states (Baldacchino & Wivel, 2020). Despite their geographical size, islands share economic and geographic challenges, associated mostly with isolation and remoteness (The World Bank, n.d.), and full sovereignty and political independence (Sultana, 2006). Some small islands are made up of a cluster of islands, an archipelago. Examples of these can be found in the Caribbean, the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the North Atlantic, off the coast of West Africa and in the Mediterranean. In sum, small island states are quantitatively and qualitatively different to larger states (Pillay & Elliot, 2005). Oftentimes, the geographical size of an island has been connected to international influence. This is mostly due to a limitation of both perception and the availability of resources. Where big islands, such as the United Kingdom, are correlated with power; and, small island states, such as Malta, are often colonised. This is especially so since unlike big islands, small island states lack the power capabilities, most notably military capability, and are characterised by power asymmetry and tight-knit communities (Baldacchino & Wivel, 2020); scarcity of resources (Connell, 2018); vulnerability (Connell, 2018; Pillay & Elliot, 2005); and favouritism/patronage (Sultana, 2006). As we will see later on, these challenges permeate life on small island states, including education.

Isolation, Society, Politics and Belonging A major challenge faced by small island states is their geographical isolation, and Malta is no exception. Malta is an archipelago of three small islands (Malta, Gozo and Comino), and a small number of very tiny uninhabited islands, collectively referred to as the Maltese Islands. The typically semi-arid Mediterranean climate means that summers are hot and dry, and winters are mild and sometimes wet. Malta lacks natural water resources and it has to rely on the limited supply of groundwater aquifers. Nevertheless, Malta has rich biodiversity.

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Generally, small island states tend to have a high population density (World Bank, 2015), as is the case in Malta. There are 68 towns and villages scattered around the Maltese Islands, covering an area of 316  km2 (National Statistics Office (Malta) [NSO], 2014a, b). The population of the Islands currently stands at 516,100 residents, of which 481,537 resided in Malta, and 34,563 resided in Gozo and Comino (NSO, 2022), a heavy population density considering the small geographical size of the islands (Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, 2018). That, on its own, creates a greater competition of social, economic and professional opportunities within the community. Insularity is a characteristic shared by many inhabitants of small islands in different regions of the world. Baldacchino (2018) makes reference to “islandness” as a way of representing “all that constitutes and island; a distilled and judgement-free sense of island living” (p. xxiv) as a neutral choice to the term “insularity”, that unfairly implies “backwardness, parochialism, small-mindedness” (p. xxiv). In this sense, islandness is characterised by boundedness, the natural encirclement of an island by sea; smallness, defined by the size of land; isolation, the proximity variable from other lands or the mainland; fragmentation, where often islands consist of archipelagos or a set of small islands located in such proximity as to represent a nation; and, amplification by compression, where proximity makes it hard to study the parts of the whole (Baldacchino, 2018). Similarly, Ratter (2018) argues that, “This simplistic assumption ignored the fact that island communities traditionally transcended their apparent limitations, be it through trade or migratory networks, and that most island societies are connected and should not be thought of as ‘insular’” (pp. 6–7). The geography of small islands influences the daily lives of its people. Island communities are often portrayed in the literature as friendly and helpful people, yet their local histories are often marked by rivalries and deep-seated inter- and intra-­ generational conflicts and antagonism (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018). Intimacy, or the pervasion of personal space due to close and overlapping relationships, is a common feature of small island states (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018). On small island states, intimacy takes many forms  – political, social and economic. Monopolisation, or the idea that everything that is national is local, and vice versa, is also a common stance in all aspects of life on small island states (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018). Both geographical size and living in close proximity to a neighbour, especially if they are well-known in the community, creates political and social issues. Tight-knit communities and a strong presence of the state often go hand-in-hand on small island states (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018; Connell, 2018). In a tight-knit social context, citizens possess detailed knowledge of each other’s life trajectories. Added to the geographic isolation of small islands, which makes the acquisition of traditional and modern knowledge more challenging, is the uneven distribution of knowledge. As such this marks a division in communities (such as churches, social organisations and state leaders), that is  more prominent on small island states (Connell, 2018). Given the proximity and familiarity with the community everyone is somehow related to everyone else. Indeed, tensions and divisions, and diverse

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contested interests between social groups are fairly common on small island states (Connell, 2018). Coupled with the lack of resources and opportunities, islanders often rely on the state for employment. In a small society where politicians and citizens are well-known to each other, or even relatives, physical and face-to-face encounters with politicians are a normal part of everyday life. This social cohesion often blurs the divide between political and social relationships, giving rise to strong and mutual resentment. As a result of this closeness between citizens and politicians, the “politicisation of society” is marked by strongly polarised political parties, and social and ethnic groups (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018, p.  343). Consequently, a sense of guardedness, for fear of negative consequences, prevails. This means that relationships between individuals may be hostile at one time, and when and if circumstances change, the former adversaries become the best of friends, a common occurrence in the political realm of small island states, where enemies become allies. Despite the strong and polarised political and social climates, life on small island states is relatively politically stable and social change is a rare occurrence (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018). Regardless, individuals learn to manage this intimacy by minimising conflict while increasing the pressure to avoid disagreement. Emotions need to be kept in check, where even if people do not always agree with an opponent, they comply to keep good neighbourly relations (Connell, 2018). The belief that it is in your best interest not to make enemies, for you might have to live with them, prevails. Interestingly, while such conflicts rarely give rise to armed conflict of violence, lack of conformity to social norms often leads to ostracism, and eventually putting individuals under pressure to settle elsewhere (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018). Those who decide to stay have generally three types of responses: 1. Denial of the monopoly, intimacy and totality of small island life; 2. Correction, where individuals accept the reality and find ways of conforming to the corrupt practices (patronage and clientelism) as a means of survival; and 3. Control, while common but not acknowledged, when one accepts the system but tries to manipulate it to their own best interest (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018, p. 347). Together, these realities create a culture where one must learn to negotiate their place in society in order to survive and live a decent life on a small island state. This is also the case in Malta.

Malta’s Colonial History Geography and historical events shape cultures and societies. For millennia, the fascination with small island living has interested invaders and colonisers, who have often occupied islands by force. Derived from Latin, the word ‘colonia’ in colonialism refers to “both the settling of a new population in a place and the takeover, often by conquest, of one country by another” (Aldrich & Johnson, 2018, p. 153). Over

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centuries, islands passed from one coloniser to another. As a result, colonised islands share a legacy of imperialism and its consequences. Malta too had to bear a long and complex history of conquests, invasions and occupations. Situated in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Malta is not far off from economic centres in the world – Europe and Africa, a region home to the three dominant religions in the world – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Mediterranean regional context has also played a key role in influencing Maltese society. Malta’s strategic geographical position has attracted successive colonisers for centuries, including the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Aragonese, Normans, Arabs, Byzantines, Knights of St. John, French and British. Malta’s unique and complex colonial history has left some distinguishing marks on contemporary Maltese society, and Malta’s political and education systems. Given its geopolitical advantage, Malta was used by colonists to gain political power over an opponent. Throughout history, colonialism was sold as a “civilising mission” of lighter-skinned people to darker-skinned people in faraway countries (Nieuwenhuys, 2013). During colonial rule, mainly by larger European countries, the inhabitants of colonised islands have lost their powers, voice and agency to their colonisers. The former considered themselves as having almost God-like powers in that, a colonised nation was only considered civilised only if, and when, they were under the guidance of a European coloniser, thus perceiving the colonised as “traditional and incapable of change” (Nieuwenhuys, 2013, p. 5). Even though large colonial powers strongly opposed the independence of small islands colonies, starting in the 1755 with the independence of Corsica, other islands severed their relationship with imperialism, leading the way to a new postcolonial era (Aldrich & Johnson, 2018). Influenced by the Italian Risorgimento and the reunification of Italy, and by the Western European experience, Malta’s nationalism flourished in 1871. Under British rule, Maltese institutions slowly became more democratic, with the first free press, established in 1839; the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, established in 1848; and, the first trade union, established in 1885 (Baldacchino, 2009). In 1921, competing political parties, a national legislative assembly and a self-governing constitution were set up (Carammia & Pace, 2015; Frendo, 1979, 1993). Malta had its first Maltese governor in 1921, while still under British rule. Up to the start of WWII, independence from British rule would have unified Malta with Italy (Frendo, 1979, 1993). In 1964, Malta obtained self-rule from the British and became a Republic in 1974. Malta is a member of the Commonwealth (Brock & Crossley, 2013). Malta was considered a small island developing state until it joined the EU, in 2004. In 2008, Malta joined the European Monetary Union [EMU]. Malta has a small economic market. Consequently, it relies on larger states for trade. As a former British colony, located in the Mediterranean region, Malta is situated in the southernmost edge of the European Union’s (EU) maritime boundaries. Many tend to interpret the term ‘postcolonial’ as literally referring to the era that marks the end of an island’s colonial history and the beginning of political autonomy in a former colony. Still, colonialism is not simply an event that happened in the past, and it does not end when colonists leave either. Postcolonialism is marked

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by a change in the political, economic and cultural ways of life in both the formerly colonised countries and the colonising countries (Tikly, 2020). From a postcolonial perspective, it is widely acknowledged that colonised countries live under the influence of the coloniser years after achieving independence (Aldrich & Johnson, 2018; Connell, 2018). The postcolonial era had, and still has, an impact on various aspects of life in previously colonised countries, particularly small islands. Rather, postcolonialism is an era marked by colonial experiences, where postcolonial theory still highlights the differences between the marginalised and the dominant West. In other words, it is a powerful interdependence between the colonised and the coloniser (Gandhi, 1998). Postcolonialism is also marked by an epistemological critique of challenging the “unquestioned Eurocentric ways of looking at the world and seeks to open up intellectual spaces for those who are termed ‘subalterns’” or alternative approaches to knowledge and practice (Nieuwenhuys, 2013, p.  20). Given this change in lifestyle, postcolonialism addresses the impacts of decades, if not centuries, of colonialism (Viruru, 2005a). Moreover, “postcolonialism is often understood as a ‘critical idiom’ through which to consider issues of development” (Tikly, 2020, p. 2). The fragments of colonialism in culture, politics, and education linger on for decades in a variety of ways. Indeed, the “suggestion that colonialism, characterised by country-to-country occupation, is now “post” and therefore “over” is seen as fundamentally flawed and fails to engage with both persisting forms of military subordination as well as other, more subtle, forms of neo-colonial supremacy” (Baldacchino, 2010, p. 3). Therefore, colonialism is far from over. Rather, it manifests itself in what Nkrumah described as ‘neo-colonialism’ or ‘new imperialism’ (Tikly, 2020, p. 2). Malta’s colonial history, the Roman Catholic Church, its geographical isolation and its tight-knit community have created insularity that tended to smother the individuality of the Maltese people and their sense of adventure from a young age (Sultana & Baldacchino, 1994). Malta became a British colony in the beginning of the nineteenth century. On the whole, the British tended not to disrupt local culture and customs unless it was absolutely necessary for national interest, and they avoided serious disputes with the Roman Catholic Church in Malta. Colonialism impacted education and children’s upbringing too. Modelled around the authoritative and oppressive models of colonialism, child rearing and ECEC in colonised islands demand unquestioned obedience from children from an early age (Viruru, 2005b). In this co-dependent context, children are viewed as “vulnerable, passive and irrational” human beings that the “educated” colonists could educate for their noble cause (Nieuwenhuys, 2013, p. 5). Another impact of colonialism on Maltese culture is that the Maltese generally believe that anything that has been created in a foreign country or by foreigners is always better (Boissevain, 1990). One way in which this is manifested is in the impact of the British on the languages spoken in Malta, where even though Maltese is the first language, English is considered as a socio-positional good by most Maltese (Scriha, 1994). Most families (90%) are Maltese-speaking (Mifsud et al., 2000); however, English is predominantly used at the University of Malta (Mayo, 2005). In Malta, Maltese and English are the two official languages, with Maltese

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considered as the national language. Overall, the British left an imprint on education, administration, justice and government; the colonial governor-style of “top-­ down” administration fitted well with established local traditions of paternalistic authority coming from the Roman Catholic Church. The strong-hold of the Roman Catholic Church, together with its various Religious Orders, significantly influenced Maltese education and society. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church (thereafter referred to as the Church) in Malta was very powerful and it also had a strong hold on local politicians. In the past, the Church had the traditional role of developing values in Maltese society. Moral regulations and paternalistic values passed on by the Church stood at the core of Maltese society and played a crucial role in socialising children to maintain the status quo (Visanich, 2009). It was in the best interest of the Church to withhold knowledge from the public to ensure a powerful stance over what people thought and how they behaved, making Maltese society very conservative. Until 2010, Maltese people scored highest in a survey investigating religious affiliation across Europe, with over 98% of the population professing to be Roman Catholic (Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], 2010). Even though over the years the Church has lost its position of power and influence in Maltese society, to date, the Roman Catholic religion is defined as the official religion of Malta by the Maltese Constitution (Pirotta, 2018), thus giving Maltese people a specific religious identity. Furthermore, religious education in the Roman Catholic faith is taught regularly in State, Church and Independent as is stipulated in the Maltese Constitution, the Education Act of Malta (Chapter 327 of the Laws of Malta, 1988) and in the agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Malta (Ministry of Education, 1999). In schools, lessons about the teachings of the Roman Catholic religion, called “Religion lessons”, are part of the timetable in Church, State and most Independent schools. The Church also played a role in the development of human-environment relationships of the Maltese. Over the years, the Church fostered a steady alienation from environmental concerns, which has led to a narrow and anthropocentric view of the value of the land (Pace, 2009). This has given rise to an impoverished environment as a result of unsustainable development. The long history of colonialism coupled with the power of the Church, have created a culture of resistance to change and a culture of double standards in Maltese society (Pace, 2007, 2009). An idea that has permeated the Maltese education system too (Bezzina & Pace, 2004; Mifsud, 2012; Pace, 2009). Pace (2007, p. 216) calls this a culture “incongruencies” where from a young age children learn to “fend-for-yourself”, and often, the beliefs of the Maltese do not necessarily relate to their behaviours. While this philosophy increases personal opportunities, it hinders social cohesion. An example of such incongruencies is the fact that the Maltese manifest pride in their homes, but not in their environment or language. Thus, the mentality that the environment outside their home belongs to the colonisers still persists. Indeed, Maltese people seem to have a problem realising they own the homeland, particularly its environment, which has led to the rapid degradation of the local environment (Mifsud, 2012).

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In recent years, however, the Church has made a commitment towards supporting sustainability by setting up the Environmental Commission and the Justice and Peace Commission (Pace, 2007). Concerned with the environmental degradation in Malta and inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato si’, On the Care of Our Common Home, the Church recommends that authorities, land developers, enterprises, citizens and politicians work together for ecological conservation, and the development of new attitudes and lifestyle that promote sustainability (Zammit & Calleja, 2021). The Church calls for education programmes that help individuals learn how to solve environmental problems and that enable active involvement of citizens in safeguarding the environment, and suggests the implementation of Malta’s Sustainable Development Vision for 2050 (Zammit & Calleja, 2021). In Malta, language has always been an issue. The Maltese always tended to affiliate themselves with their colonisers, perhaps as a means of survival, and adopt the language of the coloniser as their own. Colonial education afflicted the Maltese language too. This led to the creation of vocabulary within the Maltese language that is a direct derivative of the language of the colonisers. Examples of these include  words like, ‘bongu’  – from the French ‘bonjour’, ‘bonswa’  – from the French ‘bonne soiree’, ‘banasira’ – from the Italian ‘buona serata’. Since the British were the most recent colonisers of the country, their impact on the Maltese language is still strong. Camilleri Grima (2018) reports that “Maltese is undoubtedly the first language of the vast majority of Maltese, who are undeniably exposed to English on a daily basis through the media and within society at large. Maltese predominates as a spoken medium in government administration, including Parliament and the Law Courts, but much written official and non-official correspondence takes place in English” (p. 34). In academic circles in Malta, the English language is still considered superior to Maltese. Several private and Church schools demand that their students speak English only at school and students  are heavily punished if caught holding a conversation in Maltese. Camilleri Grima (2018) explains that “While Maltese is flourishing in an elevated style in the literary field, and is used on a daily basis in politics, in the law courts, in parliament and in the media, the same cannot be said for schools and in particular with reference to the University of Malta. Few dissertations are written in Maltese and the PhD regulations are clear: English must be used except for a thesis in areas of study involving a language that may be written in that language” (p. 40). Therefore, the impact of colonialism permeates the entire education system, and the worldviews of the inhabitants of a colonised country.

The Sustainability of Small Island States Colonialism, globalisation and global environmental issues have changed the environment, and the way people interact with the environment and with each other. Human reliance on natural resources for survival has impacted the environment, which has led to environmental degradation and a host of global environmental problems ranging from pollution, loss of biodiversity to global warming

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(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2022). The environmental impact of human activity is not a new phenomenon and perhaps this is even more pronounced on small islands. In fact, sustainability is an important theme in development strategies of small island states (IPCC, 2022), even if this concept is not new. The space in this book does not allow for a detailed history of sustainability. Rather, this section provides a summary of the key milestones and global sustainability policy and how it relates to small island states. Starting in the 1960s, heightened public awareness of the negative impacts of anthropogenic environmental change started to increase (Gough, 2013). As a term, “sustainable development” first appeared in the late 1970s, in Wes Jackson’s work in agriculture (Orr, 2001) and then it was hinted at in 1972, at the UN Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm (United Nations, 1972). As a result, countries from the Global South urged countries in the Global North to assist them build their economies (Gough, 2018). As a term, “sustainable development” began to acquire status thanks to the World Conservation Strategy (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources [IUCN], 1980), with advice from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and was described as: Conservation must therefore be combined with measures to meet short term economic needs. The vicious circle by which poverty causes ecological degradation which in turn leads to more poverty can be broken only by development. But if it is not to be self-­ defeating, it must be development that is sustainable – and conservation helps to make it so. (IUCN, 1980, Introduction, paragraph 11)

Beginning in the1980s, development and conservation became interdependent even if this strategy did not provide any clear definition of the term but it implied the three pillars – economic development, social development and ecological protection – a concept still in place to date (Gough, 2018). One of the most commonly cited definitions of sustainable development is taken from the Brundtland Report, “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development [WCED], 1987, p. 43). This definition represented the first formal recognition that development, growth and progress need to take account of their environmental impacts, even if this definition has been criticised for being too anthropocentric. The Brundtland Report (WCED, 1987) is credited with offering a starting point for the analysis of this concept and for gaining political authority and widespread recognition for the idea of sustainable development. The Brundtland Report refers to three pillars of sustainability: economy, society and the environment (WCED, 1987). Over the years, other researchers have come up with a number of pillars related to sustainability that generated interesting debates rather than concrete solutions. At first glance, the Brundtland definition may seem appealing, but it has also been controversial as it fails to clarify what kinds of needs are being referred to, and which needs can, and/or should, be satisfied; therefore, the concept remains complex and difficult to define because it is too broad, abstract and ambiguous to define.

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In the literature, the terms “sustainability” and “sustainable development” are often used as synonyms even though they are socially-constructed and contested terms. Despite the endless debate about the similarities and differences between these two terms, a universally-accepted definition of sustainability or sustainable development does not exist. Part of the difficulty in defining this concept lies in the use of the two terms “sustainable” and “development” together. The term “sustainable development” as defined in many international documents refers to human well-being and quality of life while maintaining environmental integrity, facilitated by economic and technological development. Sustainable development is about human relationships and the relationships between humans and the environment. However, those who consider the concept of development to mean economic growth, are likely to find the attempt to align growth with sustainability restrictive. Over the years, other researchers have come up with a number of pillars related to sustainability that generated interesting debates rather than concrete solutions. The real major issue with sustainability has nothing to do with the number of pillars, but rather the lack of international commitment. The issue is mostly due to the lack of international consensus, and even when such consensus was reached, the targets set were too low (Gough, 2018). Sustainability is the preferred terminology throughout this book. Here, I use the term “sustainability” to describe a process of maintaining a balance between the interrelated pillars of economy, ecology, culture, and a socio-political dimension without denying future generations of enjoying the earth’s resources (UNESCO, 2017, 2019). Therefore, sustainability entails balance and care for generations of human and nonhuman species on the planet, both current and future, an important feature for small islands. Even though small island states are diverse, they have unique characteristics that make them more vulnerable to unsustainability, and their social realities put them in danger of environmental degradation. Small island states are always thought of as more vulnerable to environmental pressures and global climate change, especially since resource scarcity puts them at greater risk to natural disasters (IPCC, 2022). In the literature, small island states are often characterised by scarcity and limitations, particularly the lack of natural resources and human capital, as well as lack of diversity and alternatives (Baldacchino & Veenendaal, 2018; Connell, 2018; Moncado et al., 2018). Since Malta has no natural resources, other than limestone, the sun and sea, it has to rely on the imported fossil fuels for energy and the initiative and resourcefulness of its people to build its economy. Due to its small geographical size, Malta has diverse competing demands for land use, making it more dependent on the island’s limited resources for development than larger states. Also, Malta faces a number of challenges to sustainability, including limited biodiversity, migration, scarce human resources, external interventions and directives, waste management issues, social tensions and divisions mingled with the question of modernity and conservation. The socio-economic and environmental isolation of the Maltese Islands encourage high dependence on rural and subsistence-based livelihood, ecosystem services and weak governance, especially where these are dependent on common property areas.

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 uman-Environment Relationships as a Way H to Environmental Sustainability The concept of “the environment” did not exist in most parts of the globe before colonialism (Randeria, 2007). Despite the negative impact of colonialism on human-­ environment relationships, in the literature, environmental sustainability issues in postcolonialism are hardly ever discussed (Tikly, 2020). Environmental sustainability, as one of the pillars of sustainability, permits the use of the natural environment for the benefit of humanity, provided that people do not degrade it to a level where it will not sustain itself. Human-environment relationships, made up of interactions and feedback between people and the natural environment, are influenced by geographical, cultural, personal, political, philosophical and religious perspectives. These are influenced by worldviews and one’s culture, and environmental values and attitudes, that tend to change over time. This is of interest to this book because like many other countries, Malta has been affected by the development of neoliberalism1 and some cultural values have changed over the years. Western worldviews are seen as the root-cause of environmental sustainability issues. In literature, worldviews have been investigated in the context of environmental and sustainability issues from a range of different theoretical and disciplinary perspectives and various definitions of worldviews exist. Blewitt (2015) describes a worldview as: a set of beliefs and assumptions about life and reality that influence the way we think and behave. Worldviews help us describe the reality before us and they encompass many assumptions about such things as human nature, the meaning and value of life, society, institutional practices and much more. (p. 39)

If environmental actions are underpinned by environmental knowledge, worldviews, attitudes and values, then the consideration of young children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability may help to inform their understanding of the issue. Perceptions represent the worldviews individuals hold, and these enable them to make sense of the world around them. The study of human-environment relationship examines the complex exchange of information on cognitive constructs (such as perceptions, feelings and beliefs) and behavioural patterns between humans and their environments (such as culture), both of which influence human behaviour and the environment. An understanding of human-environment relationships provides a reasonable way of understanding the rationale behind patterns of human activity under conditions of changing environments. As such, it helps us examine the past, present and future social and environmental changes in different countries and recognise the complexity of various historical and contemporary influences on society and the environment (Moran & Brondizio, 2013).  White et al. (2012) defined neoliberalism as promoting “the individual as the focus of value and promotes competition to better oneself and the desire for status as marked by consumption and ownership of material goods” (p. 8). 1

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Recently, geographers sought to build knowledge of the processes through which human activities directly and indirectly change the environment, therefore, recognising that human action can change the biophysical environment and lead to anthropogenic changes and how the latter can be reduced, stopped or reversed (Harden, 2012). Such studies tend to focus on the negative consequences of human action, such as pollution, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, etc. Researchers (DeLoughrey, 2015; Harden, 2012; Neimanis et  al., 2015) argue that the current geological epoch, known as the “Anthropocene”,2 marks the recognition of the dominant role human beings play in changing the natural environment. Hackmann et  al. (2014) suggest that human beings should be at the core of environmental change for three reasons: first, social and environmental systems and problems are interrelated; second, in the Anthropocene individuals are altering the Earth’s ecosystems3 at a remarkable and unprecedented condition of human existence; and third, in response to the environmental challenges humanity is facing, society will either have to seek out deliberately, or be subjected involuntarily to, profound social transformation. The concept of the Anthropocene has not entirely escaped critique. Malm and Hornborg (2014) argue the Anthropocene is an ideology produced by the dominance of natural science in the field of climate change because as a concept it occludes the historical origins of global warming and sinks the fossil economy into unalterable conditions. According to Ribot (2014), the concept of the Anthropocene failed to account for the deep structural parameters that give rise to vulnerability. Notwithstanding these critiques, the Anthropocene still provided a useful contextual background to examine human-environment relationships.

 he Environment, Environmental Sustainability, T and the Maltese Environmental sustainability can be encouraged through personal responsibility for environmental issues. Environmental behaviour is influenced, and perhaps limited, by the cultural, political, social and economic realities of the community. Social realities associated with living on an island make such behaviour hard to adhere to. I would add that personal responsibility for environmental sustainability issues is  Balteanu and Dogaru (2011) specified that the idea of the Anthopocene was analogous to a geological period, denoting the period post-World War II when human impacts upon the environment intensified and even exceeded the capacity of natural ecosystems to recover. According to Hackmann et al. (2014), in an Anthropocene era people and societies are no longer regarded as peripheral to the Earth system but rather as an integral and differentiated part of it (creating the problems and holding the key to their solution as well). In essence, the term “Anthropocene” refers to the current era and reflects various issues caused by anthropogenic activities, where humanity and human activities have become globalised geophysical forces and major drivers of global environmental change. 3  Ecosystem is a concept which has served as a framework for analysing the human-environmental system as a whole, including interaction and integration between humans and the environment. 2

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dependent on the personal characteristics of the individual; in order to be responsible, one needs to learn what behaviour is appropriate, and what is not. Culture too plays a vital role in this regard (Stocker & Kennedy, 2009; UNESCO, 2012) because certain societies are more resistant to change. The rise of environmental consciousness rooted in colonialism, especially on islands where local governors, out of necessity, became local managers (Grove, 1995; Sachs, 2003). Of relevance to this book is Malta’s colonial history, the anxious efforts of post-colonisation4 and how these are interwoven with the history and culture of a nation. Malta’s long history of colonialism has created a culture of resistance towards change that has affected how the Maltese care for the natural environment (Pace, 2009). To date, the Maltese people still consider the environment as belonging to the colonisers/authorities, and therefore, they reject any responsibility toward the natural environment (Pace, 2009). In Malta, years of colonialism, political covert and overt messages, and ingrained religious and cultural concepts of what makes a good life have created unsustainable lifestyles among Maltese people (Mayo et al., 2008). The rapid expansion of the building industry in Malta since World War II has destroyed unique areas of natural capital. In postcolonial Malta, the colonial legacy of environmental degradation has been carried on, and Malta’s environmental and indigenous heritage has been degraded by the market-driven construction and mass-­ tourism industries, supported by the government (Boissevain, 2006; Mayo et  al., 2008). Similar notions are expressed by Murphy (2009), who argues that during colonialism, the relationship between society and the environment worldwide was profoundly changed and the legacies of colonial rule are still important nowadays for three reasons: first, colonial legacy still resonates in our idea of the environment; second, the experiences and memories of exploitation and alienation of people from their land and resources have implications to this day; and third, colonialism still influences contemporary processes. On small island states, limited opportunities, limited biodiversity, hazards and geographic isolation have led to the development of subsistence-based economies and a narrow range of exports and an overdependence on trade (Connell, 2018; Jules, 2012). Balancing economic growth and sustainability is one of the greatest challenges facing small island states (Connell, 2018; Moncado et al., 2018). While this is true, solely focusing on the impacts of unsustainability on small island states ignores the causes of unsustainable practices. Since Malta’s Independence, environmental degradation has been the result of governments promoting the idea of using land for development as a sign of progress and development (Boissevain, 2013). In

 Boyd (2013) and Young (2003) described post-colonialism as a political philosophy underlying the right to self-government and sovereignty and the transformation of restrictive, centralising hegemonic power which intersects with the environmental and social spheres and “challenges corporate capitalism’s commodification of environmental resources” (Boyd, 2013, p. 15). Young (2003) contends that “With sovereignty achieved, postcolonialism seeks to change the basis of the state itself, actively transforming the restrictive, centralizing hegemony of the cultural nationalism that may have been required for the struggle against colonialism” (p. 113). 4

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fact, the quarrying industry puts a huge strain on the local environment. In Malta, quarrying provides most of the resources required by the construction industry. However, it has negative impacts on the local landscape and environment since it is a source of vibration, dust and noise pollution. This sector contributes to 5.3% of the GDP and the construction of buildings continues to increase (Malta Environment and Planning Authority [MEPA], 2006). Over the years, the construction and quarrying industry, which is responsible for 88% of Malta’s solid waste (Mayo et al., 2008) has continued to grow despite their overall negative environmental impacts, resulting in the rapid depletion of limestone (one of the few natural resources in Malta). Such unsustainable and uncontrolled development has degraded the Maltese environment and has negatively impacted the quality of life of Maltese people. While this has brought economic prosperity to many, it has degraded the Maltese natural environment to a point where at present there is very little undeveloped land left (Boissevain, 2013; Mayo et al., 2008). Transportation is another major environmental issue in Malta. Private car use has increased considerably in recent years and the number of licensed cars in Malta continues to increase annually. In 2021, the number of privately-owned vehicles stood at 402,427 (NSO, 2021), however by the end of the same year, the number of licensed vehicles in Malta increased to 413,019, of which 313,177 (75.8%) were passenger cars (NSO, 2022). This is a huge number of vehicles considering the geographical size and the population density of Malta, especially when considering the fact that Malta has the highest population density in the European Union [EU] (Ministry of Education and Employment [MEDE], 2006). Unfortunately, successive governments have been reluctant to deal with this issue because it generates income to the country’s economy. Power stations are also an important environmental issue in Malta. The World Health Organization [WHO] (2009) reported that power stations in Malta contributed significantly to air pollution, and to an increase in asthma prevalence in Malta in recent years; and asthma prevalence in Malta is above the European average. This has also been supported by local medical research (Montefort et al., 2009), which demonstrated an increase in respiratory diseases among Maltese children between 5 and 8 years of age. In a competitive context, where natural resources are often scarce (Connell, 2018; Jules, 2012) and human resources are important, education is highly-regarded as the main means of social mobility (Sultana, 2006). There again, in a neo-colonial context, academic achievement is not valued equally. In Malta, for example, vocational training is regarded as less prestigious than academic training. This is a reflection of the influence of the British rule in Malta, where, at the time, high academic achievement was regarded as a privilege to the few who could secure a limited supply of high-paying jobs or leave the country in an attempt the further their education or get higher-paying jobs abroad (Baldacchino, 2018). As we will see later, this belief prevails. In Malta, issues around sustainability are presented in policy documents which use technical data which are difficult for the general public to interpret (Briguglio & Pace, 2004; WHO, 2009). Even worse, the concept of sustainability is

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misunderstood even by authorities too. Consequently, environmental concerns have been given lip-service and sacrifices have been sacrificed for economic gains (Mayo et al., 2008). To make matters worse, local media features issues concerning sustainability from a sensational, political and apocalyptic perspective, and they only provide information and raise awareness to the point where it is expected that sustainability skills and values are an automatic and natural consequence of increased level of awareness (Mayo et al., 2008; Pace, 2007). Such barriers regarding sustainability have deterred the Maltese from taking action in favour of the environment. In reality, even though the Maltese are often aware of the pressures arising from human activities on the environment and their impact on wellbeing, they tend to ignore these over monetary gains. This has been supported by local research (Abela, 1993; Briguglio & Pace, 2004; Mayo et al., 2008) which shows that while Maltese people are aware of environmental problems, they lack attitudes, values and skills to adequately develop pro-environmental action. Lately, political decision-making on the environment has not improved the state of the environment in Malta either. Despite the recent change in the country’s political leadership, there is still a lack of clear vision of what sustainability implies. It is likely that given the strong conviction to please its voters, policy-makers have to abide by short-term unsustainable proposals.

Conclusion This chapter introduced the context of small island states and Malta as the context of this study. The principal arguments have been that while small islands may be situated in diverse geographical locations, they share certain commonalities, some of which include colonialism, limited natural resources and unsustainable practices. As a result of the socio-cultural realities on small island states, human-environment relationships have further degraded the local environment, making sustainability harder to achieve in the long run. Overall, this chapter has underlined the prevailing issues faced by small island states and the dire environmental consequences of these. Given the complexities involved in human-nature interactions of living on a small island state, current living patterns cannot be sustained. In this regard, Connell (2018) questions whether the achievement of sustainability is possible for small island states, particularly on islands with scarce natural and human resources. According to Connell (2018), this relationship is influenced by two primary factors: first, their governance and their colonial and postcolonial history; and second, the geographical size and location of the islands. This is further complicated by the fact that there is no international consensus over what constitutes sustainable development. Since small island states have to confront the balance between economic growth, environmental degradation and limited availability of resources, achieving sustainability development is contradictory (Connell, 2018). Faced with geographical, political and social circumstances, the path to sustainability  on small island states is harder to achieve (Connell, 2018; Moncado et al., 2018).

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In this book, I argue that to achieve environmental sustainability, we need to maintain a balance between the natural, social, cultural, and economic capital of the planet, including all the natural resources, (e.g., the seas, forests and the land) that are present for the use of current and future generations of living communities. By living communities, I include in my definition all the living creatures (human and non-human) on the planet. Sustainable practices must become embedded in a way of life for all citizens, beginning in early childhood. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF, 2013) acknowledged that children under age 18 represent approximately one-third of the world’s population and they have a right to a sustainable future. They will inherit the problems resulting from the unsustainable practices of previous and current generations. Should these practices persist, children and life systems on Earth will have the most to lose because they will experience the impacts for longer. Therefore, children need to be equipped with skills to face these challenges in the future. They also need to be equipped to work alongside adults to create improvements wherever possible.

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Brock, C., & Crossley, M. (2013). Revisiting scale, comparative research and education in small states. Comparative Education, 49(3), 388–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2013.803782 Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/ english/island Camilleri Grima, A. (2018). Globalization and education: What future for the Maltese-speaking child? Educazione e Società Plurilingui, 44, 31–43. Carammia, M., & Pace, R. (2015). Malte. In J. M. de Waele, N. Brack, & J. B. Pilet (Eds.), Les democracies européennes (2nd ed., pp. 299–317). Armand Colin. CIA. (2010). Central Intelligence Agency Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-­world-­factbook/geos/mt.html Connell, J. (2018). Islands: Balancing development and sustainability. Environmental Conservation, 45(2), 111–124. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892918000036 Defoe, D. (1719). Robinson Crusoe. William Taylor. DeLoughrey, E. (2015). Ordinary futures. Interspecies worldings in the anthropocene. In E.  DeLoughrey, J.  Didur, & A.  Carrigan (Eds.), Global ecologies and the environmental humanities. Postcolonial approaches (pp. 352–372). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Depraetere, C. (2008). The challenge of nissology: A global outlook on the world archipelago part I: Scene setting the world archipelago. Island Studies Journal, 3(1), 3–16. www.islandstudies. ca/sites/vre2.upei.ca.islandstudies. ca/files/ISJ-­3-­1-­2008-­Depraetere1-­FINAL_0.pdf Encycloepedia Britannica. (2015). Islands. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/ Frendo, H. (1979). Fortress colony: The Maltese experience. Midsea Books. Frendo, H. (1993). Maltese political development: 1798–1964. Interprint. Gandhi, L. (1998). Postcolonial theory: A critical introduction. Columbia University Press. Ganzhorn, J.  U., Mercier, J.  L., & Wilmé. L. (2016). Inseln als Modelle für Evolution  – Zusammenleben und Schutz von Biodiversität. In Biogeographie und Biodiversität. Hamburger Symposium Geographie, Band 8, Ed. Schickhoff (pp.  39–57). Institut für Geographie der Universität Hamburg. Golding, W. (1954). Lord of the flies. Faber and Faber. Gough, A. (2013). The emergence of environmental education research. A “history” of the field. In R. B. Stevenson, M. Brody, J. Dillon, & A. E. J. Wals (Eds.), International handbook of research on environmental education (pp. 13–22). Routledge. Gough, A. (2018). Sustainable development and global citizenship education: Challening imperatives. In I. Davies, L. Ho, D. Kiwan, C. L. Peck, A. Peterson, E. Sant, & Y. Waghid (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of global citizenship and education (pp. 295–312). Palgrave Macmillan. Grove, R. H. (1995). Green imperialism: Colonial expansion, tropical island edens, and the origins of environmentalism, 1600–1860. Cambridge University Press. Hackmann, H., Moser, S. C., & Clair, A. L. S. (2014). The social heart of global environmental change. Nature Climate Change, 4(8), 653–655. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2320 Harden, C.  P. (2012). Framing and reframing questions of human–environment interactions. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 102(4), 737–747. https://doi.org/10.108 0/00045608.2012.678035 IPCC. (2022). Climate change 2022. Impacts, adaptations and vulnerabilities. Summary for policymakers. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/ report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf IUCN. (1980). World conservation strategy: Living resource conservation for sustainable development. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Jules, T.  D. (2012). Re-reading the Anamorphosis of educational fragility, vulnerability and strength in small states. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 15(1), 5–13. Malm, A., & Hornborg, A. (2014). The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative. The Anthropocene Review, 1(1), 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019613516291 Mayo, P. (2005). In and against the state: Gramsci, war of position and adult education. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 3(2), 65–90.

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Mayo, P., Pace, P. J., & Zammit, E. (2008). Adult education in small states: The case of Malta. Comparative Education, 44(2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060802041746 MEDE. (2006). Early childhood education and care: A national policy. Ministry for Education and Employment. MEPA. (2006). State of the environment report: 2005. Malta Environment and Planning Authority. Mifsud, M. (2012). Environmental education development in Malta: A contextual study of the events that have shaped the development of environmental education in Malta. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 14(1), 52–66. Mifsud, C., Milton, J., Brooks, G., & Hutchison, D. (2000). Literacy in Malta. NFER. Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs. (2018). Malta: Voluntary national review on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/20203Malta_VNR_Final.pdf Ministry of Education. (1999). Creating the future together: National minimum curriculum. Ministry of Education. Moncado, S., Spiteri, J., & Briguglio, M. (2018). Environmental economics: Special considerations for small states. In L. Briguglio (Ed.), Handbook of small states: Economic, social and environmental issues (pp. 363–385). Routledge. Montefort, S., Ellul, P., Montefort, M., Caruana, S., & Agius Muscat, H. (2009). Increasing prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis but not eczema in 5- to 8-year-old Maltese children (ISAAC). Paediatric Allergy Immunology, 20(1), 67–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-­3038.2008.00746.x Moran, E. F., & Brondizio, E. S. (2013). Introduction to human-environment interactions research. In E. S. Brondizio & E. F. Moran (Eds.), Human-environment interactions: Current and future directions (pp. 1–24). Springer. Murphy, J. (2009). Environment and imperialism: Why colonialism still matters. Sustainability Research Institute. School of earth and environment. SRI papers (Online). ISSN 1753-1330. University of Leeds. Neimanis, A., Åsberg, C., & Hedrén, J. (2015). Four problems, four directions for environmental humanities: Toward critical posthumanities for the Anthropocene. Ethics & The Environment, 20(1), 67–97. https://doi.org/10.2979/ethicsenviro.20.1.67 Neumann, I.  B., & Gstöhl, S. (2006). Introduction: Lilliputians in Gulliver’s world? In C. Ingebritsen, I. B. Neumann, S. Gstöhl, & J. Beyer (Eds.), Small states in international relations (pp. 3–36). University of Washington Press. Nieuwenhuys, O. (2013). Theorizing childhood(s): Why we need postcolonial perspectives. Childhood, 20(1), 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568212465534 NSO – Malta. (2014a). National summary data page. National Statistics Office, Malta. Retrieved from http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3998 NSO – Malta. (2014b). Malta in Figures 2014. National Statistics Office, Malta. Retrieved from https://nso.gov.mt/en/publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/D2_Dissemination_Unit/ Malta_in_Figures_2014.pdf NSO  – Malta. (2021). Transport statistics 2021. National Statistics Office, Malta. Retrieved from https://nso.gov.mt/en/nso/Media/Salient-­Points-­of-­Publications/Documents/2022/ Transport%20Statistics%202021/transport-­2021.pdf NSO – Malta. (2022). Regional statistics MALTA: 2022 edition. National Statistics Office, Malta. Retrieved from https://nso.gov.mt/en/publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/02_ Regional_Statistics_(Gozo_Office)/2022/Regional%20Statistics%20Malta%202022%20 Edition.pdf Orr, D. (2001). Foreword. In S. Sterling (Ed.), Sustainable education: Re-visioning learning and change (pp. 7–9). Schumacher Briefing No. 6. Green Books. Pace, P. (2007). Empowering citizens through education for sustainable development. In P. G. Xuereb (Ed.), Business ethics and religious values in the European Union and Malta – For a moral level playing field (pp.  209–220). The European Documentation and Research Centre, University of Malta: Civil Society Project Report.

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Pace, P. (2009). Emerging from limbo: Environmental education in Malta. In N.  Taylor, M. Littledyke, C. Eames, & R. K. Coll (Eds.), Environmental education in context. An international perspective on the development of environmental education (pp.  73–82). Sense Publishers. Pillay, H., & Elliott, B. (2005). Looking through old lenses to understand the emerging new world order. Implications for education reform in small island states. Journal of Research in International Education, 4(1), 87–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240905050292 Pirotta, J. M. (2018). Fortress colony: The final act – 1961–1964 (Vol. 4). Midsea Books. Randeria, S. (2007). Global designs and local lifeworlds: Colonial legacies of conservation, disenfranchisement and environmental governance in postcolonial India. Interventions, 9(1), 12–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698010601173791 Ratter, B. M. W. (2018). Geography of small islands: Outposts of globalisation. Springer. Ribot, J. (2014). Cause and response: Vulnerability and climate in the Anthropocene. Journal of Peasant Studies, 41(5), 667–705. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2014.894911 Sachs, A. (2003). The ultimate “other”: Post-colonialism and Alexander Von Humboldt’s ecological relationship with nature. History and Theory, 42(4), 111–135. Scriha, L. (1994). Language and class in Malta. In R. Sultana & G. Baldacchino (Eds.), Maltese society: A sociological inquiry. Mireva Publications. Stocker, L., & Kennedy, D. (2009). Cultural models of the coast of Australia: Toward sustainability. Coastal Management, 37(5), 387–404. https://doi.org/10.1080/08920750902855998 Sultana, R. G. (2006). Challenges for career guidance in small states. Gutenberg Press. Sultana, R., & Baldacchino, G. (1994). Maltese society: A sociological inquiry. Mireva. The Education Act of Malta. (1988). Chapter 327 of the Laws of Malta. Retrieved from http:// www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8801 Tikly, L. (2020). Education for sustainable development in the postcolonial world. Routledge. UNESCO. (2012). UN system task theme on the post-2015 UN development agenda. Culture: A driver and an enabler of sustainable development. Thematic Think Piece. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/ post2015/sites/post2015/files/Think%20Piece%20Culture.pdf UNESCO. (2017). Early childhood care and education. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from http://en.unesco.org/themes/ early-­childhood-­care-­and-­education UNESCO. (2019). Futures of Education: Learning to become. A global initiative to reimagine how knowledge and learning can shape the future of humanity and the planet. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/futuresofeducation/sites/default/files/2019-­11/UNESCO%20-­%20 Futures%20of%20Education%20-­%20Brochure%20-­%20ENG.pdf UNICEF. (2013). Sustainable development starts and ends with safe, healthy and well-educated children. a post-2015 world fit for children. United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/parmo/files/SD_children_FINAL(1).pdf United Nations. (1972). Declaration of the United Nations conference on the human environment. United Nations. Retrieved from www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?docume ntid=97&articleid=1503 Viruru, R. (2005a). Postcolonial theory and the practice of teacher education. In S.  Ryan & S. Grieshaber (Eds.), Practical transformations and transformational practices: Globalization, postmodernism and early childhood education (pp. 139–160). Emerald Group. Viruru, R. (2005b). The impact of postcolonial theory on early childhood education. Journal of Education, 35(1), 7–29. Visanich, V. (2009). The Maltese youth: A brief overview. In J. Cutajar & G. Cassar (Eds.), Social transitions in Maltese society. Agenda Publishers. WCED. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED): Our common future. United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.un-­documents.net/wced-­ocf.htm

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White, R., Beddington, J., & van Koten, H. (2012). Designing the transition to sustainability: resourcing community resilience. (2nd ed.). A report for the Scottish universities insight institute (September, 2012). WHO. (2009). Environment and health performance review Malta. Publications WHO Regional Office for Europe. Retrieved from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/95343/ E93547.pdf World Bank. (2015). Population density: People per sq. km of land area. World Bank. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?order=wbapi_data_ value_2013+wbapi_data_value&sort=asc World Bank. (n.d.). The world bank in small states. World Bank. Retrieved from https://www. worldbank.org/en/country/smallstates Young, R. J. C. (2003). Postcolonialism: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. Zammit, R., & Calleja, C. (2021). The environmental concerns of the Maltese church. Melita Theologica: Journal of the Faculty of Theology, 71(2), 141–183.

Chapter 3

Education and Sustainability: Debates, Tensions, and Possibilities in Practice, Policy and Research

Introduction The current environmental crisis is having a devastating impact on all life systems on the planet, ranging from disruptions to the ecosystem, to people experiencing increased poverty and migration, and climate change (Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2020c). The environmental crisis is a major threat to children’s rights and their health (IPCC, 2021; UN, 1989; United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF], 2019, 2021; World Health Organization [WHO], 2021). Should current trends continue, children living on small island states will be at a greater risk of experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change (IPCC, 2022), and they will be experiencing these impacts for longer. Cutting across the  United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] (UN, 1989), the environmental crisis denies children their right for survival and development (Article 6); health (Article 24); education (Article 28); indigenous culture (Article 30); recreation and play (Article 31) and they make children more vulnerable to violence and exploitation (Articles 19, 32, 34–36). Children everywhere have a fundamental right to explore their own agency with regard to their future. They need to be equipped with the competencies to live a sustainable lifestyle. Sustainability starts with healthy, safe, and well-educated children and their needs, rights and voices are interdependent with sustainability (UNICEF, 2013). Education is believed to play a vital role in contributing significantly to the achievement of environmental sustainability, particularly with its potential to offer immediate economic, social and environmental benefits. It has been argued that to achieve sustainability, we need a shift in values, awareness and practices to help people change the currently unsustainable patterns of consumption and production (UNESCO, 2013). It is believed that this shift can be achieved via

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_3

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appropriate education programmes aimed at transforming society towards sustainability by educating people to become part of the solution to current environmental problems (UNESCO, 2020a). To achieve this in Malta however, a reorientation of the Maltese education systems is required to change society’s views around sustainability and engage the young and old in meaningful participation in policies and decision-making related to sustainable living. This chapter explores the link between education and the achievement of sustainability, now and in the future. Sustainability is often used in relation to environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD). In the literature, EE and ESD are contested terms that are often used interchangeably, even though both have a history of their own. Since its inception, EE has been aimed at helping individuals in developing the appropriate skills to address environmental challenges, in order to encourage them to develop attitudes and behaviours that ensure environmental protection (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization  United Nations Environment Programme [UNESCO-­ UNEP], 1976; UNESCO, 1977). EE is not concerned with the transmission of environmental knowledge to children. Rather, it is aimed at increasing the individual’s awareness and knowledge of environmental issues. It teaches individuals how to think critically, how to solve problems and how to take decisions that would benefit the environment (Davis & Elliott, 2014). More importantly, EE does not advocate for a particular viewpoint but multiple perspectives from diverse contexts and cultures are welcomed (Davis, 2018). In this chapter, ESD is regarded as a process that encourages children to understand the human-environment relationship, and develop respect for all species (human and non-human), while allowing them to develop agency and critical thinking skills that enable them to become active participants, committed to environmental stewardship (Pace, 2009). It stands to reason therefore, that a disconnect from nature can be reversed via humanity’s reconnection with the environment through meaningful learning experiences in nature, starting in the early years of a person’s life. ESD is considered to be a primary agent of transformation, fostering the values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future. Specifically, ESD “empowers everyone to make informed decisions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity” (UNESCO, 2013, para. 1). ESD evolved from a narrow definition of EE to encompass a convergence of inter-related issues across all dimensions of life. Yet, an unanimously agreed definition of ESD and its relationship to EE does not exist. In fact, the terms EE and ESD have been used interchangeably in curriculum documents, policy documents and within the community groups around the world. There is also disagreement regarding the distinction between EE, ESD and Education for sustainability (EfS). The term ESD is the preferred term in this book. In this book, I adopt a strong sustainability perspective throughout because I believe that human-capital should not substitute for natural capital. I believe that natural capital is more important for the well-being of all life systems on Earth than human-made capital. While I acknowledge that there is no unanimously-accepted definition of ESD, a concept which is still ambiguous to many, I embrace this ambiguity as an opportunity for the concept to continue to take on new meanings as it evolves. Indeed,

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previous definitions of the term relate to historical understanding of ESD. Modern understanding of ESD, which are not just about the three pillars of sustainable development, are emerging and this recent one by Martin et  al. (2013) tried to address many of these issues by including an action context. Despite the multiple viewpoints of ESD and the complexities in defining it, in this book, I adopt the definition of ESD proposed by Martin, Dillon, Higgins, Peters, and Scott (2013) as “a process of learning how to make decisions that consider the long-term future of the economy, ecology and equity of all communities” (p. 1523). It is worth noting that in their definition of ESD, Martin et al. (2013) referred to all communities as including all species on the planet. In this book whenever I refer to ESD, I suggest that it involves learning that works towards Martin et al.’s (2013) definition, as opposed to education that only supports economic growth at the expense of the environment and the well-being of living communities on the planet. I believe that this is the best definition of ESD there is at the moment. It reveals the complexity and multiplicity of the inherent values, and moral and ethical dimension, of environmental and social issues that position ESD as a precursor to action for social transformation towards sustainability and provides equity and social justice to all living communities on the planet. I also embrace the emphasis on ESD as an opportunity for educators to use transformative pedagogies to cultivate pro-environmental attitudes and values in children that would then result in willingness to act. In this book whenever I refer to ESD, I suggest that it involves learning that works towards Martin et al.’s (2013) definition, as opposed to education that only supports economic growth at the expense of the environment and the well-being of living communities on the planet. In taking this way forward, it is important to understand the interconnectedness of sustainability, which shapes the knowledge, skills, values and structures of curricula for ESD. Finally, I acknowledge that the inherent limitation of focusing my study primarily on the environmental sphere of ESD, but I justify this decision based on the need for focus inherent in research combined with my pre-existing experience in EE and ECCE.

I nternational Recommendations for Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development Over the years, there have been several calls for the implementation of effective education programmes in response to the global environmental crisis. What follows is a brief history of the trajectories of international documents that recognise educational programmes as an effective means of achieving sustainability. Starting in the 1960s, EE arose out of the growing awareness of environmental degradation (Gough, 2013), when scientists attempted to find scientific solutions to environmental problems (Elliott & Davis, 2013). As science alone could not solve the world’s environmental crisis, education was envisaged as key to teaching people to address environmental problems (Gough, 1997). In 1969, the term “environmental

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education” appeared in the literature for the first time, in an article by Stapp, Bennett, Fulton, MacGregor and Nowak (1969), where EE was described as education “aimed at producing a citizenry that is knowledgeable concerning the biophysical environment and its associated problems, aware of how to help solve these problems, and motivated to work toward their solution” (p. 31). In fact, EE that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was concerned with the introduction of ecological and environmental content into educational curricula and training in order to promote general awareness of environmental problems (Gough, 2013). At the international policy level, EE has been proposed as the most important resource in helping individuals, of all ages, learn to live sustainably (United Nations, 2015; UNESCO, 2019a, 2021a). During the 1970s, conferences hosted by the UN led to a number of draft concepts, visionary statements and action plans about the environment. EE first gained international recognition in 1972, at the United Nations Declaration on the Human Environment (UNEP, 1972), which formally recognised global environmental issues and asserted the importance of education and training as a means of solving environmental problems. This was also the first international discussion of the relationship between humans, the environment, and development. This declaration introduced the concepts of sustainability, indirectly (Wright, 2002). The issues outlined in the Stockholm Declaration (UNEP, 1972) were further addressed at the International Workshop on Environmental Education, held in Belgrade in 1975, as a result of which, the Belgrade Charter was developed (UNESCO, 1975). This declaration stated that the goal of EE was to develop a worldwide awareness of, and concern about, the problems caused by human activity on the environment, as well as possible solutions and prevention measures. In 1977, the Tbilisi Declaration drew international attention to the emerging concepts and implementation of EE on a global scale by emphasising the importance of research and training in EE to inform and educate the public about environmental issues (UNESCO-UNEP, 1978). In fact, it was following the Tbilisi Conference that the environment was considered holistically (Gough, 2017; UNESCO, 1978). In this regard, the Tbilisi Declaration is considered to be one of the most important guiding documents in the development of the field of EE (Wright, 2002). In 1987, the Brundtland Report prioritised education as a means of achieving sustainability. It stated that, “the world’s teachers will have a crucial role to play in bringing this report to them [the young generation]”, whose well-being, “is the ultimate goal of all environment and development policies” (WCED, 1987, p. xiv). In 1992, the Earth Summit (also known as the Rio Summit) served to facilitate an international trend towards an expanding view of EE and its alignment with sustainability, bringing about a significant shift in terminology, from EE toward the promotion of ESD. The Rio Declaration of Environment and Development and Agenda 21 were produced at the Rio Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development [UNCED], 1992). The forty chapters of Agenda 21 outline a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally, by signatories, for the achievement of sustainability at all levels. In Agenda 21, many countries committed themselves to promoting sustainability in a variety of ways, including

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education (Fien & Tilbury, 2002). Scholars argue that many environmentalists believe that the UNCED process that led to the Rio Summit and Agenda 21 has handed much of the control over the global environment to the nation States (Finger, 1993). The passing over of control to individual nations led to many of the environmental problems the world had to face because different nation states have been able to set their own environmental agenda, based on their personal worldviews and their needs, which is a strategy that does not benefit the environment (Sachs, 1993). Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 proposes that “education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues” (UNCED, 1992, ch. 36, para. 3) and calls for the re-orientation of EE towards addressing sustainability. This initiated a global discussion on the role of education in achieving sustainability in a way that builds on human capacity to know, understand and act. Additionally, Agenda 21 recognises the connection between sustainability and EE by pointing to the Tbilisi Declaration as providing “the fundamental principles for the proposals” (UNCED, 1992, p. 320). The Declaration and Recommendations from Tbilisi paved the way to formalising the field of EE and provided the basis for the principles of Agenda 21 (Gough, 2013). Since the Rio Summit, most UN agreements and regulations associated with major conferences have acknowledged education as essential to achieving sustainability, and have attested to its importance as a tool to initiate and sustain social change processes towards sustainability. In the 1990s, EE began to distinguish between different environmental approaches, such as those identified by Lucas (1972) of education about, in and for the environment, education about, in, for, through, being with, by the environment, and more recently, education as sustainability (Reid, 2011). Debates about the priority and usefulness of different interpretations of these terms are ongoing. In essence, these concepts are debated in terms of, “either their fit with current local and wider approaches to framing and practising EE approaches, or their potential and shortcomings as a framework for learning that stimulates or reinvigorates approaches to EE” (Reid, 2011, p. 151). In 1997, the International Conference on Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the Tbilisi Declaration and further discussed the role of education in addressing sustainability. As a result, the Thessaloniki Declaration was proposed, recognising EE and its advancement over the previous two decades in addressing sustainability issues (UNESCO, 1997). This declaration marked an international movement away from EE towards ESD by calling for a “reorientation of education as a whole towards sustainability” (UNESCO, 1997, p. 2). Despite the changes in the definitions, practices, and principles of EE, and the way society addressed environmental issues, the goals and principles of EE still retained the core concepts presented in the Tbilisi Declaration and were reinforced in the Thessaloniki Declaration. In fact, Jickling and Wals (2012) argue that since its inception, EE has held the same goals as ESD. In 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) established strategies for more effective implementation of Agenda 21. The Johannesburg

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Declaration on Sustainable Development established a series of international commitments in five priority areas: energy, water, health, agriculture and biodiversity (WSSD, 2002). Later that same year, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Resolution 57/254 (UN, 2002) that designated the period 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNESCO, 2005), to encourage the integration of the concept and practice of sustainability into all aspects of education and learning (UN, 2002). The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) challenged humanity to adopt new behaviours and practices that will sustain life (human and non-human) on the planet and to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. This educational effort will encourage changes in behaviour that will create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society for present and future generations. (UNESCO, n.d., para. 2)

The idea of dedicating a decade for ESD was first proposed in 1992, to signal that education and learning are essential to achieve sustainable development (UNCED, 1992). UNESCO’s role is to act as diplomatic guide and motivator for Member States, and not as an enforcer. Therefore, as the leader of the DESD, UNESCO developed a participative International Implementation Scheme (IIS) draft, in 2004, (UNESCO, 2006) to serve as a reference point and to facilitate the implementation of DESD’s goals. The IIS (UNESCO, 2006) outlined a broad and strategic framework for implementing the DESD and outlined UNESCO’s tasks as the leader of the DESD, together with key milestones for the DESD, and a description of the way forward. Although the IIS was not prescriptive, it provided a useful tool and overall guidance, as to how, when, why, and where participating Member States can contribute to DESD (UNESCO, 2006). In 2007, the Tbilisi + 30 Conference, established the Ahmedabad Declaration, stating that EE processes support and promote ESD (UNESCO, 2007). Two years later, the Earth Charter aimed to promote: the transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. (Earth Charter International, 2009, p. 1)

The Earth Charter was a declaration based on an integrative or holistic ethic, based on an essentially relational and participative view of the world (Sterling, 2010). The UNESCO World Conference on ESD held in Bonn in 2009, marked the mid-­ term point of the DESD and assessed the progress in ESD and the DESD.  As a result, the Bonn Declaration (UNESCO, 2009) was produced, which provided guidance for the second half of the DESD and specified action needed in different educational settings (Gough, 2013). The Bonn Declaration was the first declaration to deal exclusively with ESD and set out a strong mandate and agenda for UNESCO as the leading agent for ESD. The UNESCO Summit on Climate Change, held in Copenhagen, in 2009, mentioned capacity-building to support adaptation action in developing countries for sustainability in relation to technology transfer and the

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adaptation of new or modified technology (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC], 2009). However, this summit did not include ESD as an indispensable part of a low-emission development strategy and lifestyle change for a sustainable future. Later, in 2012, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UN, 2012), also known as the Rio + 20, convened in Brazil to mark 20  years after the Rio Summit. Here, the UN Member States expressed concern about the scale and seriousness of the impacts of climate change. Although progress and commitments to sustainability were made, a discussion on education as a means to achieve sustainability did not emerge from Rio + 20. In 2007, UNESCO established a Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Group (MEEG) to assist in the monitoring and evaluation of the DESD and to provide technical advice and support to UNESCO in assessing global progress of the DESD (UNESCO, 2014), and three global monitoring and evaluation reports were produced in 2009, 2012 and 2014. The final report produced in 2014 by MEEG, Shaping the Future We Want-UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNESCO, 2014), has been designed as a guiding document for the implementation of policies, for future programming across UN agencies, social organisations, private sector and educational sectors, and as a guide to how the findings therein can be used for future research, innovation and work in ESD. In 2015, the UNESCO 70th General Assembly adopted a new global agenda, Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a framework which unites global development and environmental goals (UNESCO, 2015). This is an important milestone in the trajectory of EE toward ESD that saw the publication of the  17 Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] (UNESCO, 2015, 2017a). The SDGs aim to build a sustainable world, where environmental, sociocultural, socio-political, and economic developments are pursued and equally valued, starting in the early years (UNESCO, 2017c, 2019a). The internationally-ratified guiding document for ESD is the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNESCO, 2017a), which includes 17 SDGs across a broad range of areas and the associated 169 targets, which should be reached by 2030. Together these goals and targets reflect the complexities of sustainability and its multiple dimensions (UNESCO, 2015, 2017a) and, as shown in Table 3.1, these are centred around the three pillars of sustainability (Gough, 2018). Of interest to this book and to early childhood education and care (ECEC), is SDG 4 (Quality Education for All), that is concerned with quality education for all, and proposes a set of goals and targets for education to be reached by 2030 (UNESCO, 2015). Therein, the importance of EE in ECEC has been explicitly recognised in Target 4.7 as key to achieving a sustainable future, as it “empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for present and future generations” (UNESCO, 2017b, p.  7). In Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015), ESD is recognised as an integral element of quality education. Indeed, the 2030 Agenda draws attention to the importance of new ways of thinking and doing, thus emphasising the need for reflexivity which is reinforced by an uncertain future (Jickling & Sterling, 2017), which young children will inherit.

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Table 3.1  The 17 sustainable development goals and the three pillars of sustainable development Economic development 1. No poverty 2. End hunger 4. Quality education 7. Affordable and clean energy 8. Decent work and economic growth 9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure 11. Sustainable cities and communities 12. Responsible consumption and production 13. Climate action

Environmental protection 2. End hunger 6. Clean water and sanitation 7. Affordable and clean energy 12. Responsible consumption and production 13. Climate action

Social development 1. No poverty 2. End hunger 3. Good health and well-being 4. Quality education

14. Life below water

6. Clean water and sanitation

15. Life on land

7. Affordable and clean energy

17. Partnerships for the goals

5. Gender equality

8. Decent work and economic growth 9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure 10. Reduce inequalities 11. Sustainable cities and communities 12. Responsible consumption and production 16. Peace, justice and strong institutions 17. Partnerships for the goals

Adopted from A. Gough (2018, p. 302)

The aims for ECEC go beyond ensuring literacy and numeracy, towards helping young children to acquire knowledge, skills, and values for peace-building, and the achievement of sustainability, justice, social equity, and gender equality (UNESCO, 2019a). While these goals and targets are overwhelmingly broad and they are not legally binding, they are also challenging in that they focus mostly on school readiness. Indeed, a closer look at Targets 4.1 and 4.2 suggests that  here, the aim of ECEC has been reduced to the achievement of a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics. While the benefits of the inclusion of ECCE in this document cannot be discounted, discourse around school readiness as a means of achieving sustainability remains problematic because it does not take into account the different contexts and cultures of children which might impact their readiness for school. In May 2021, UNESCO launched the Education for Sustainable Development: A Roadmap (UNESCO, 2020a), a new framework connected to the Education 2030 Agenda, aimed at implementing ESD policy globally, between 2020 and 2030. This ten-year plan intends to strengthen ESD and the achievement of the 17 SDGs, in an attempt to create a more just and sustainable future (UNESCO, 2019b). It also aims to address environmental issues and to reconsider the underlying social and economic structures that helped create and/or accelerate the current environmental crisis. It consists of  a toolbox to facilitate the implementation of this framework

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(UNESCO, 2021b) and a series of preparatory workshops (UNESCO, 2020b) were also launched. Together, these resources provide transformative action, structural changes and the use of technology to transform education to create a more just and sustainable society. The successful implementation of this framework calls governments to mobilise action to address the five priority action areas listed in the framework – advancing policy, transforming learning environments, building capacities of educators, empowering and mobilising youth, and accelerating local level actions. More broadly however, this framework presents an anthropocentric bias of life under threat and lacks the tools to deliver the radical change it recommends. Furthermore, it recommends that learners need to “live what they learn and learn what they live.” If this were the case, the radical transformation called for in this document is unlikely to take place because individuals who are used to unsustainable practices, will continue to engage in them rather than change their ways of living. Therefore, the transformative pedagogy called for a more sustainable world in this document, requires learning opportunities that facilitate a critique of social interactions and an understanding of their impact on all life systems on the planet.

 ducation for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood: E An Historical Overview Internationally, it has long been established that the early childhood period, from birth till age eight, plays a crucial role in human development as it is a time marked by enormous curiosity. It is a time when children show strong willingness to learn. Consequently, high-quality education in the early years is of utmost importance for human development, particularly to help children reach their full potential (United Nations, 2015). In international agreements, the importance of ECEC in achieving a sustainable future has been highlighted in SDG 4, which aims to “Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning” (United Nations, 2015, p. 15). With its focus on quality education, an indicator for SDG 4, Target 4.2, particularly focuses on the importance of ECEC and states that “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-­ primary education so that they are ready for primary education” (United Nations, 2015, p. 19). As proposed in Target 4.7, “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-­ violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (United Nations, 2015, p. 19). Because of the enormous potential of ECEC in helping humanity achieve sustainability, young children have been identified by many as key players in the achievement of long-­ term sustainability (Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008; United Nations, 2015; UNESCO, 2020a, b, c).

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Recently, the UN Human Rights Council recognised EE as “key enabler” to children’s rights to a healthy environment (UNESCO 2020a, b, c). This resolution is in line with Article 29 of the UNCRC that aims to develop “respect for the natural environment” (UN, 1989; UNESCO, 2020c). UNESCO (2020c) urges governments to ensure that education addresses environmental issues, even in the early years, to increase children’s understanding of nature and to prepare them for future decision-­ making in the face of future global uncertainties. Of interest to this book is the fact that the importance of ECEC for the achievement of sustainability was not recognised until 2007 (Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008; UNESCO, 2008). This recognition saw the emergence of the field currently known as early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) even if its roots can be traced back to the early 1990s, when a group of early childhood practitioners and academics in the USA and Australia recognised the link between ECCE and environmental issues (Elliott & Davis, 2018; Davis & Elliott, 2014; Spiteri, 2020). At the time, there were growing environmental concerns, which led to the emergence of what was then known as “early childhood environmental education” (Davis & Elliott, 2014, p. 3). This was also a time when there were shifts in early childhood paradigms, with the introduction of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] (UN, 1989), and the new sociology of childhood (NSC). It was also a time for EE to move “forward from the margins to the mainstream of both the early childhood education and education for sustainability field. This bodes well for the health and wellbeing of young children, current and future generations and the planet as a whole” (Elliott & Davis, 2018, p. 165). In 2007, The Role of Early Childhood Education for a Sustainable Society workshop, jointly organised by Gothenburg and Chalmers Universities, in Sweden and the City of Gothenburg, brought together ECCE experts from 16 countries. This was the first international UNESCO meeting which specifically focussed on ECEfS, and resulted in the first ever ESD international report, which focused on ECEfS. The publication of The Contribution of Early Childhood Education to a Sustainable Society (Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008) followed. It documented the responses of 16 countries related to the “intersection of early childhood education and education for sustainability” (Davis & Elliot, 2014, p. 4), however, most of the papers were “aspirational rather than based on local research or practice in education for sustainability” (Davis & Elliott, 2014, p. 4). In 2008, a second workshop led to the publication of The Gothenburg Recommendations on Education for Sustainable Development (UNESCO, 2008), whose recommendations were fully adopted by UNESCO in 2009. Together, these two documents have provided impetus for ECEfS initiatives in many countries around the world (UNESCO, 2014). The Gothenburg Recommendations on Education for Sustainable Development is an important document because it is the first international ESD document which includes ECCE (Davis, 2010). Containing specific recommendations for the integration of ESD in ECCE (UNESCO, 2008, pp. 25–32), it lists ECCE as “the starting point of lifelong learning within education for sustainability” (UNESCO, 2008, p. 26). Specifically, recommendation 6 points to the value of ESD in the curriculum and notes how “ESD should be embedded in curricula, steering documents and

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learning materials and this includes curriculum review and development of new curricula” (UNESCO, 2008, p. 17). It also highlights the need to embed ESD into all levels of the curriculum to develop approaches to learning through “collaborations with formal and non-formal educational services and systems, including higher education and curriculum developers” (UNESCO, 2008, p. 30). These recommendations were accepted by UNESCO in 2009. A similar need for new approaches and new resources was echoed in the Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO, 2016). The Gothenburg Recommendations on Education for Sustainable Development document also recognises that there are children in different countries who do not have access to ECCE in their area and recommends access to ECCE service as one of its priority areas. In 2007, UNESCO also established a Chair in Early Childhood Education and Sustainable Development at Gothenburg University to illuminate the value of ESD in ECCE (Siraj-Blatchford & Pramling Samuelsson, 2015). The Gothenburg recommendations also suggest the need for greater research mentoring and capacity building within ESD. Suggesting that the early years are “the starting point” (UNESCO, 2008, p. 26) for life-long learning in ESD is problematic, due to the use of the article “the.” The use of the article “the” implies that learning about sustainability only happens in ECCE, whereas various educational theories indicate that children construct their knowledge of issues in different contexts, over time. Therefore, this document discounts the importance of different contexts that might be vital for children’s learning about sustainability issues at different stages in their lives. Furthermore, there is a lot of potential for teaching and learning in ECCE but curricula are designed by authorities, meaning that governments might choose not to include environmental issues in the early years’ curriculum, or include some while leaving out others. In 2010, UNESCO organised the first ever World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (WCECCE), which raised awareness of ECCE as a human right and as important for child development, and highlighted the global status, challenges and experiences of expanding quality ECCE. The conference ended with the adoption of the Moscow Framework for Action and Cooperation: Harnessing the Wealth of Nations (UNESCO, 2010), a framework which recommends that “education for sustainable development [should be included] as a central part of quality ECCE” (UNESCO, 2010, p. 4). In the same year, the Organisation Mondiale pour l’Education Préscolaire (World Organization for Early Childhood Education) (OMEP) organised the OMEP World Congress 2010, called Children – Citizens in a Challenged World (OMEP, 2013), in Sweden, which was followed by the publication of the OMEP document Education for Sustainable Development in the Early Years (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2010). This document highlights the links between ECCE and sustainability and marks the first time that ECEfS was promoted as a key theme at an international conference (Davis & Elliott, 2014). At the OMEP World Assembly Cornerstone of high-quality early childhood services, in 2013, in China, sustainability was profiled as a means of achieving high-­ quality early childhood services, thus highlighting ESD as a signifier for “quality” ECCE towards the end of the DESD (OMEP, 2013. A year later, in 2014, the SDSN thematic group 4 on Early Childhood Development, Education, and Transition to

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Work published a statement, Young Children as a Basis for Sustainable Development declares that “Children are a common basis for all dimensions of sustainable development” (SDSN, 2014, p. 1) and they have a right to live in a sustainable world. This document recognises the early years as a critical stage for human development, in terms of both neuro-scientific and economic evidence. For this reason, SDSN (2014) argues in favour of teaching children about sustainability in the early years and emphasises the need for multiple generations to work together for social development towards the achievement of sustainability. Different generations working collaboratively in society is a fruitful way of achieving sustainability.

 arly Childhood Education for Sustainability: What Is E It About? Given the unequivocal importance of the early childhood years for human development, there is no reason to delay the introduction of environmental learning to later years. The Education 2030 Agenda, and SDG 4 in particular, recognize the potential of the early years as key to achieving a sustainable future (UNESCO, 2015, 2017b). Now that it is widely acknowledged that ECEC helps shape the future of humanity (UNESCO, 2021b), ECEfS has been recognised as providing the foundation for environmental learning, that can have lifelong impacts on individual and collective pro-environmental behaviour (Davis, 2018; Davis & Elliott, 2014; Pramling Samuelsson, 2011; Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008; UN, 2015; UNESCO, 2020a, b, c). ECEfS acknowledges that early learning is important for shaping children’s environmental attitudes, knowledge and actions. The introduction of ECEfS can help build a culture of sustainability by transforming curricula and school systems so they are aligned with ESD, and has been described as: the enactment of transformative, empowering and participative education around sustainability issues, topics and experiences within early education contexts. ... ECEfS [needs] to support early learning communities to create ‘cultures of sustainability’ that build or transform thinking, practices and relationships around sustainability. This is an approach that occurs ‘inside’ the centre, not imposed or mandated by external agents. (Davis, 2010, p. 28)

Children as agents of change for sustainability is a hallmark of ECEfS (Davis & Elliott, 2014; Elliott, 2019; Leffers, 2022; Spiteri, 2020). However, ECEfS is not about overburdening young children with environmental issues beyond their control either (Davis, 2010; Elliott, 2019). Davis (2010) and Elliott (2019) insist that the role of ECEfS is not to eliminate play and learning experiences that are characteristic of ECCE, with those exclusively focused on environmental and sustainability issues, but to use these characteristics as the building blocks to teach children about sustainability issues. Simply put, the aim of ECEfS is not to burden young children with environmental issues which they did not create and which are beyond their control. Young children need the tools and skills to be able to think critically and grasp concepts such as “what is sustainable” and “what is unsustainable.” The

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primary aim is therefore to teach young children about the environment and environmental issues in ECEC is to equip them with the values and skills that enable them to protect the planet and achieve the SDGs (United Nations, 2015). Therefore, ECEfS is a process for providing young children with opportunities to reflect on how to think and behave in ways that will safeguard the wellbeing of all living species on the planet, current and future (Davis & Elliott, 2014; Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2008; Spiteri, 2020; UN, 2015). Such approach requires young children to learn new knowledge, skills, values and structures for sustainable living. Young children also need opportunities to question, and reflect on, values and dilemmas related to human-environment relationships (Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; Spiteri, 2020). Davis (2010, pp. 30–31) provides a useful structure for thinking about ECEfS, which is similar to education in, about and for the environment in other education sectors, where she described: • Education in the environment – Here the natural environment is used as a medium for learning and priority is given to outdoor settings and learning resources. It seeks to provide young children with experiences in the natural environment, for example, exploration of the outdoors, gardening, playing with mud, water, sand, etc. • Education about the environment - Here the emphasis is on learning how natural systems function to help children understand and appreciate the natural world and the interconnection between humans and nature. It provides scientific knowledge, such as learning about water conservation, composting, wormeries, etc. • Education for the environment – Here the socio-political aspect of education is included. Therefore, ECEfS is concerned with creating social change and includes critical examination of existing practices such as the use of water, generation of waste from lunch boxes, followed by collective problem-solving and taking action to introduce resources and strategies to create change. Davis (2010) explains that usually education in and about the environment is easily incorporated in ECCE, but this type of education is not enough to create the foundations for sustainable living because it fails to address the human-environment interactions that cause environmental sustainability issues. Davis (2010) argues for ECEfS that caters for education for the environment in order to create social change. An eco-centric orientation could help bridge the notional divide between human and non-human living creatures and encourage children to feel part of nature, thus creating an interconnectedness with nature, which leads to change for sustainability. Indeed, previous research with young children demonstrates that connectedness to nature is more influential in driving sustainable behaviour than environmental knowledge (Otto & Pensini, 2017). Therefore, ECEfS acknowledges that early learning is important for shaping children’s environmental attitudes, knowledge and behaviour, resulting in a marker for quality in ECCE (Davis, 2010; Elliott, 2019). With its focus on education for the environment, ECEfS is transformative, empowering and participative education around issues and experiences of sustainability in ECCE contexts (Davis, 2010,

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2018). Essentially, ECEfS is about transformative change in children’s thinking (requiring critical thinking and critical reflection) and new ways of being and acting to regenerate the Earth (Elliott, 2019). ECEfS invites children and adults alike to engage with real-world issues which require critical thinking and investigations into themes related to sustainability, including democracy, peace, equality and human rights (UNESCO, 2010; Elliott, 2019). In doing so, ECEfS supports young children in developing higher order thinking, problem-solving and resilience. Since the emergence of ECEfS as field of educational research, a substantial body of knowledge has focussed on young children, the environment and environmental issues, suggesting a positive child-nature relationship (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; Engdahl, 2015; Sommerville & Williams, 2015). A large OMEP study by Engdahl (2015), conducted in 28 countries, shows that young children have some understanding of environmental issues. Strong evidence supports the idea that children are capable of understanding environmental issues and they can talk about them, often by drawing on personal experiences (e.g., Engdahl, 2015; Monus, 2021; Sageidet et  al., 2019; Simsar, 2021; Spiteri, 2020, 2021). Recent research exploring the benefits of environmental learning in the early years too confirms that young children are capable of understanding certain environmental concepts (Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; Spiteri, 2021). Overall, environmental research strongly suggests that children are capable of understanding environmental issues and they can talk about them in ways that make sense to them (e.g., Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; Davis & Elliott, 2014; Engdahl, 2015; Monus, 2021; Sageidet et al., 2019; Simsar, 2021; Spiteri, 2022). However, it is important to note here that research concerning young children understanding of complex environmental issues, such as climate change, in ECEC is still in its infancy (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Bascopé et al., 2019; Davies et al., 2016; Rousell & CutterMackenzie-Knowles, 2020). Taken together, such research supports the validity of introducing ECEfS. It is important that from an early age, children are taught about the causes, consequences and mitigation measures of environmental issues. Doing so, would be the first step toward introducing concepts related to a variety of environmental issues in ECEC. Such research is encouraging in that it supports the introduction of ECEfS even if such change can be difficult to implement. The priority here is that ECCE educators understand why change is urgently needed and how they can advocate and act for a sustainable future for everyone.

 arly Childhood Education for Sustainability: Pedagogy E and Practice ECEfS supports the development of early learning communities to foster cultures of sustainability by transforming curricula and school systems so they are aligned with ESD (Davis, 2010; Pramling Samuelsson & Kaga, 2010). Sustainability can be taught in ECEC (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Sommerville & Williams, 2015), even if

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such learning is rarely discussed in relation to environmental sustainability (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Hedefalk et al., 2015; Melis et al., 2020; Sageidet et al. 2019). Cultures of sustainability should initiate within ECCE context, and should not be imposed or externally mandated, if they are to enable participants to build or transform thinking, practices and relationships around sustainability (Davis, 2010). It has been shown that play-based and intentional teaching events can support acquisition of content knowledge associated with sustainability (Edwards & Cutter-­ Mackenzie, 2011), making outdoor play, in nature, an ideal starting point for the exploration of environmental issues (Bonnett, 2021). The connection between ECEC and EE is not new. Pedagogically, in Western curricula, the most commonly adopted approach to the introduction of EE in ECEC is by allowing children to play freely and explore natural settings, in the outdoors (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Bascopé et  al., 2019; Elliott & Young, 2016; Wilson, 2019). Since the time of Pestalozzi, Froebel, Malaguzzi, Montessori and others, ECEC has often taken the form of education in nature and consequently, has been recognised as being a key instrument to connecting children with nature. Indeed, this concept provided fertile ground for ECCE as the starting point for ESD because: There is growing recognition among policy-makers that the earliest stage of learning (ECCE) is the foundation of sustainable development. There is also an increased understanding among education experts of the capacity of young children to respond to environmental/sustainability issues and to be agents of change within their families and communities. (UNESCO, 2014, p. 30)

Furthermore, in ECEC, it is common practice to provide children with both content and pedagogy, therefore providing young children with knowledge, and personal experience and opportunities, to learn through play (Edwards et al., 2014a; Pramling Samuelsson & Park, 2017; Spiteri, 2020). This is because it is believed that meaningful environmental learning experiences during early childhood can empower children “to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for present and future generations” (UNESCO, 2017c, p. 7). Meaningful learning experiences in nature can enable children to develop a sense of place in nature and to understand what is un/just, to understand what it feels like to be part of a group, to learn skills related to negotiation, creativity and problem-solving, all of which are an essential part of EE in the early years (Pramling Samuelsson & Park, 2017). Pro-environmental behaviour and attitudes formed via play in early childhood, particularly in natural settings, tend to last a lifetime (Kos et al., 2016; Louv, 2005; Simsar, 2021; Simsar et al., 2021). Through the provision of a combination of different kinds of play experiences, young children develop biophilic dispositions (Edwards et al., 2014a, b). Via this approach, educators can help children develop a relationship with nature and eventually carry pro-environmental knowledge and attitudes into adulthood. It is also hoped that as a result of the long-lasting relationship between children and nature, such behaviour is carried on into adult life and would enable them to lead sustainable lifestyles. From the perspective of EE, ECEC is the ideal time in human development for laying the foundation for active

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participation in pro-environmental behaviour by increasing children’s environmental literacy early (UNESCO, 2020a, b, c). This is a laudable approach to developing environmental literacy in the early years however, research has expressed concern over exploratory free play as a way of helping young children develop environmental literacy. While it remains a task for the teacher to determine what constitutes meaningful environmental learning in ECEC, being physically in nature is not sufficient to help children develop respect for the intrinsic value of nature (Bonnett, 2021). While many teachers engage in the tangible aspects of ECEfS, such as establishing compost bins, recycling and growing produce, there are deeper layers of meanings of sustainability about thinking and being that can be further explored with young children through everyday pedagogical practices in ECCE.  Children and adults can engage in critical eco-pedagogies, which are pedagogies informed by an ethical stance about the relationships between humans and all living species that share the Earth; a recognition of how human behaviour is harming the Earth; and adopt an eco-centric rather than an anthropocentric worldview (Elliott, 2019). Relationships with caring teachers are the cornerstone of both ECEC and ECEfS pedagogies (Elliott, 2018). By embedding experiences in nature in their pedagogy, while sharing their enthusiasm and wonder about the natural environment with young children, teachers play a key role in connecting children to nature and co-­ construct new worldviews which align with a sustainable future for all. (Elliott, 2018). For this to be achieved, there needs to be a shift in ECEC towards a post-­ humanistic and ecocentric approach to learning in nature, which also requires a shift in thinking away from anthropocentrism towards ecocentrism (Elliott, 2018; Wilson, 2019). Most importantly, it “requires teachers to critically reflect on their own worldviews and ecological identity” (Wilson, 2019, p. 34). However, Meier and Sisk-Hilton (2017) argue that many teachers feel unprepared to provide young children with meaningful and enriching experiences and activities in nature. While these findings warrant further investigation, this unpreparedness could be the result of the push from education systems towards academic achievement in terms of literacy and numeracy, resulting in lack of scientific knowledge, making them unprepared to teach the subject (Meier & Sisk-Hilton, 2017). Therefore, while one might argue that ECEfS has addressed some of the calls proposed by SDG 4 to help create a sustainable world now and in the future by implementing pedagogies that enable young children to play and learn in, with, and for nature, there is more to be done. Indeed, there is still an urgent need to make nature education a priority both in initial and in-service teacher education programmes, which requires a rethink of teacher education programmes. This calls for the realignment of both children’s education and teacher education programmes towards a more sustainable future, as proposed by SDG 4 (UNESCO, 2017b), thus highlighting the need to reconsider the values and guiding principles underlying these programmes. As a result, this affords an opportunity to redesign teacher training programmes to include a humanistic vision of education, as proposed by UNESCO (2021a). Essentially, teacher training programmes need to be designed to enable early years’ teachers to help young children acquire knowledge, skills, and values for peace-building, sustainable development, more justice, social equity, and gender

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equality (UNESCO, 2021a). Such programmes should enable teachers to provide young children with everyday activities and learning experiences which help them build kinship with the natural environment.

Conclusion The introduction of ECEfS in early education contexts benefits young children and the community at large. The potential of ECEfS lies in the children’s ability to take action in the future to help combat the sustainability crisis. By raising awareness of the importance of ECEfS, this chapter helps to encourage educators and policy makers to embed ECEfS in mainstream ECEC curricula. This may result in an increase in sustainability practices however, it may not be enough to create a change in thinking toward a culture of ESD in ECCE. Therefore, there is a need for researchers, educators and policy makers with a passion and belief in sustainability to facilitate a change in thinking about ECEfS and its pedagogy that transforms the dominant culture in education to embrace the values of ESD in the early years. This might be a lengthy process which calls for everyone involved in the education of young children to engage in dialogue, share their visions and ideas, and possibly create professional development courses for new and experienced teachers to be able to integrate ECEfS in their everyday classroom practice. Overall, the increasing intergenerational socio-ecological conditions related to the relationships between human and non-human life systems call for a rethink into how both research in ECEfS and its pedagogy have a vital role to play in the global quest for sustainability. If ECEfS is properly implemented, it can offer young children quality educational programmes which recognize and respect their ability to think and act beyond their own self-interests (Wilson, 2019). Taking into consideration the nature and severity of the environmental issues to be faced by children in the future, and the complexity of devising any educational response required to be effective, policymaking needs to move away from the fragmented, short-term thinking, towards a future-focused education system, which is also systematic and transdisciplinary. Finally, it is worth noting that to date, most ECEfS has taken place with children in large countries (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020) and less is known about how children from small island states relate to the environment or environmental sustainability issues. A complementary line of research is also needed, and it is provided by this book – to explore the understanding of environmental sustainability as presented by children living in Malta, a small island state in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea with a long history of colonialism.

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UNESCO. (2019b). Framework for the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) beyond 2019. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000370215 UNESCO. (2020a). Education for sustainable development: A roadmap. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://www.gcedclearinghouse.org/sites/default/files/resources/200782eng.pdf UNESCO. (2020b). Series of online workshops: The transformative power of education for sustainable development for the world beyond Covid-19. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/esdfor2030-­ pre-­conference-­workshops-­en.pdf UNESCO. (2020c). Realizing the rights of the child through environmental education. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://en.unesco. org/news/realizing-­rights-­child-­through-­environmental-­education UNESCO. (2021a). Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://unesdoc. unesco.org/in/documentViewer.xhtml?v=2.1.196&id=p::usmarcdef_0000379707&file=/in/ rest/annotationSVC/DownloadWatermarkedAttachment/attach_import_aaafd0f0-­e901-­486b-­ a8d8-­1dfcbddb6a93%3F_%3D379707eng.pdf&locale=en&multi=true&ark=/ark:/48223/ pf0000379707/PDF/379707eng.pdf#925_21_ED_EN_Int.indd%3A.66592%3A509 UNESCO. (2021b). Global partnership strategy for early childhood. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/ pf0000380077 UNESCO. (n.d.). UN decade of ESD. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-­sustainable-­development/ what-­is-­esd/un-­decade-­of-­esd# UNESCO-UNEP. (1976). The Belgrade charter: A global framework for environmental education. Connect: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-United Nations Environment Programme. Environmental Education Newsletter, 1(1), 1–2. UNESCO-UNEP. (1978, April). Final report: Intergovernmental conference on environmental education organized by UNESCO in co-operation with UNEP. Tbilisi (USSR) Declaration, 14–26, October 1977. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from http://www.gdrc.org/uem/ee/EE-­Tbilisi_1977.pdf UNFCCC. (2009). Conference on the parties of the United Nations framework convention on climate change. Fifteenth Session, 7–18 December, 2009, Copenhagen, Den., Draft decision -/CP.15: Proposal by the President, Copenhagen Accord, UN Doc. FCCC/CP/2009/L.7 (18 December, 2009). United Nations. Retrieved from https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/ cop15/eng/l07.pdf UNICEF. (2013). Sustainable development starts and ends with safe, healthy and well-educated children. A post-2015 world fit for children. United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/parmo/files/SD_children_FINAL(1).pdf UNICEF. (2019). An environment fit for children: UNICEF’s approach to climate change. United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/ media/73331/file/An-­Environment-­Fit-­for-­Children-­2019.pdf UNICEF. (2021). The climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis. United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/media/105376/file/ UNICEF-­climate-­crisis-­child-­rights-­crisis.pdf WCED. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED): Our common future. United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.un-­documents.net/wced-­ocf.htm WHO. (2021). Climate change and health. World Health Organization. Retrieved from https:// www.who.int/news-­room/fact-­sheets/detail/climate-­change-­and-­health Wilson, R. (2019). What is nature? International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 7(1), 26–39. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1233589.pdf

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Wright, T.  S. A. (2002). Definitions and frameworks for environmental sustainability in higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 3(3), 203–220. https:// doi.org/10.1016/S0952-­8733(02)00002-­8 WSSD. (2002). The Johannesburg plan of implementation. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Johannesburg (South Africa), 26 August–4 September 2002. United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/jsummit/html/documents/summit_docs/131302_ wssd_report_reissued.pdf

Chapter 4

Early Childhood Education for  What?! The Maltese Education System, the Environment and Sustainability

Introduction The physical, social and cultural aspects influencing child development and experience need to be taken into consideration. Children living on small island states are located within a physical space and place, and are influenced by global, political, technical, social and economic realities occurring within their settings. These influences cannot be separated from children’s everyday experiences in different settings, for example at school. Certain historical, social and cultural changes that have taken place in the past can influence children’s experiences and their educational journeys, and therefore, such aspects need to be taken into account. My research has taken up this challenge in the context of early childhood education in Malta, where a variety of settings are available for children from birth to 7 years. In order to contextualise the material and arguments in this book, this chapter provides detailed information about the educational reforms, policies and documents that have led to the current education system in Malta. Reflecting on the Maltese scene, this chapter provides an overview of the educational reforms and debates that are grounded within, as well as beyond, Malta. Therefore, the reader will be able to discuss, and perhaps even apply, some key elements and insights to other contexts.

The Maltese Education System: An Overview In Malta, the Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE) is the government agency responsible for formal education (EURYDICE, 2022a). Education is provided by State and private schools; the latter sector is split between private independent schools and Church schools (predominantly Roman Catholic) (EURYDICE, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_4

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Table 4.1  The Maltese education system Compulsory or non-compulsory Non-compulsory education Compulsory education Non-compulsory education

Age (years)a 0–3 3–5 5–11 11–16 16–18 18+

Type of education Childcare Centres Kindergarten Primary Secondary Further Higher

Source: NSO – Malta (2022) a Entry into each year group is on a birth-year basis, meaning that there could be an 11-month difference between the youngest and eldest child in each classroom

2022a). MEDE is empowered to monitor the functioning of schools within the three sectors. As shown in Table 4.1, the Maltese education system is split between compulsory and non-compulsory education. Schooling is compulsory for children between the ages of 5 and 16 years, and comprises 6 years in the primary cycle and 5 years in the secondary cycle (NSO, 2022). Non-compulsory education is divided into pre-compulsory (early childhood setting and kindergarten) and post-compulsory (post-secondary and tertiary education) (NSO, 2022). Education is offered full-time and for free in all State schools, which are funded by the State via the Education Directorate on a per capita basis (MEDE, 2013; Sollars et  al., 2006). Parents can opt to educate their children in State, Church or Independent schools, which provide education from pre-primary to post-secondary levels.1 There is a State primary school nearly in every town or village in Malta. Currently, there are 158 schools in Malta, of which 68 are primary State schools, 32 are secondary State schools, 33 are Church schools, and 25 are independent schools (NSO, 2014). National statistics published by NSO (2022) show that during scholastic year 2019–2020, the number of children enrolled in mandatory education stood at  Church schools are supported financially by the State in accordance with the agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Malta in 1991 but they also accept donations from parents and other philanthropists. Following a call for applications by the Archediochesis of Malta, children eligible to attend a Church school are those whose application has been drawn by a ballot system. Parents whose children were not drawn by the ballot system in Church schools started requesting other educational institutions for their children. This gave rise to an increase in private independent schools to satisfy the needs of these parents. Independent schools charge tuition fees while parents enjoy a number of tax-relief measures. During the scholastic year 2019/20, a total of 84,957 students attended non-compulsory and compulsory education in Malta (NSO, 2022). In March 2020, 72.2% of pre-primary students attended state schools, 18.1% attended independent schools, and 9.7% attended church schools (NSO, 2022). Most children attending state and independent schools were 3 years old or younger, children attending church schools were mostly aged between 4 and 6 years (NSO, 2022). During scholastic year 2019/20, 48,465 students attended compulsory education, of which 55.8% were in primary level and 44.2% were in secondary schools (NSO, 2022). Of the 48,465 students, 51.6% attended state schools (NSO, 2022). 1

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48,465. Of these, 51.6% attended State schools (NSO, 2022). A total of 9819 children were enrolled in kindergarten education, and 8998 children were enrolled in the first 2 years of primary education (NSO, 2021). As of March 2020, 27,035 students were enrolled in primary schools, with 57.7% of these attending State schools, with most students attending school in the same district of residence (NSO, 2022). The head teacher is responsible for the administration of school funds and determines how these are utilised.

Educational Reforms in Malta Tied to Malta’s colonial past is the issue of transferability of educational practices (Mifsud, 2012; Sultana, 1999). Compulsory schooling for Maltese children, aged 5 and 12 years, started in 1924, under British rule (Act XXII of 1924, cited in Cassar, 2014). In 1928, compulsory school attendance was raised to 14 years (Cassar, 2014). In 1969, the British decided to let the Maltese choose their own curriculum. Secondary schooling for all became compulsory in 1971, and the Labour Government at the time introduced free primary and secondary education to all Maltese children. Primary State education became co-educational in the early 1970s, and kindergartens, which were free for all children, were set up in 1978. In 1976, following pressure from teachers, streaming by ability was introduced in State schools. In 1988, streaming by ability for children aged 3–7 years was abolished in order to give children the right to experience a more equitable form of educational provision. However, parents and teachers were concerned about the delivery of the same curriculum to all children. This concern may be justifiable. Given the lack of national standardised assessment which did not systematically monitor the quality of educational provision in schools, it was hard to offer feedback for school and educational improvement at the time. In 1988, the Education Act of Malta (Chapter 327 of the Laws of Malta, 1988) provided the constitutional and legal framework and the main aims of the Maltese education system in the form of a National Minimum Curriculum [NMC] (Ministry of Education, 1999). The policy document entitled For all children to succeed (Ministry of Education, Youth & Employment, 2005) introduced the idea of a network of 10 Colleges, now these have increased to 11 (MFED, n.d.). Each College is made up of a school network system and each State school forms part of a network with other schools located within the same geographical area. State schools are asked to work in partnership with one another, share resources and create new practices of teaching and learning within the specific context of their college. Each college is guided and administered by a College Principal. This system was piloted in the scholastic year 2005/2006 with the introduction of the first three Colleges, and by the scholastic year 2007/2008, all Colleges were fully functional. Each College has its own independent board of governors, and will in due course be able to recruit its own staff and manage its own budget. This reform was introduced in order to enable children

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to progress from primary to secondary school with an assessment aimed at individual learning. Until 2006, the State-funded system of compulsory schooling was centralised and managed by the Education Division, within the Ministry of Education. In recent years, through amendments to the Education Act (Act XXXII/2006), considerable changes have taken place. The administration of the national education system was divided into two directorates are: the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education (DQSE), which is responsible for establishing and monitoring the standards and quality of educational programmes and services provided in all schools (State and private), through the compulsory education cycles; and the Directorate for Educational Services (DES), which plans, manages and provides resources and services to schools in collaboration with Colleges and schools and is responsible for the promotion of life-long learning. The principal aim for setting up the DQSE and the DES was to ensure better performance of the regulatory and operational aspects of the Maltese education system as a whole (Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment, 2005). MEDE is responsible for Quality Assurance2 to establish and maintain education standards as stipulated by the National Qualifications Framework [NCF] (MEDE, 2012). Each school formulates its School Development Plan (SDP), in which key priority areas to be tackled by the school are identified and at the end of each school year an audit exercise is carried out to assess whether these targets have been reached. Usually, the SDP is developed by teachers and head teachers during staff development meetings, which take place once per term and last approximately 2 h. Since 2011, streaming according to academic ability has been removed from State primary schools and a national End of Primary Benchmark assessment in Maltese, English and Mathematics has been introduced for students in their final year of primary school (EURYDICE, 2011). Other significant curricular reforms related to ECCE include A National Policy and Strategy for the Attainment of Core Competencies in Primary Education (DQSE, 2009), formulated in 2009 by the DQSE, to ensure the universal mastery of basic bilingual literacy, numeracy and e-literacy in the early years of compulsory schooling. There are various programmes, particularly in primary education, aimed at enhancing and promoting language learning, set up by the Foundation for Educational Services (FES) and the Curriculum Management and eLearning Department. An eLearning strategy was introduced, aimed at integrating Information and Communications Technology (ICT) with traditional teaching systems. As a result, interactive whiteboards and other audio-visual tools for interactivity were set up in classrooms.

 Quality Assurance established that the DQSE is required to provide ongoing evaluations and audits of all the schools (State, Church and independent) in Malta so as to guarantee optimum quality education especially in terms of educational programmes and services, of operations, and of assuring quality at every level of education (from pre-primary to tertiary). 2

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As an attempt to review the NMC (Ministry of Education, 1999), in 2012, the DQSE launched a new National Curriculum Framework for All [NCF] (MEDE, 2012). This review addressed the principles and objectives of the national curriculum to reflect the recent developments within the Maltese cultural context; emphasised educational practices which affect teaching and learning practices; and provided a clear direction for teaching and learning at college and school level. This process led to the introduction of the NCF in October 2013 (MEDE, 2012). The development of the NCF was the result of a national consultative process that created a unique space to rethink the values, philosophies and theories that inform ECEC in Malta. Informed by socio-cultural theories, the NCF explicitly mentions ESD as a cross-curricular theme of the junior and secondary cycles, but not for the early years. The NCF (MEDE, 2012) identified three cycles, the first being the “Early Years Cycle” (MEDE, 2012, p. 11), comprising the two kindergarten years and the first two  years of compulsory school (Year 1 and 2). Learning in the early years is expected to be “a journey of discovery where children find out who they are as individuals and position and establish themselves within a society as they interact with others” (MEDE, 2012, p. 48). The NCF is the first local national document to recognise ECEC as the provision for children aged between 0 and 7 years. The NCF is built around five broad learning outcomes that are expected to be achieved starting in childcare, moving on to kindergarten and the first 2 years of compulsory schooling. Table 4.2 illustrates the five learning outcomes (MEDE, 2012). Thinking skills are considered important for the achievement of learning outcomes 1, 2 and 5. For the achievement of outcomes 1 and 2, children need to acquire metacognitive skills that will assist them in persevering in the face of challenge, encourage them to take risks and build their confidence. For the last learning outcome, children need to nurture all the categories of thinking, ranging from problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, information processing and metacognition. The NCF also calls on educators to compile reports that show children’s progress and development, thus propagating for formative assessment even in the early years. Here, the dichotomy between what the aims of ECEC are and what is actually expected from educators could not be more pronounced. The five learning outcomes presented in Table 4.2 above are integral to the broad dispositions proposed by the NCF (MEDE, 2012). While all five have the potential to provide opportunities for embedding sustainable development, human-to-human relationships are prioritised over relationships with nature, other species and the Earth, thus propagating an anthropocentric view of the world. Despite the socio-­ cultural approach adopted in the NCF, and despite the environmental degradation in Malta, a biocentric or ecocentric lens and a focus on outdoor learning as key to developing lifelong environmental literacy, are still lacking. Another important policy document for the early years is the Early childhood education & care in Malta: The way forward (MEDE, 2013) that acknowledges the importance of the environment as the third teacher. Yet, any reference to a responsive environment in this document is related to the classroom environment rather than the natural or the outdoor environment. In 2015, the Learning Outcomes

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Table 4.2  Adapted from the five learning outcomes for the early years in the NCF (MEDE, 2012, p. 49–50) Learning outcomes 1. Children develop:  A strong self-identity  In a safe, secure and trusting environment, where they feel comfortable expressing themselves  A sense of independence and autonomy  Responsibility and resilience in the face of challenge 2. Children develop:  A positive self-image  A belief in their own potential and capabilities  Self-confidence and confidence in their achievements  Positive attitudes that enable them to take initiative and become risk-takers 3. Become:  Socially-adept  Capable of establishing relationships with others  Empathic, respectful and accepting of different points of view  Aware of the notions of fairness, a sense of justice and non-preferential treatment  Collaborators with peers and adults hailing from diverse backgrounds and needs 4. Become:  Effective communicators  Capable of using different forms of media for communication  Able to interact and engage with various text and printed material, increasing their awareness of purposes and/or function  Familiar with symbols and patterns, and their use  Aware of different language, notably first language (L1) and second language (L2)  Engage with digital literacy as a means of retrieving data, and representing and communicating ideas  Versatile with using numbers, and handling data, shapes, measurement and print in context as a means of knowledge and information production, as well as meaning-making and comprehension 5. Develop:  Nurturing, positive attitudes towards learning, and becoming engaged and confident learners  A range of cognitive skills, including labelling/identifying, recognition, sorting, hypothesising, predicting, comparing, sequencing, and grouping  Positive dispositions, such as enthusiasm and motivation, curiosity, questioning, concentration, perseverance, imagination, and ability to accept alternative responses and even criticism  Motivation to broaden their knowledge and reinforce their understanding through availability of, and access to, various sources of information

Framework, Associated Learning and Assessment Programmes (MEDE, n.d.) was published. It was aimed at providing guidance for pedagogy and assessment to achieve the broad outcomes established by the Ministry of Education. It was implemented in the scholastic year 2018–2019, for 3 year-groups, starting in KG1. Ironically, this document still proposes a very traditional approach to teaching and learning in the early years, and is in contrast with the socio-cultural approach proposed by the NCF. Indeed, during the first year of the implementation of the LOFs, MEDE still offered the same training and guidelines, as it did in previous years and

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expected teachers to fill in its related report for assessment. Despite the introduction of new policy documents, calling for pedagogical change in the early years, education authorities still follow  the old-age practices of using assessment checklists dominated by numeracy and literacy skills in ECEC. Given enforcement of these assessment practices, educators have no choice but to follow them. In 2018, the new Learning Outcomes Framework (LOF) started being implemented in the first year of kindergarten, followed by its implementation in the second year of kindergarten in 2019. The learning outcomes are aimed at enabling the holistic development of children by promoting an integrated approach to teaching and learning that builds on children’s prior knowledge, interests, needs and strengths (EURYDICE, 2022b). As a result of this reform, parents/guardians are able to track their children’s progress via regular reports and new online assessment reporting tools that have been introduced to assist the transition to this new system (EURYDICE, 2022b). Nevertheless, the focus is still on conducting assessment and top-down approaches to ECEC. More recently, strategy 10 within the Malta National Lifelong Learning Strategy (MEDE, 2020) recognises the environmental challenges Malta is facing, such as lack of natural resources, overpopulation and overdevelopment, and calls for increased awareness of sustainable practices in Maltese society. One of the measures listed to achieve this aim is Environmental and Sustainability Education and Sustainability Literacy. However, both educational approaches are linked to adult education programmes  rather than into  ECEC  programmes (MEDE, 2020). Furthermore, while this policy document acknowledges lifelong learning as starting in ECEC, it does not make sustainable development a core value in the early years. In 2021, a national policy framework for ECEC in Malta, entitled Early Childhood Education and Care (0–7 years): National Policy Framework for Malta and Gozo was established by education authorities (MFED, 2021). This policy framework recognises the early years as a critical period for human development and supports investment in the field. Built on young children’s right to a voice, this framework adopts a multi-sectoral approach to ECEC and recognises the importance of parental involvement in children’s educational journeys. All-in-all, despite making promises to advance the ECEC field and the teaching profession in ECEC, this framework is still geared towards providing care for young children in an attempt to provide childcare for working parents who do not have access to alternative childcare options, and towards assessing learning in ECEC. While this framework recognises the contribution of ECEC to the achievement of a sustainable society (EURYDICE, 2022b), it falls short of providing any support for the implementation of ECEfS. Furthermore, this framework still emphasises the importance of measurable academic outcomes and school readiness. In this way, it limits the potential contribution of ECEC to the achievement of sustainable lifestyles. Rather, it measures children against a desirable outcome and ignores the long-term value of ECEC to the achievement of a sustainable society. Since 2008, Malta has experienced educational development manifested through a consistent increase in school buildings, restructuring of the curriculum and more

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intensive teacher training. The aim of upgrading educational standards served to promote national interests within an active and dynamic globalised society. Furthermore, within the Maltese education system there are also provisions to facilitate the international dimension in education, including the participation in international exchange educational programmes of students and teachers; the international recognition of courses; the benchmarking of performance of institutions to international standards; and the establishment of partnerships between Maltese and foreign educational institutions to organise courses (EURYDICE, 2011). These initiatives have reformed the Maltese education system, thus indicating that the government has placed education as one of its highest priorities. Nevertheless, the Maltese education system is bureaucratic at best, and all schools in Malta are obliged to follow the same curriculum and to abide by all the regulations as listed in the Education Act (MEDE, 2013). This has been supported by local research showing that the dominant ideology in the Maltese education system emphasises competitive academic achievement and suppresses creativity (Mifsud, 2012; Pace, 2009). This is not surprising when considering the fact that the Maltese education system is still focused on academic achievement, which often results in rote learning that is not useful in real-life situations. The geo-political circumstances of Malta have left the Maltese education system in a “limbo of uneducated existence” (Cassar, 2009, p. 53). This is because the scarcity of human resources and financial shortages significantly influence the operational and administrative style of Malta’s education system. A reason for this is provided by Mayo et al. (2008), who note that since the cost per capita of services in small States like Malta is higher than in larger States, resources (financial and human) are used to their maximum potential in order to achieve more with less, thus developing a cost-effective and resources maximising, education system. For example, even though Maltese politicians have acknowledged the benefits of investment in the educational system as a means of training, which would help set stronger foundations for rapid economic development, teachers cannot be released from classroom duties to attend in-service training and professional development programmes unless they avail themselves of European funding for such purposes.

Early Childhood Education: A Closer Look In Malta, ECCE refers to the education of children between birth and 7 years of age (EURYDICE, 2022a;  MFED, 2021). ECEC has a history that spans over four decades in State schools, and a longer history in Church schools.  Prior to 1975, ECEC was offered mostly by Church institutions. Nevertheless, the history of ECEC services in Malta is still under-researched (Sollars, 2018). The first Church kindergartens opened in the late nineteenth century or early twentieth century, with some opening as early as 1880 and 1903 by the Franciscan and Ursuline nuns (Sollars et al., 2006). The first priority for establishing ECEC settings in Malta was an economic response to a demand by mothers to enter the workforce, implying that at the time, quality provision was not a priority (Sollars, 2018). Hence, in 1975, the first mass national ECCE programmes for 4-year-olds began. As a result,

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Table 4.3  Non-compulsory and compulsory early childhood education in Malta Type of education Non-compulsory Pre-primary education Compulsory Primary education

Year group Childcare Centres

Age of children (years) 0–3

Kindergarten 1 Kindergarten 2 Year 1

3–4 4–5 5–6

Year 2

6–7

Source: EURYDICE (2021)

kindergarten centres were opened in every primary school, in every town and village, in Malta and Gozo. In 1988, the first mass national ECCE programme for 3-year-olds was introduced, and more recently childcare services have been extended to children under three (Sollars, 2018). In schools, the terms “KG 1” and “KG 2” were adopted to refer to children aged 3 to 4-years and 4 to 5-years respectively (MEDE, 2013). As shown in Table 4.3, ECCE in Malta is divided into two distinct but overlapping sectors: the non-compulsory sector (which is further subdivided into two sections: child-care for under 3s and Kindergarten for 2 years 9 months-to-5-year-olds), and the first 2 years compulsory primary education (for children between 5 and 7 years of age). Childcare centres offer non-compulsory education and care for children from 3 months up to 36 months (EURYDICE, 2022a). The latter include home-care based facilities, registered private centres and also some centres in State schools. In an attempt to facilitate the work-family balance for working parents, in 2014, a free childcare scheme  was introduced, whereby childcare services are provided for free  for parents who are either employed or furthering their studies (EURYDICE, 2021). Kindergarten schools, available for children aged between 2 years and 9 months and 5 years, are currently available within all State primary schools, and in most of the Independent and Church schools (EURYDICE, 2022a). The State-funded settings are attached to every primary school located in every town and village in Malta and Gozo, are free of charge and no child can be refused from registering in a State-­ funded kindergarten setting (MEDE, 2013). ECEC is free of charge in Church and State kindergarten centres in Malta and Gozo, while privately owned childcare and kindergarten centres charge fees (EURYDICE, 2021). All kindergarten settings in Malta have a standard ratio of one adult to a maximum number of 14 children in the classroom in kindergarten 1, and one adult to a maximum number of 19 children in each classroom in kindergarten 2 (EURYDICE,  2022c). In primary schools, the maximum number of children in each classroom is 28 (EURYDICE,  2022c). In classrooms where children need to be supported by a learning support educator (LSE), the maximum number of children in kindergarten 1 is 12; in kindergarten 2, it is 16; and in primary school, it is 24 (EURYDICE, 2022c). All kindergarten settings in Malta must be registered and licensed with the Ministry of Education and Employment (MEDE, 2013). Kindergarten education, which is also non-­compulsory, is provided for Maltese children aged 3–5 years and parents can choose not to send

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their children to kindergarten schools. Kindergarten and primary education are co-­ educational in all school sectors in Malta. School attendance is compulsory for all Maltese children aged between 5 and 16 years (EURYDICE, 2022a). Historically, in Malta, kindergarten settings were not provided with a formal curriculum. The NMC introduced a curriculum for kindergarten settings for the first time, where the “main aim of the Curriculum at Kindergarten level is to enhance the holistic development of children” (Ministry of Education, 1999, p. 71). At this level, no formal teaching is supposed to take place, as the main educational objectives should include activities aimed towards the development of the children’s social attitudes, language and communication skills, in preparation for primary education (Sollars, 2018). However, since their inception, kindergarten settings in Malta have been viewed as places where children socialise and prepare for school, and since most settings are either directly or indirectly linked to primary schools, they take on the role of preparing children for school. This has led to the adoption of methodological practices which are more suitable for older children rather than children aged between 3 and 5 years, where the primary goal of ECEC became the acquisition of basic academic skills. Consequently,  it is common practice in Malta for ECEC settings to follow the same rules and routines as children in primary school, which may not always be beneficial for young children. This means that in ECCE classrooms, discovery learning and fun activities such as art, storytelling, crafts, play, cooking, music, drama, poetry and singing, are usually absent. Such activities could offer a rich potential for children to learn in meaningful ways. However, Sollars et al. (2006) report that children, as young as 2 and 3 years old, were given “homework” to satisfy parental demand for academic achievements later on. In fact, Sollars et al. (2006) report that Maltese parents, and some educators, perceive learning which takes place in a classroom, and where homework is assigned, as more valuable than learning which happens elsewhere, for example in outdoor contexts. Thus propogating the belief that children learn best when knowledge and information are transmitted to them and when they engage in rote learning, and are trained in the mechanistic of reading and writing from an early age. In their study, Sollars et al. (2006) report that schools which do not offer such learning opportunities are considered of inferior quality by Maltese parents. This is because Maltese parents consider the amount of homework assigned to their children as an indicator of their children’s academic development and prowess. Therefore, State schools do their best to satisfy parental expectations by assigning daily homework for core subjects, including  Maltese, English and Maths, and by  engaging children in the type of learning which helps them achieve good grades in exams. In this regard, children are treated as a moldable resource for the fulfilment of adults’ hopes and desires for a better future (Holland, 1994) and are always in competition to secure academic achievement in the hope of securing a ‘good job’ in the future. This is an example of the technicist approach described by Moss (2007), where ECCE is seen as a place where young children are prepared for school, and where learning outcomes can be measured via exams rather than a place where children can develop a wide range of capacities. Sollars et al. (2006) suggest that one way to change this system is through parental education to encourage their involvement in school functions, where

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parents are informed about the best practices in ECCE which they can promote at home for the benefit of their children. Once children reach the age of 5, they enter formal education (Years 1 and 2). At this age, schooling becomes more intensive and learning through play and exploration is replaced by rigid and demanding, and at times abstract, activities, during which children are formally taught mostly factual information which they then have to memorise. Textbooks for core subjects  (Maltese, English and Maths) are frequently used to meet parental expectations, particularly if parents invested financially in them. Children generally take part in drama and singing only at Christmas concerts and few exhibitions. It is not uncommon to enter an ECCE classroom and rather than seeing individual child’s strengths and achievements, one observes children working on the same activity simultaneously. It is common to see a long line of drawings hung on the wall, which are impeccable but they are all the same, where children were simply asked to colour in a particular picture that would later be displayed in the classroom or in the school corridor. Often, Kindergarten educators are the ones who make crafts, or even colour pictures for children, so that these are in perfect order just in case an education officer visits their classroom. Therefore, the Maltese ECCE system diverges from the notions of children and play that are historically associated with ECCE and Froebel’s ideas of kindergarten. In recent years, in Malta, there has been a shift in the structure and organisation of the Maltese education system. The system has been comprehensively reviewed and various policies and reports were developed in different sectors of education in an attempt to provide an improved holistic quality education that would help all children attending compulsory education in Malta succeed as active citizens in a globalised world. As in other parts of the world, education in Malta, including ECCE, has been shaped by global economic demands and this is reflected in the curricular changes implemented over the years. This has subjected children to the power of global economic situations (Dahlberg et  al., 2007). Malta too has been subjected to the governments’ interest in ECCE and subsequent Maltese governments have ensured equitable access to high-quality ECCE to all. For example, ECCE services in Malta were established to help mothers return to gainful employment (Sollars et al., 2006). This leads to another outcome of ECCE as “a commodity to parents-as-consumers” (Moss, 2007, p. 7). Within this consumerist practice, parents, as consumers, require child-care while working and therefore, they have power over what goes on at school. Therefore, even though Dahlberg et al. (2007) do not make any reference to the Maltese education system, I consider their discourses to be prevalent within the Maltese ECCE system. First, the deficit discourse, which positions the child as immature, and therefore, not yet competent  – indeed, this views ECCE as a necessary intervention which focuses on outcomes related to a mainstream concept of normal development. Second, the deficit discourse about motherhood, whereby ECCE attempts to replicate an idealised home environment by emphasising relationships and pedagogy of attachment. Third, discourses concerning the global corporatisation of ECCE as a business investment. According to Dahlberg et al. (2007), these three discourses position children as being vulnerable and innocent. Moreover, Malone (2007) argues that discourses such as these also

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position children as being in need of protection. These discourses are relevant to this book in that teachers and parents who influenced by them, are unlikely to be supportive of the concept of the young child as producer of complex meanings, including around issues of environmental sustainability.

Training of Early Childhood Teachers In the context of ECEC in Malta, where a variety of services are available, a range of terminologies are used to indicate the educative role of the adults providing the service. The most commonly used terms for people in educative roles in ECEC in Malta include ‘child carer’, ‘kindergarten educator’, ‘kindergarten assistant’, and ‘teacher’, amongst others. Individuals working in ECEC settings possess a variety of qualifications, ranging from a minimum of two advanced level exams to higher degrees (EURYDICE, 2022c). While this book does not allow for a discussion around the issues created as a result of this situation, the term ‘teacher’ is consistently used in this book. Specifically, the term ‘teacher’ here refers to the adults in charge of providing the service, assuming that they possess at least the minimum level of teaching qualifications (MQF level 4), and continuous training and professional knowledge necessary to provide research-informed learning opportunities and interactions for young children in the early years. The variety of teacher training programmes available in Malta, starting in the nineteenth century, are discussed below. In the mid-nineteenth century, teacher training in Malta was limited and unorganised3 (Sollars et al., 2006). In the twentieth century, a teacher training college was provided by religious institutions, under the name The College. The nuns of the Sacred Heart were responsible for female teacher education in Malta, while the Christian Brothers were responsible for the education of male teachers.4 These teacher training courses were 2-year residential courses. In 1971, the teacher training course was extended from 2 years to 3 years. In 1973, the teacher training programme was re-organised within a single institution, where female and male teachers were educated together and the course ceased to be residential and under the influence of religious orders. The College became known as the Malta College of Education (Camilleri, 1978). At the same time, a 1-year post-graduate certificate

 The first teacher training courses were set up and run by Can Paolo Pullicino in 1850 (Camilleri, 1978). As the Director of Primary Schools, he closed all the village schools from October to December to enable teachers to attend the Model School for lectures and practical training. Pullicino himself instructed teachers in methodology (Camilleri, 2001). At the end of the course, teachers sat for the final examination and obtained certificates. This gradually gave rise to better qualifications of teachers. Teachers in the private sector were also obliged to attend courses and obtain the necessary certification. 4  The Mater Admirabilis Training College for women and St. Michael’s Training College for male teachers. Were opened in 1944. Initially, training lasted 1 year. In 1955, a two-year residential training course was inaugurated (Camilleri, 1978). 3

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course in Education (PGCE) for university graduates was introduced by the University of Malta. As of 1975, kindergarten teachers had to be 18 and older, and required a minimum of four ‘O’ level passes, including Maltese, English5 and Maths, to be eligible to apply for the post of a kindergarten teacher (Sollars et al., 2006). Selected candidates had to undergo a crash training programme of about 6 months in order to learn teaching methods and techniques related to children of this age (Sollars et al., 2006). In 1978, the Labour Government at the time reformed tertiary education and set up the Faculty of Education in an effort to improve the quality of teacher training in Malta. As a result, the teacher training course was upgraded to a Bachelor’s degree course in Education. Later, this course was upgraded again to honours degree level.6 During initial teacher training at the University of Malta, students get qualified to teach at all levels of compulsory education. Due to the great demand in teacher training in specialised fields, teacher training courses were re-designed to meet these needs. As of 1999, university students following teacher training courses had to choose one area of education in which to specialise, i.e., either primary (with options for ECCE and middle years) or secondary education training. Between 1991 and 2003, education authorities, known back then as the Education Division, offered a 2-year full-time course leading to a preschool certificate, which focused on providing training for teachers working with 3- to 5-year-olds (Sollars et al., 2006). This was recognised as the requirement for people who wanted to work with this age group. Thirty participants were accepted annually for this course. However, many of these participants were unable to find employment in the State education sector as the sector was already saturated (Sollars et al., 2006). In 2002, the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology (MCAST)7 started running this course instead. Participants aged 16 and older could enrol for this 2-year course, making Malta the only country with the shortest course for pre-school staff training (Sollars et al., 2006). The need for better training for ECEC teachers has long been felt. In 2007, the Nationalist Government and the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT)8 signed an agreement stipulating that all teachers recruited in kindergarten settings ought to have an initial teaching degree from 2015 onwards (Ministry of Education & Employment, 2013). In response to this agreement, between 2009 and 2011, the University of  In 1977 the call indicated English as one of the subjects required. The Selection Board asked for a ruling to determine whether this meant English Language or English Literature. During the discussions leading to the signing of the Agreement, it was agreed that ‘English’ should mean either English Language or English Literature. In 1982 the requirements for the post of Kindergarten Assistants were four (4) GCE ‘O’ level passes or equivalent qualifications, including Maltese and English Language or Literature. 6  When the Faculty of Education was established in 1978 students were awarded a B.A (Educ.) degree. This was initially a 4-year course but became a 5-year course in 1979/80. By 1987, students were applying for a 4-year B.Ed. (Hons.) programme. 7  MCAST is responsible for vocational training. 8  Director General Circular dated 26th May 2009 Ref DES/DQSE/01/2009: Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Malta and the Malta Union of teachers 5

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Malta started offering a part-time B.Ed. (Hons.) degree in ECEC, targeted at existing practitioners. From October 2013, the University of Malta started offering a 4-year full-time B.Ed. (Hons.) in ECCE. In 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the DES and the MUT declaring that in order for individuals to be employed as kindergarten teachers they had to have at least successfully completed the MCAST National Diploma course9 (later became known as the BTEC-­ MCAST programme). To date, this qualification is sufficient for one to be employed as a kindergarten teacher. However, teachers in primary schools must hold a Bachelor’s degree and a Master in teaching and learning, or any other professional qualification deemed acceptable by the Council for the Teaching Profession. Heads of school are required to have a minimum of 10 years teaching experience in addition to a Diploma in Administration and Management from the Faculty of Education within the University of Malta to qualify for the post. Despite these efforts, data from the Ministry of Education and Employment (2013) show that of the 486 kindergarten teachers employed in the State sector, 62 (12.8%) were in possession of a qualification listed as “pre-school education”; one person had a Master’s degree in Early Childhood, and four individuals were in possession of qualifications in other areas of interest (for example, an M.A. in Creativity & Innovation; a Diploma in Facilitating Inclusive Education). In addition to the 486 kindergarten teachers, the State sector employs a further 58 supply kindergarten teachers.10 Unfortunately, to date, despite the fact that in Malta the field of ECEC has come a long way, it still retains low-status and people entering the field often possess minimal qualifications (Sollars, 2018). As of 2016, anyone intending to teach in the ECEC sector is required to follow a Bachelor’s degree in ECCE.  Several institutions offer teacher training courses around the island, the major contributor being the Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, within the Faculty of Education, at the University of Malta, that offers a 3-year BA ECEC (Hons) (MQF level 6), and top-up courses for teachers holding an MQF level 5 diploma in ECEC. The Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education also offers part-time top-up courses for teachers already in employment who would like to further their education up to bachelors or master level. Other institutions offering teacher training courses in ECEC include MCAST and the Institute for Education. Teachers also have to hold a permanent teachers’ warrant awarded by the Council for the Teaching Profession (EURYDICE, 2022c). Teachers in State kindergarten, primary and secondary schools are considered as career civil servants, employed by MEDE on an indefinite contract basis, however, supply teachers are employed on a definite basis (EURYDICE, 2022c). Teachers employed by Church and independent schools are offered a variety of contracts, ranging from definite to indefinite contracts. Some of the teachers’ working conditions in Malta are characterised by a top-down approach. Teachers in Church  http://www.mcast.edu.mt/MainMenu/Full-TimeCourses/CoursesbyInstitute/InstituteOf CommunityServices/Courses.aspx?CourseID=924 10  Supply kindergarten teachers must be in possession of 1 ‘A’ Level or equivalent in any subject (including typing) and a pass in 4 O levels (including Maths, Maltese and English) 9

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and  State schools are obliged to attend three School Professional Development (SPD) sessions annually (once per term) (Bezzina, 2002). SPDs are usually held after-school hours, for approximately 2 h each. The theme of the SPD session may be chosen by the College Principal, the Head of School or the teachers themselves, and their attendance in these sessions is remunerated. A one-day-long SDP session is also organised once a year, during which, teachers audit, review and formulate school development plans. Teachers’ working conditions are governed by the Public Service Management Code (PSMC). Their collective agreements are agreed to between the Government  of Malta and the MUT.11 Furthermore, teachers are expected to follow the code of ethics12 which forms part of the regulations of Chapter 327 of the Laws of Malta, the Education Act.

 nvironmental Education and Education for Sustainable E Development in Malta Literature exploring aspects of economic and political development on small island states emerged in the 1970s following the independence of many small states worldwide (Crossley & Sprague, 2014). Yet, literature related to sustainability in small island states is limited in scope and the educational implications of sustainability there are rarely addressed (Crossley & Sprague, 2014; Selby & Kagawa, 2018). In fact, literature on EE in small island states did not emerge until the mid-1980s, following the pan-Commonwealth meeting on education in small states, in Mauritius, in 1985 (Commonwealth Secretariat, 1985). This was followed by the international network that inspired the UNESCO/IIEP and the setting up of the Islands and Small States Institute, at the University of Malta. Research suggests that in small island states, EE programmes available tend to be eclectic, and are often underpinned by a common focus on the state of the environment and human-environment relationships, and the belief that connecting children to the environment fosters environmental stewardship and active environmental engagement (Selby & Kagawa, 2018). This is also the case in Malta, where even though several attempts have been made to introduce EE in formal education, these have been sporadic and mostly unsuccessful, at least at the beginning. In 1969, EE was introduced in the Maltese education system at post-secondary level via science subjects and ‘Systems of Knowledge’ but this attempt proved to be unsuccessful due to lack of resources to support teachers and teacher training programmes (Ventura, 1994). Later, another attempt was made to introduce EE via Science and Social Studies, two subjects taught in both primary and secondary schools in Malta  Teachers, at all grades and in the State and private sector, in Malta are represented by the MUT, one of the trade unions representing educators in Malta. 12  The code of ethics serves to guide teachers in their professional conduct and stipulates their responsibilities towards their students, their colleagues, parents, the community and the teaching profession in general. 11

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(Pace, 2007). The issue here was that educators were using internationally published material and textbooks that offered a Westernised perspective of global environmental issues, and bore no relevance to the Malta, making them irrelevant to the Maltese context. Later, attempts were made to move from EE towards ESD. Pace (2007, p. 212) reports three major phases which led to the evolution from EE to ESD in Malta, including: i. Awareness phase (1960s–1970s), characterised by irregular activities organised by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), aimed at raising public awareness and shaping public opinion to improve the state of the Maltese environment. In 1962, two local NGOs, BirdLife Malta and what is now known as Nature Trust-­ FEE Malta (back then it was called The Maltese Ornithological Society and Natural History Society of Malta respectively), paved the way for the introduction of ESD in Malta (Mifsud, 2012). The aim of Nature Trust-FEE Malta is to protect and conserve local flora and fauna and BirdLife Malta aims to protect birds. Both NGOs organised educational programmes aimed at the general public and schoolchildren, and issued informative printed material to inform and educate the Maltese about the importance of protecting the environment (Pace, 2007). Nevertheless, such activities were not coordinated and any attempts made remained futile. ii. Fragmentary phase (1980s – early 1990s), characterised by the institutionalisation of EE when various actors assumed responsibility for EE, but failed to coordinate initiatives. In the 1980s, the formal education sector started to give some importance to the study of the environment and other conservation issues. Environmental education was introduced in Maltese schools, for the first time, in 1982, for children from Year 3 (7- to 8-year-olds) and older (Mifsud, 2012; Ventura, 1993). This action was aimed at teaching children at primary level good formation in character and scientific knowledge in the environmental field which would result in their appreciation and safe-guarding of the Maltese environment (Ministry of Education, 1999); and iii. Co-ordinated phase (from mid-1990s), characterised by the setting up of the National Environmental Education Strategy (NEES) in 1995. Briguglio and Pace (2004) and Mifsud (2012) noted that since its inception, NEES was constrained by limited resources and funding, and ESD was not a priority. Indeed, Malta still lacks a clear national policy on EE, which has resulted in a waste of human resources and missed opportunities. Following Malta’s application for EU membership in 1990, the  Nationalist  Government increased its commitments toward environmental protection and the first environmental law in Malta, known as the Environmental Protection Act, and as from 1992, a number of other laws were passed thereafter. Mifsud (2012) argues that this phase was unsuccessful for mismanagement of human resources within different government agencies responsible for EE at the time.

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While NGOs have strived to increase the importance of EE in Malta, it was not in the vested interest of political parties to address environmental issues. Taking environmental action would have angered the public and would have led to loss of votes in a general election, something which politicians do not want. In the 1990 however, when the Secretariat for the Environment in Malta was formed, non-­formal EE activities started taking place. The latter initiated a campaign for primary school children using a compilation of a cartoon hedgehog character, called Xummiemu (meaning a clean hedgehog). The hedgehog is also a protected species in Malta. Through cartoon clips Xummiemu educated children about various local environmental issues, including illegal dumping of waste, noise pollution, litter, and the reduction of lead being thrown away in the environment (Ventura, 1994). Such campaigns took place in schools and were even televised on the main local television station during prime time. This campaign was successful in raising awareness of environmental issues in Malta, and it led to publication of the ‘Act to Protect the Environment’ in 1991. This was followed by the first Environmental Act (Act XX of 2001) in 2001, where sustainability was given prominence for the first time (Axiaq et al., 2002). Together, these two environmental acts held the Maltese accountable for protecting the environment. In April 2002, The Maltese Association of Environmental Educators (MAEE) was formed. In 2004, the Centre for Environmental Education Research (CEER) was launched, followed by the launch of the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE), in 2008. In 2009, the first international Master in intercultural and environmental management of schools was launched at the University of Malta, in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University, in Venice, Italy. The first Master in education for sustainable development at the University of Malta was offered for the first time in 2012, and has been running ever since. Since then, ESD in formal and informal education has been mainly addressed by the education authorities, environmental authorities, the University of Malta and various environmental NGOs. In the past, each of these organisations used to function independently of the others, however, in recent years there have been several attempts by these organisations to co-­ordinate educational activities (Mifsud, 2012). In particular, there have been two notable attempts at developing an ESD policy in Malta, including the setting up of the National Environmental Education Strategy [NEES] (Pace, 2007); and the revision of the NMC (Ministry of Education, 1999) in 1996, neither of which was successful (Briguglio & Pace, 2004). For the first time, in 1996, curriculum innovations were introduced in Malta through a holistic framework of guidelines advocating an interdisciplinary approach together with the necessary support infrastructure, following a nationwide consultation exercise with a variety of stakeholders (Briguglio & Pace, 2004). Next, the NMC, that was designed by the Ministry of Education, was approved by the Maltese parliament in 1999, and implemented from October 2000 till October 2013, when it was replaced by the NCF (Ministry of Education and Employment, 2012) for the period from October 2013 until October 2026. The NMC (Ministry of Education, 1999) was being replaced at the time of the data collection for this book.

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The NMC (Ministry of Education, 1999) listed a set of goals for children’s learning in Maltese schools but it did not provide subject-specific learning objectives. However, learning objectives were listed in the subject-specific syllabi. The NMC advocated a learner-centred approach, thematic teaching, development of critical thinking and participatory skills, interdisciplinary approach to education and encouraged the decentralisation of the education system to encourage public and NGO participation in the educational system (Pace, 2007). In essence, the main aim of the NMC was to prepare citizens for the challenges of the new millennium. This innovative approach to Maltese education was a good opportunity that would have helped the introduction of ESD principles and methodologies in the Maltese educational system (Bezzina & Pace, 2004). Pace (2007) notes that the NMC, “proposed several measures that, if implemented, would iron out incongruencies and facilitate the infusion of ESD in the educational system” (p.  213). Specifically, within the NMC Principle 4 encouraged schools to offer Education Relevant for Life, whereas Principles 7, 3 and 6 called for educators to ensure a Holistic Education fostering Stimulation of Analytical, Critical and Creative Thinking Skills and Nurturing Commitment (Ministry of Education, 1999, p. 25–27). The NMC also encouraged educators to present a global perspective in their activities and “to promote the view that the sustainability of life on earth is contingent on our everyday choices” (Ministry of Education, 1999, p. 21). Objective 7 focused on Preparing Educated Consumers (Ministry of Education, 1999, p. 43) and developing an “awareness of the consumer’s responsibilities to the environment and society… [and] appreciation of the importance of consumer cooperation and solidarity” (Ministry of Education, 1999, p. 44). Objective 11 aimed at facilitating Wise Choices in the Field of Health (Ministry of Education, 1999, p. 48) so that through their behaviours students will show “respect for life and for the quality of human life; respect for one’s health and that of others…” (Ministry of Education, 1999, p. 49). The EkoSkola13 programme (thereafter referred to as EkoSkola) was introduced to reach these specific aims (Briguglio & Pace, 2004).  The EkoSkola programme is a local Eco-School programme (Foundation for Environmental Education [FEE], n.d.). The EcoSchools programme was launched in 1994 by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and now includes over 7000 schools distributed around the world. It was aimed at systematically weaving ESD principles within a school’s management policy progressively incorporating an environmental ethic within the school ethos. The programme adopts a whole-school approach to ESD by empowering students to adopt an active role in environmental decision-making and action in schools and in their community (Briguglio & Pace, 2004). It seeks to raise environmental awareness and to promote sustainable development at a local level in the classroom and, in the wider community, through the implementation of the United Nations Local Agenda 21. EkoSkola was introduced in Malta as a pilot project in 2002 by Nature Trust  FEE Malta, (n.d.) in collaboration with the government. Children aged 7–8 year and older participate in this programme (Malta Environment & Planning Authority [MEPA], 2008). It encourages the participation of children in decision-making, planning and implementation of environmental activities with the aim of improving the quality of life in their school and community. Pace (2009) suggested that EkoSkola was purposefully introduced in Malta to encourage active student participation in environmental issues through whole-school approaches and to date, several schools have been awarded the Green Flag. 13

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The EkoSkola programme has been instrumental and successful in creating change within the formal education sector in Malta, in that it redefined the top-down management approach where children and adults became equal partners in the process of change (Pace, 2007). EkoSkola has also encouraged the holistic development of Maltese schools and opened up innovative collaborative strategies with Local Councils (Mifsud, 2012; Pace, 2007). Nonetheless, Mifsud (2012) notes that some primary schools seemed to be more interested in gaining points for EkoSkola certification rather than raising the intrinsic value of environmental stewardship in the whole-school community. Therefore, even though environmental activities in schools and the community have increased, particularly due to the schools’ participation in EkoSkola, EE projects funded by the government only served to achieve environmental policy objectives with short-term goals that were used to promote the government’s agenda (Mifsud, 2012). Even though ESD in Malta has been given some importance, it was not given the national priority it deserves. Further, since its inception, it was not coherently organised and it did not effectively offer the adequate opportunities for individuals to develop the necessary skills and capacity to deal with sustainability issues (Briguglio & Pace, 2004). Almost two decades ago, Briguglio and Pace (2004) noted that Malta was gradually building up an infrastructure aimed at supporting future ESD initiatives to a point where Malta was supposed to be able to adopt sustainability principles. To this very day, achieving success with EE programmes in the Maltese education system has been difficult mostly because of teachers’ resistance to change (Pace, 2007); intense streaming; and selective examinations that exclude certain components within the curriculum which cannot be assessed by a written examination. Furthermore, the majority of schools in Malta adopt a traditional, mono-­ disciplinary and exam-oriented pedagogy, where the teacher is seen as the provider of information and the children reproduce that information during exams. Such a system tries to domesticate children to meet teachers’ demands and keeps them competing against each other for teachers and school’s recognition (Mifsud, 2012). Moreover, from the perspectives of parents and teachers, a teachers’ success is dependent upon children’s percentage pass rate of exams. In this scenario, experiential and participative pedagogy and outdoor learning, which are advocated by ESD, are perceived by educators and parents as a waste of time (Mayo et  al., 2008; Mifsud, 2012). Indeed, strong evidence indicates that current trends in ESD in Malta tend to focus on environmental issues rather than address their causes in relation to social, cultural and economic situations (Bezzina & Pace, 2004; Mifsud, 2012; Mayo et al., 2008; Pace, 2007, 2009). Pace (1995) argues that it is often the individual teacher’s interest and concern about the current state of the environment that ensures the integration of environmental issues in daily teaching, rather than any EE policy adopted. Given Malta’s small geographical size, where promotion prospects in a very competitive environment are limited, making collaboration between individuals and sectors becomes more difficult, thus increasing the culture of competitive academic achievement even further. Lack of teacher training in ESD is also a major barrier to the implementation of the field. As a result, Maltese teachers request teaching resources for successful implementation of ESD because they

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feel under-trained and believe that resources for the effective implementation of ESD in Malta are difficult to produce, an attitude which undermines teachers’ professional status (Bezzina & Pace, 2004; Mifsud, 2012; Pace, 2009). Consequently, ESD initiatives tend to be few and far between. This might explain why to date, Malta does not have a formal national ESD policy and ECEfS programmes are practically non-existent.

 arly Childhood Education for Sustainability in Malta: E Moving Forward from the Margins Despite the importance of the early years for human development, investments in ECEfS in Malta have largely been overlooked (Spiteri, 2021, 2022). Of interest to this book is the fact that the NCF, recognises the importance of ESD in formal education (MEDE, 2012). In fact, ESD is listed as one of the six cross-curricular themes to be incorporated in other subjects in secondary education (MEDE, 2012). While this has been a move forward in the right direction, the NCF falls short in incorporating ESD in the early years sector. Despite the international recognition of the early years for the achievement of sustainability, the NCF (MEDE, 2012) has excluded ECEfS. Recently, in an attempt to address the implementation of the SDGs in the early years, the Ministry for Education (MFED) proposed a national policy framework for ECEC (MFED, 2021). This policy framework recognises ECEC as the foundation for lifelong learning and sustainability. It proposes the implementation of learning about sustainability issues in ECEC that, if adopted, would facilitate the inclusion of learning about nature and sustainability in the early years. Despite its claims, the framework lacks a properly integrated policy for environmental learning. More importantly, in reality, the fostering of values around sustainability is not prioritised in ECEC. Such an education system is largely informed by fundamentally mechanistic worldviews that ignore sustainability issues and their impact on the well-being of people (Sterling, 2001). This is partly due to the focus of the Maltese education system on economic growth that moves away from the principles of ESD. In essence, this is a system that favours the economic dimension, and in so doing, it does not challenge the dominant economic paradigm and does not recognise people and nature as interdependent (Sterling, 2001). Sterling (2001) contends that the reason why educational systems had barely responded to the challenge of re-orienting curricula towards sustainability might have been due to the insufficient clarification of changes in education that would be necessary for the goals of EE to be fulfilled. In order for ESD to reach the goal of re-orienting curricula towards sustainability, curriculum designers and teachers need to develop learning situations conducive to transformative learning experiences that are holistic, critical, appreciative, inclusive, systemic and creative (Sterling, 2010). Although Sterling (2001) did not make any reference to the Maltese

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education system, a lot of his arguments nevertheless apply. The NCF (MEDE, 2012) recognises ESD as a cross-curricular theme. However, the Maltese education system is still based on academic achievement because it is built on the needs of the Maltese industry and deviates from the principles of ESD (Pace, 2007). Rather than recognising that people and nature are interdependent, the Maltese education system favours economic growth over sustainability, and attributes minor importance to the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. An education system that spoon-feeds students creates passivity, uncritical thinking and recapitulation rather than independent minds. In line with Sterling’s (2001) argument, this view of education is informed by mechanistic worldviews that are largely ignorant of the sustainability issues that are constantly and increasingly impacting on people’s lives. If Sterling (2010) is correct, this will need to change fundamentally for ESD to reach the goal of re-orienting curricula towards sustainability; curriculum designers and teachers will need to develop learning situations conducive to transformative learning experiences that are holistic, critical, appreciative, inclusive, systemic and creative.

Conclusion This chapter has elaborated on the Maltese education system by including detailed information about the policy documents and reforms that helped shape the educational outcomes of generations. The chapter sheds light on the brief history of ECEC, an area of education focused almost entirely on the desired educational outcomes of the Maltese education system – economic growth. Embedded within the outcomes of these documents were two assumptions, first, that students would be able to achieve academic success that would eventually lead to better job prospects, and second, ECEC services would accommodate the return of parents to the workforce. In light of these assumptions, ECEC programmes endorsed a pedagogy that prepares children for primary education as the most appropriate pedagogical approach. ESD is recognised as a core education concern in that it contributes effectively to re-orient society towards sustainability (UNESCO, 2014). A key premise of ESD is that apart from catering for academic achievement of individuals, educational systems worldwide teach individuals about the impact of human actions on the environment, as well as helping children to find positive solutions to these issues. In recent years, this recognition has been extended to the field of ECEC.  ESD and ECEC can involve the ideal alignment with traditional early years’ pedagogies of young children and play. Yet, educational policy and practice in Malta were, and still are, a reflection of the country’s colonial legacy. Education systems in postcolonial countries tend to reproduce the dynamics and key features of Eurocentrism, often guided by content-driven curricula, teacher-centred pedagogy, and a neglect of the mother tongue and local knowledge (Tikly, 2020), and this is the case in Malta as well. This has been confirmed by recent research suggesting that

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colonialism is still prevalent in the way parents request school uniforms, the widespread use of English as the language of instruction in schools, top-down pedagogy starts in the early years, restrictions to play-based learning, storytelling, weather charts and alphabet charts in English (Baldacchino, 2019). This is also reflected in the NCF (MEDE, 2012), where even though some initial attempts to include ESD as a cross-­curricular theme were made, it failed to indicate how the practice of ESD relates to the ECEC as well. As a result, the implementation of ECEfS often resulted in the development of on-off programmes by teachers who are passionate about environmental and sustainability issues. In order to find ways in which to more effectively implement ECEfS, it is essential for policy-makers to understand the educational and pedagogical practices through which ECEfS outcomes are to be achieved. By locating ECEfS in the early years, teachers can find different ways of addressing environmental issues using play-based learning.

References Axiaq, V., Gauci, V., Mallia, A., Mallia, E., Schembri, P. J., Vella, A. J., & Vella, L. (2002). State of the Environment Report for Malta 2002. Ministry of Home Affairs and the Environment. Retrieved from https://era.org.mt/wp-­content/uploads/2019/05/SOEReport2002.pdf Baldacchino, A. (2019). Postcolonialism and early childhood education in small island states. Malta Review of Educational Research, 13(1), 109–130. http://www.mreronline.org/wp-­ content/uploads/2019/07/MRER-­Vol-­13-­1-­Anna-­Baldacchino.pdf Bezzina, C. (2002). Rethinking teachers’ professional development in Malta: Agenda for the twenty-first century. Journal of In-Service Education, 28(1), 57–78. https://doi. org/10.1080/13674580200200171 Bezzina, C., & Pace, P. (2004). Promoting school development through environmental education. In Trends: Monograph series in education, Issue 1. University of Malta. Briguglio, L., & Pace. J. P. (2004). Education for sustainable development in Malta. University of Malta. Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/83022411.pdf Camilleri, J. J. (1978). The Keenan report: A definition. Hyphen, 4, 1–8. Camilleri, J. J. (2001). Paolo Pullicino’s educational legacy. In R. G. Sultana (Ed.), Yesterday’s schools. Readings in Maltese educational history (pp.101–122). PEG. Cassar, G. (2009). Education and schooling: From early childhood to old age. In J.  Cutajar & G. Cassar (Eds.), Social transitions in Maltese society. Agenda Publishers. Cassar, G. (2014). Act XXII of 1924 and education in Malta 90 years ago. mill-PARLAMENT – Settembru 2014, 14–17. Commonwealth Secretariat. (1985). Vulnerability: Small states in the global society. Commonwealth Secretariat. Crossley, M., & Sprague, T. (2014). Education for sustainable development: Implication for small island developing states (SIDS). International Journal of Educational Development, 35, 86–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2013.03.002 Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (2007). Beyond quality in early childhood education and care: Languages of evaluation (2nd ed.). Routledge. DQSE. (2009). National policy and strategy for the attainment of core competences in primary education. Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport. ­https://education.gov.mt/en/ resources/documents/policy%20documents/attai%20core_competencies.pdf EURYDICE. (2011). EURYPEDIA: European encyclopedia on national education systems. European Commission. Retrieved from https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/

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EURYDICE. (2021, November 29). Malta: Early childhood education and care. European Commission. Retrieved from https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-­policies/eurydice/content/ early-­childhood-­education-­and-­care-­49_en EURYDICE. (2022a, October 26). Malta: Key features of the education system. European Commission. Retrieved from https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/ malta/malta EURYDICE. (2022b, March 21). Malta: National reforms in early childhood education and care. European Commission. Retrieved from https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-­policies/eurydice/ content/national-­reforms-­early-­childhood-­education-­and-­care-­43_en EURYDICE. (2022c, February 3). Conditions of service for teachers working in early childhood and school education. European Commission. Retrieved from https://eacea. ec.europa.eu/national-­p olicies/eurydice/content/conditions-­s ervice-­t eachers-­w orking-­ early-­childhood-­and-­school-­education-­48_en. FEE. (n.d.). What is eco-schools? Copenhagen: Foundation for Environmental Education. Retrieved from http://www.feeinternational.org/en/menu/programmes/eco-schools Holland, A. (1994). Natural capital. In R. Attfiield & A. Belsey (Eds.), Philosophy and the natural environment (pp. 169–182). Cambridge University Press. Malone, K. (2007). The bubble-wrap generation: Children growing up in walled gardens. Environ­ mental Education Research, 13(4), 513–527. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620701581612 Mayo, P., Pace, P. J., & Zammit, E. (2008). Adult education in small states: The case of Malta. Comparative Education, 44(2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060802041746 MEDE. (2012). A national curriculum framework for all. Ministry of Education & Employment. Retrieved from https://curriculum.gov.mt/en/Resources/The-­NCF/Documents/NCF.pdf MEDE. (2013). Early childhood education & care in Malta: The way forward. Ministry of Education & Employment. Retrieved from https://education.gov.mt/en/documents/public%20 consultations/white%20paper.pdf MEDE. (2020). Malta national lifelong learning strategy 2020. Ministry of Education & Employment. Retrieved from https://education.gov.mt/en/Documents/Malta%20National%20 Lifelong%20Learning%20Strategy%202020.pdf MEDE. (n.d.). Learning outcomes framework, associated learning and assessment programmes. Ministry of Education and Employment. Retrieved from https://www.schoolslearningoutcomes.edu.mt/en/ MEPA. (2008). Annual report 2008. Malta Environment and Planning Authority. MFED. (2021). Early childhood education and care (0–7 years): National Policy Framework for Malta and Gozo. Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education. Retrieved from https://meae.gov.mt/en/Public_Consultations/MEDE/Pages/Consultations/EarlyChildhood EducationandCareNationalPolicyFrameworkforMaltaandGozo.aspx MFED. (n.d.). List of colleges. Ministry for Education. Retrieved from https://education.gov.mt/ en/education/Pages/Colleges/Colleges.aspx Mifsud, M. (2012). Environmental education development in Malta: A contextual study of the events that have shaped the development of environmental education in Malta. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 14(1), 52–66. http://versita.metapress.com/content/ c23571k18840x7j2/fulltext.pdf Ministry of Education. (1999). Creating the future together: National minimum curriculum. Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Documents/ Policy%20Documents/national%20minnimun%20curriculum_english.pdf Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment. (2005). For all children to succeed: A new network organisation for quality education in Malta. Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment. Retrieved from https://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Documents/Policy%20Documents/for_ all_children_to_succeed.pdf Moss, P. (2007). Bringing politics into the nursery: Early childhood education as a democratic practice. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 15(1), 5–20. https://doi. org/10.1080/13502930601046620

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Nature Trust - FEE Malta. (n.d.). Environmental education. Retrieved from https://naturetrustmalta.org/environmental-education/ NSO  – Malta. (2014). Malta in Figs.  2014. National Statistics Office, Malta. Retrieved from https://nso.gov.mt/en/publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/D2_Dissemination_Unit/ Malta_in_Figures_2014.pdf NSO  – Malta. (2021). Pre-primary, primary and secondary formal education: 2019–2020. National Statistics Office, Malta. Retrieved from https://nso.gov.mt/en/News_Releases/ Documents/2021/10/News2021_177.pdf NSO – Malta. (2022). Regional statistics MALTA: 2022 edition. National Statistics Office, Malta. Retrieved from https://nso.gov.mt/en/publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/02_ Regional_Statistics_(Gozo_Office)/2022/Regional%20Statistics%20Malta%202022%20 Edition.pdf Pace, P. (1995). Environmental education. In Z. Murphy (Ed.), Reviewing Belgrade (pp. 1–24). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-United Nations Environment Programme. Pace, P. (2007). Empowering citizens through education for sustainable development. In P. G. Xuereb (Ed.), Business ethics and religious values in the European Union and Malta – For a moral level playing field (pp.  209–220). The European Documentation and Research Centre, University of Malta: Civil Society Project Report. Pace, P. (2009). Emerging from limbo: environmental education in Malta. In N.  Taylor, M. Littledyke, C. Eames, & R. K. Coll (Eds.), Environmental education in context. An international perspective on the development of environmental education (pp.  73–82). Sense Publishers. Selby, D., & Kagawa, F. (2018). Archipelagos of learning: Environmental education on islands. Environmental Conservation, 45(2), 137–146. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892918000097 Sollars, V. (2018). Shaping early childhood education services in Malta: Historical events, current affairs, future challenges. Early Years, 38(4), 337–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/0957514 6.2018.1512561 Sollars, V., Attard, M., Borg, C., & Craus, B. (2006). Early childhood education and care. A national policy 2006. Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment. Retrieved from https:// education.gov.mt/en/resources/Documents/Policy%20Documents/earlychildhood.pdf Spiteri, J. (2021). Why is it important to protect the environment? Reasons presented by young children. Environmental Education Research, 27(2), 195–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350462 2.2020.1829560 Spiteri, J. (2022). How can environmental sustainability be achieved? The perceptions of young children. International Journal of Early Childhood, 54, 13–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s13158-­021-­00312-­9 Sterling, S. (2001). Sustainable education: Revisioning learning and change. Green Books. Sterling, S. (2010). Living in the earth: Towards an education for our times. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 4(2), 213–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/097340821000400208 Sultana, R.  G. (1999). The secondary education certificate and matriculation examinations in Malta: A case study. International Bureau of Education. The Education Act of Malta. (1988). Chapter 327 of the Laws of Malta. Retrieved from http:// www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8801 Tikly, L. (2020). Education for sustainable development in the postcolonial world. Routledge. UNESCO. (2014). Shaping the future we want: UN decade of education for sustainable development (2005–2014) final report. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&t ype=400&nr=1682&menu=35 Ventura, F. (1993). Science and environmental education at the primary level in Malta: Separate interests, different roles. International Journal of Science Education, 15(1), 509–519. Ventura, F. (1994). Environmental education  – The Malta experience. In W.  L. Filho (Ed.), Environmental education in small island developing states (pp. 15–32). The Commonwealth of Learning.

Chapter 5

Listening to Stories that Matter

Introduction Liam seemed a bit upset and I could sense that something was bothering him. I invited Liam to talk to the puppet that I had introduced earlier to the children about anything he liked. The puppet acted as my interpreter. Liam turned red in the face and explained, “You know what?! I do not want you to treat me like a stupid boy, Jane! Do not treat me like a stupid boy, OK?!” Liam was sobbing. Then, he frowned at me. Then, he went on, “I know that this [the puppet] is not a real child. I am not stupid! I know that it is a puppet made of cloth.” He paused, sighed, and continued, “I am old enough to know the difference between a real boy and a fake boy. I do not want to talk to him but I want to talk to you, OK?!?! Now, I can talk to you but not to him!” At that moment he hit the puppet with great force, sending it flying across the room. I was taken aback but I tried to hide my emotions and my surprise, of course.

The excerpt above is taken from my researcher’s journal and one that made me reflect on the fact that the way children are treated by adults is influenced by adults’ perceptions of childhood (Christensen & Prout, 2005). This instance was significant to my study in that it made me re-evaluate the research process with young children, the focus of this study. After all, perceptions of children and childhood influence research, policy and practice in ECCE (Christensen & James, 2008; Woodhead, 2006). This incident also raised several questions regarding my understanding of childhood and children, and how adults listen to children’s voices about matters that concern them. Children learn in a variety of contexts. Within these spaces, children negotiate learning with other individuals and objects. If such spaces make room for the dynamic social interactions necessary to allow children to wonder, explore, discover, and express their thoughts and creativity, they become passionate about © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_5

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learning. This chapter takes the position that children learn via interactions with others and they are capable of showing what they have learned to others. Such a position required me to listen to children in research about matters that concerned them. The act of listening gives children voice and agency in research. The term “voice” in this book refers to what Pufall and Unsworth (2004) termed as “that cluster of intentions, hopes and grievances, and expectations that children guard as their own” and “to the fact that children are much more self-determining actors than we generally think” (p. 8). Pufall and Unsworth (2004) suggest that voice expresses children’s intent and can include both verbal and non-verbal communication. The term “agency” in this book implies children’s capacity to understand and act upon the world they live in, thus demonstrating competence right from the day they are born (James et al., 1998; Mayall, 2002). Pufall and Unsworth (2004) commented that agency is how children express their voice. To give the reader a clear picture of how I explored children’s voices further, in this chapter, I address some theoretical understanding about how children learn in a variety of contexts – formal, informal and non-formal – with a specific focus on children’s rights and ECEfS.  A consideration of these theories underpinned the selection of qualitative methods that were utilised in this research. These influenced how children were listened to and observed. Adopting a listening to children approach, data were gathered with children using a variety of child-centred research tools that treated children as knowledgeable, agentic and capable of expressing their views. This brought about a number of challenges that will be discussed in relation to the ethical principles adopted during the research process.

 Theoretical Framework for Listening to Young Children A in Environmental Research There is general agreement among early childhood researchers regarding the need to consider developmental issues when working with young children. No theory fully explains all salient aspects of child development, so in this book, I draw on a range of theories commonly used in ECCE with the aim of creating a theoretical foundation on which to build this research and to help me engage with the data. As I engage with the cognitive dimension of learning, I explore the informal learning setting, an area that has been under-recognised and therefore, insufficiently connected, to reveal the strategies that help strengthen an intergenerational approach to environmental learning, toward and beyond the 2030 Agenda (UNESCO, 2016). From a theoretical perspective, this book seeks to explore and provide a contextual and conceptual background of the theories and research linked to the main concepts presented here – young children and environmental learning in the context of a small island state (Malta). In the past, EE research involving children was dominated by a developmental perspective and tended to be dominated by children as objects of research, rather than valued contributors to the research process (Cutter-Mackenzie, 2009; Barratt

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Hacking et  al., 2013; Elliott & Davis, 2018). While having an understanding of children’s perceptions based on maturational models like those presented by Piaget (1952) have important implications for practice with young children, both in research and in schools, sole reliance on these would have been ill-founded. Increasingly, research in ECEfS has recognised young children as more capable of understanding complex issues, and has indicated that socio-cultural factors make children’s development less predictable than maturational models propose. Likewise, ECEfS research and practice can be greatly enhanced by appreciating the relevance and value of socio-cultural theory and other socio-constructivist perspectives on learning and development to the topic of this book. Sociocultural scholars’ work provides the foundation for this book in acknowledging the holistic nature of early childhood construction of knowledge as a process defined by social and cultural beliefs, practices and experiences. Similarly, the potential utility of socio-­ cultural theories for deepening understanding of children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability will be explored. Recently, in EE research there has been a change of approach towards conducting research with and by children, therefore positioning children as interpreters of their own lives and their own experiences, rather than as informants (Malone, 2018). Listening to children’s voices became an integral element of ECEC research (Murray, 2019). As a result, recent research with very young children tends to favour child-centred and creative research methods that help elicit young children’s views of the world (Malone, 2018). Children’s views deserve serious consideration in community decision-making (Lansdown, 2010; Lyndon et al., 2019; Murray, 2016). The move away from research on children toward research with children and the changing perspectives of children have generated interest in participatory research methods (Dockett et al., 2017), which are child-centred, participatory and creative in the ways they elicit young children’s views about an issue. For the purpose of this study, the focus was on children within the social contexts of the school and home. Vygotsky (1978) was of particular importance because he believes that children construct knowledge through their active social and cultural participation in their community, and by working and exploring ideas collectively. In this way, learning becomes more contextualised, influential and effectual. Consequently, in this book, I view children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability in Vygotskian terms, but not only, as we will see later. In adopting a socio-cultural perspective, I was able to analyse how transformation happened as a result of participation in a community, where children’s participation in cultural processes was transformed as a result of interactions with more experienced peers (parents, teachers and head teachers). It is unlikely that researchers and educators will be able to accurately assess children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability, and ultimately create educational programmes that meet the needs of individual children, when children are considered to have little existing knowledge and limited capacity for understanding, and are provided with generic environmental information without regard to diverse socio-cultural contexts. Biological and environmental factors, and context, that are present in each child’s life affect knowledge construction. Therefore, a broader view

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of context and considerations of children’s lives in different contexts was also required to answer the research questions. Ecological approaches to the study of human-environment relationships contribute to theory by proposing that human behaviour is a function of relationships between individuals and their context  – immediate and remote (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Using a bio-ecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) helped me understand the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between children, adults and their contexts. In such contexts, children learn from others but they are also capable of influencing others. For this reason, my book is also informed by theories of intergenerational learning and the family dynamics that influence children’s perceptions of the issue under study (Istead & Shapiro, 2014). The descriptions of intergenerational learning in the literature and the potential role that family dynamics played in mediating the effectiveness of knowledge transfer from home/ school to child and vice versa informed the discussion of results from interviews with the 12 children, their parents, head teacher and teachers. Internationally, there is renewed interest in listening to how young children relate to the environment and sustainability issues (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Davis, 2018; Elliott & Davis, 2018; Spiteri, 2020). In contexts where children’s status and their place in society are reconsidered, their worldviews and experiences have become prominent subjects of research in the field of early childhood (Dockett et al., 2017). An examination of the EE and ECEfS literature shows that there is a substantial amount of research on children’s knowledge about the environment. In contrast, we have very little understanding of how young children make sense of the concept of environmental sustainability. What research there has been, has mostly looked at different themes in relation to children and the environment. Therefore, acknowledging young  children’s voices in environmental and sustainability research  is a primary goal of this book. There are several distinct, but overlapping perspectives that influence the image of the child in this book. When considering the theoretical standpoints for this study, I decided to put children’s rights to the fore. Within the areas of international research, practice and policy, the rights of children to have their voices heard are becoming widely recognised (Christensen & Prout, 2005). In this book, an understanding of the concept of the child based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] (UN, 1989), the General comment No. 7 (2005): Implementing child rights in early childhood (UN, 2006) and the new sociology of childhood [NSC] (Prout, 2011; Tisdall & Punch, 2012) served as useful processes to impart information, and to consult meaningfully with young children, all of which  were essential components of children’s effective participation in research. The notion of child development also appears throughout UNCRC and is specifically articulated in Article 12, which highlights that the emerging capabilities of the child should be taken into account with regard to appropriate participation (UN, 1989). In this book, I also recognise a child as an individual who has the right to an opinion and who also has a right for her/his voice and wishes to be heard, particularly in matters that affect her/him. My personal stance is indeed in line with Article 12 of the UNCRC (UN, 1989), which gives children the right to voice their opinions

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about matters and procedures that might affect them; Article 13 (UN, 1989), which gives children the right to freedom of expression; Article 28, which gives them a right to an education; and Article 29 (UN, 1989), which points out that education should aim at developing the children’s respect for the natural environment. Therefore, my book has been framed with a vision of children as being both active agents in their own lives and competent participants in the research process. Taken together, these theoretical perspectives are important because they provided a rationale for using these theories as a way to interpret the data. Overall, there is both flexibility and synergy between these theoretical disciplines because they emphasise the importance of child participation in social contexts. In this book, these theoretical perspectives have been advanced to address children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, and the contextual influences upon them. This theoretical framing makes this book sensitive to how the notion of environmental literacy is socially and culturally co-constructed within each child’s context, via participation with others, in the first few years of life. During such interactions, children and adults, scaffold new knowledge and understanding of sustainability. Together, these theories represent the appropriate “lenses” which provide an understanding of how children develop their perceptions of environmental issues. Particularly, they do this by addressing the multiple contexts in which children develop new learning via new experiences. Therefore, in order to re-theorise the research study in this book, I have deliberately employed mechanisms that will help the reader to understand the children’s stories by drawing attention to the diverse theoretical lenses described above. I acknowledge that some chapters are more theoretically-focused, while others focus more on comparing my findings with international literature. I employed this strategy in order to present the complexity and the interplay between children and their experiences as they unfolded in the context of a small island state  (Malta), thus extending the theorising of child-nature-culture relationships within this context.

The Participants The methodological flexibility involved in this study allowed me to study the phenomenon  of environmental learning in the early years in a variety of contexts. I opted to study children in two contexts – the formal context of the school and the non-formal context of the home. While the choice for this age group stemmed primarily from my interest in the education of young children in the early years, it was also influenced by access to children of this age range. Indeed, gaining access into schools was fairly easy. In Malta, children start kindergarten at age 3 and since kindergarten settings are situated in primary schools, it was more convenient to gain access to this age group through schools. Moreover, even though between the ages of 3 and 7, children in Malta attend primary school, they do not sit for the end-of-year exams, making access to this age group through school easier than access to older children. As one school administrator put it:

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5  Listening to Stories that Matter Since the Maltese education system is so exam-oriented, I firmly believe that your research will negatively affect the academic achievement of the children in the upper primary age group in my school. Therefore, I cannot grant you access to the older age groups in my school. However, access to the younger age groups should not a problem. They do not sit for exams yet!

Gaining access from families who were willing to allow their young children to take part in this research was fairly straightforward too. However, gaining access into family homes to collect data proved to be the biggest hurdle of them all, and only one family granted me access to the family home. A total of 12 children (five boys and seven girls), who volunteered to participate in this study, were selected from two local primary schools. The children were aged between 3 and 7 years, and came from a diverse group of families in the community. Other participants included 10 parents (nine mothers and one father), five teachers (all female), and one head teacher (male). Working closely with all of these participants in this study prompted a better understanding of the children’s everyday experiences.

Research with Young Children Broadly speaking, qualitative and participatory research methods within early childhood education are varied. These methods have much to offer to early childhood researchers. The various participatory methods used in this study were selected first,  according to the way they highlighted the interrelated process between the development of environmental literacy in the early years and the theories discussed above; and second, in a manner that represented and respected children’s voices. Additionally, this choice allowed for individual theoretical constructs to be treated holistically. Therefore, the research process adopted an inductive approach to data collection, which permited the discovery of new insights through the triangulation of the data. This brought to light several issues, some of which were unanticipated. Together, these helped frame the research questions with regards to environmental learning in the early years, with special focus on the intergenerational environmental learning in early childhood. The main research considerations included the following: • Children’s perceptions of their natural environment around them. • The adult-to-child and child-to-adult learning around the environment and environmental issues. • When and where this learning happened. • The children’s recommendations. Once these research parameters were established, it was time to turn to the methodological perspectives in environmental research with young children. In recent years, the development of a variety of methodologies and measures adopted in research with young children has been an interesting trajectory.

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Currently, within ECEC research, the theory-method interdependence is acknowledged, particularly in interpretive research. Within this paradigm, the case study approach is presented as the “prime strategy for developing educational theory which illuminates education policy and enhances educational practice” (Bassey, 1999, p. 3), even in early childhood research. Case study research is the preferred strategy for understanding the ‘how’, ‘what’ and ‘why’ of a phenomenon, in the case of this study, the exchange of environmental learning that happens in the early years, where I, as a researcher, had limited control over the phenomenon under study and the research was carried out in a context I was familiar with, Malta. What is interesting about the case study approach is that it allowed me to reveal the unique and multiple characteristics of the phenomenon under study (Yin, 2009). The overarching methodological paradigm, the purpose and size of the case study, and the data collection methods used, contributed to the difference present in herein. In keeping with the interpretive tradition, in this book, I avoid presenting the research process in a linear manner. Rather, I embrace the “rhetorical assumption” (Creswell, 2007, p. 19) and narrate the story of how this research process unfolded in the first person. In line with the ethical research in early childhood, I explain the roles played by the participants and myself in the different settings that made this research possible. Many case studies involve young children attending ECEC settings and are conducted within their regular environment. In such instances, researchers may opt for a wide range of data collection methods that are useful to allow children’s views to emerge. Indeed, in recent years, participatory research methods have become a cornerstone of early childhood research, a discipline committed to studying young children from various cultures, in diverse contexts. Following the political, theoretical and methodological diversity that emerged following the publication of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) and the emergence of the NSC (Tisdall & Punch, 2012), alternative paradigms and research methods in early childhood research started to emerge. This, in the context of this study, made room for the inclusion of participatory methods as a new methodological genre in early childhood research.

Ways of Listening to Young Children As a broad approach to the study of social phenomena, qualitative research shares common features and principles, based on the assumption that individuals construct their reality via interactions in the social world (Mason, 2018; Merriam, 1998; Stake, 2010). As an umbrella concept, qualitative research recognises multiple social realities, therefore, it adopts a variety of data collection methods (Mason, 2018; Merriam, 1998), one of which is a case study approach. In fact, this case study research aimed to gain “experiential knowledge” of young children’s environmental learning by allowing the reader to have a “vicarious experience” of the case (Stake, 1995, p. 63). Consequently, this case study research embraced different methods of data collection. In fact, the research topic and consideration of prior environmental research influenced the choice of data collection methods in this study.

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Given the growing emergence of research with young children attending ECEC settings, there is considerable scope for exploring the different ways in which researchers can be supported to engage in research with young children. Conducting research with children and involving them directly in research as participants is complex and markedly different from those with adults, particularly since young children may have different ways of expressing their views. The development of research that involves listening to and engaging children directly in the research process such as this one, often uses creative and child-centred research methods. One innovative approach to involving young children in research and listening to them that I drew on is the Reggio Emilia approach (Rinaldi, 2005). The Reggio Emilia approach provided me with an example of how I, as a researcher, can listen and speak to children in research by employing the idea of the Hundred Languages of Children (Rinaldi, 2005), suggesting the numerous ways children can communicate their perspectives to others, sometimes without engaging in verbal communication. Ultimately, a decision was made that the rationale for the choice of research methods in any case study research needs to be convincing enough, showing that it will provide rich and in-depth data that emerges from the children’s experiences, and that is true to their voices. For this to be the case, I needed to focus this research on the real-life experiences and children’s voices. Translating research methods into real contexts is often more challenging than the literature presents. In the case of this study, this required me to test, verify and adapt their research methods to the context I was researching and while doing so, I was able to make sense of the research process as it unfolded. Opting for participatory research methods in this study offered meaningful ways of engaging children in the processes in matters that concern them. Such processes are fundamental to case study research in early childhood education, and often call for more authentic and active participation by children in the research process.

Observations For millennia, human survival depended on the ability to observe our surroundings. Observation is a behaviour we constantly engage in, often unconsciously. From an early age, children obtain information about their surroundings through observations of the context and individuals therein. Traditionally, observations have been commonplace practice in early childhood education settings. In fact, much of the research in the early years is based on observational or interview methodology. Observations are used as a useful tool to help educators and other professionals working with children to collect primary data about children’s behaviour and development, and to inform their work. Qualitative and naturalistic observations were undertaken as part of the research project presented in this book. Naturalistic observations were guided by the research questions and interests, and were conducted in the children’s everyday settings,

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including one family home and two state schools. The naturalistic observations in the current study were descriptive in nature and involved a written narrative of what I, the researcher, had observed, as the events happened, during any given time. Even though observations were time-consuming, subjective and intuitive, I made sure that these were unobtrusive. One disadvantage of this kind of observation was that I had to decide what to record at the spare moment. Another disadvantage was that since naturalistic observations are unstructured, these called for more attention to the analysis. During the observation phase, I kept detailed record of the following in my fieldnotes: 1. the physical environment, spaces, objects, resources and time available; 2. the participants (children and adults) and any behaviour relevant to this study; 3. activities related to the environment and/or environmental issues; 4. follow-up questions; 5. photographs that were either taken by myself or were given to me by the participants, particularly the children. Fieldnotes consisted of long descriptions of the above five points together with my explicit interpretations of the events. In naturalistic observations, the researcher assumes the role of an outsider and observes participants at a distance in their everyday environment, an approach that proved to be challenging with young children. At the beginning of the observation period, the children were still getting to know me, so while I was observing them, they were observing me from a distance. As time went on, they became more used to my presence in their settings and they made several attempts to interact with me, until eventually they started interacting with me more regularly. In such instances, naturalistic observations turned into participant observations, where the children and myself became involved in the activities and conversations. In this study, my aim was to reduce reactivity, in that I wanted to manage and understand my influence on the participants’ behaviour as much as possible. Although I was aware that reactivity during observations can never be completely eliminated, I used a number of techniques that helped me become unobtrusive in the children’s presence. Any observation context I was in, I behaved in ways that blended into the context by selecting the least intrusive physical position in that context. I positioned the recording equipment in an area where it was visible but not intrusive. I dressed and behaved in ways that allowed me to fit in the culture of the context I was in. Therefore, during observations, I sat at a place designated by the teacher/parent – usually at the back of the room. In the outdoors, I had conversations with the children, teachers and parents. At other times however, I stood in a corner where I could observe the children’s behaviour while they were playing or participating in activities. During the entire research process, the children had an opportunity to read the field notes that were written for them individually. They were not allowed to read the observations of other individuals, unless permission was given by the third parties involved. During this study, several children asked to read my notes. Some of them were still unable to read the observation notes about themselves, and so they

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often asked me to read out the notes for them, which I did. There were instances where some children even dictated what I had to write about them and there were times when I had to negotiate with them the return of my belongings, such as my notebook and pens. This negotiation process was sometimes challenging, lengthy and creative too. In such instances, I was aware that the children were exerting power and agency over my belongings and over the data collection phase as well. While I wanted to honour the children’s agency, I also needed my resources and my notes to conduct the research. While I admit that these instances presented me with some dilemmas, they also helped to reduce the adult-child power dynamic usually present in Maltese schools and I appreciated these instances because the children were becoming part of the research process too. Interestingly, throughout this study, no adult asked to read the observation notes even though they had observed the children constantly negotiating the research process with me.

Researcher’s Journal Fieldnotes from the naturalistic observations conducted as part of this study were also referred to in my researcher’s journal, which I used as a reflective tool, and a rather subjective data-gathering tool. Journal entries were either written or audio-­ recorded, and included my recorded thoughts and feelings about the research process as journal entries. The reflective journal entries helped me develop greater self-awareness by engaging in an ongoing process of reflection and eventually coming up with new interpretations and understanding of an issue or an event.

Interviews Individual, conversational semi-structured interviews were a major source of data collection with children and adults in this study. Interviews provided me with data, which I could not observe (Stake, 1995), and a degree of flexibility (Mukherji & Albon, 2018). Each interview was an intersubjective process, during which I tried “to uncover their lived world prior to scientific explanation” (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009, p. 1). Indeed, these dialogues provided me with a lot of in-depth data about the quintain, or the phenomenon under study (Stake, 2006). Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with children, parents, teachers and the head of school. Interviews took place in an area, and at a time, selected by participants. Only the interviews with Francesco and his mother took place in the family home, whereas all other interviews took place at school. This choice was based on the premise that interviews with children needed to be conducted in a place that children were used to and felt comfortable in. Therefore, prior to conducting the interviews, I asked the children to identify a location where they wished to conduct the interview and I consented to their wishes. Each interview

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lasted around 20  min on average. Interviews were digitally recorded and audiotaped with the permission of the children. During the interview, children had control of the digital and tape recorders, were allowed to hear their own recordings after the interview, and were allowed to change any comments that they did not like. Some children asked to listen to the tape recorder several times because they considered it to be a very amusing activity. Two children wanted to take the digital and audio recorders home, so I made an extra copies of the recording and gave them to the children to take home. Later, that same day, children’s interviews were transcribed verbatim by me. A copy of the transcribed interviews was sent to participants for review and comments with a covering letter and a reply-paid envelope, which they discussed with their parents at home. Transcriptions were returned to me within a week and without comments. This means that none of the children amended their interview transcripts. During the children’s interviews, an adult (teacher/parent) was always present but they did not interrupt the interview process. While I am aware that the presence of another adult in the room could have had potential influence on the children’s responses, this procedure was requested by the ethical clearance board. Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) describe two types of qualitative interviewers that researchers could employ  – the “miner metaphor” and the “traveler metaphor” (p. 48). In the former, the researcher believes that knowledge is already there, waiting to be uncovered, where the researcher regards interviews data collection sites, separate from the data analysis. In the latter, the interviewer and interviewees engage in a process whereby knowledge is explored together, via a journey that leads to the exchange of new knowledge. Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) further divided the traveler metaphor into the pilgrim, who is the meticulous researcher; and the tourist, who invents goals according to aesthetic criteria that are based on taste and lifestyle. In this research, I took on the role of the pilgrim traveler, where my perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, the interviewing techniques and the data analysis process were intertwined in an inductive process that allowed for new knowledge to emerge throughout the research process. The interview schedules included a flexible set of main questions which were addressed in a particular order, constructed from the research questions, and included closed- and open-ended questions, probes and follow-up questions (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). I did not want the interviews to be too closely directed, an approach that could have hindered rich data to emerge because the participants might have been reluctant to speak. Therefore, interview questions were scaffolded and included a number of follow-up questions, which were used to gain depth  and detail-rich information in order to help me assure thoroughness and credibility, and to help me explore a variety of themes. Prompts and probes were also used when necessary to help participants to say what they wanted to say. Ultimately, the success of an interview depends on the researcher’s ability to develop “a trusting personal relationship between the researcher and the interviewee that encourages open, honest, and detailed replies, … In building an open and trusting relationship, researcher and interviewee work toward forming … a conversational partnership” (Rubin & Rubin, 2012, pp. 6–7). In this study, a conversational

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partnership between the children and myself was developed. This partnership was built on respect and trust between the participants and myself, where I valued children’s contributions and viewed them as valued participants throughout the research process. However, I was aware that this partnership was not a balanced relationship because as an adult, I was in control of the progress of the interview session even if the children somehow shaped the process of the interview by exerting power, for example, by withholding information. Whenever these power issues happened, reflections recorded immediately after conducting an interview provided me with additional and useful information and insights about the case.

Interview Techniques with Young Children Discussions around environmental and sustainability issues can be challenging for adults, let alone for young children. Interviewing children about complex scientific environmental issues can be challenging, especially without the use of the right interviewing techniques. Such challenges often stem from the gap between the social worlds of the children and the researcher (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009). To try to overcome these challenges, early childhood researchers adopt a rights-based approach to research, using a variety of creative methods. Creative methods are “those that draw on inventive and imaginative processes, such as in storytelling, drama and drawing. They can serve as constructivist tools to assist research participants to describe and analyse their experiences and give meaning to them” (Veale, 2011, p. 254). Adopting a children’s rights perspective, in this study, I employed a variety of visual and aural methods and techniques to assist me in interviewing young children in a way that they found appealing, including a hand-held puppet, photographs and children’s drawings.

A Hand-Held Puppet Puppets make fantastic creative research tools that can be used as part of an interview with young children (Spiteri, 2020). While in childhood research persona dolls, as tall as a 3-to-4-year-old child, are often used to introduce difficult and controversial topics to young children in early childhood settings (Brown, 2001; Spiteri, 2020), in this study, I used a hand-held puppet (Fig. 5.1) as an interviewing technique. It was not my intention to use a real-life size persona doll since I was not going to introduce the children to controversial topics such as discriminatory behaviour, although one might argue that environmental issues can be controversial too. The personality of the hand-held puppet (Fig. 5.1), whom we called Ġanni, was created together with the children via a conversation with them about who the puppet was. I acted as the voice of the puppet. To the children, Ġanni, was a 5-year-old puppet from a small village in Comino (a small island, part of the Maltese

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Fig. 5.1  Ġanni, the puppet

archipelago). He was my assistant and he had come down to their school/home to meet them and to help me. He had a baby brother at home. Ġanni liked toys and his favourite toy was a bike. He also liked to read and play outside. Even though the children knew that the puppet was not a real child, they treated him as such and they played with him as if he were a real child, with the exception of one boy, Liam. As indicated in the introduction of this chapter, Liam refused to accept the puppet as a child like him. The moment Liam refused to communicate with the puppet made me reflect on the utility of puppets in research with young children. In this case, Liam was the youngest in his family and he had a number of older brothers. Liam declared that his brothers “treated me like an adult at home” and he even talked like them, sometimes using vulgar language in an attempt to show me how “grown-up” he was. Because of his lived experiences, Liam refused to believe in the puppet and it would have been very unethical of me to encourage him to believe in a puppet he knew was not for real. Therefore, we reached an agreement, where he would not tell the other children about the puppet not being real, and he called this “our little secret”.

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Photography Visual methods, such as photographs, have been widely used by early childhood researchers, even when conducting interviews with young children (Dockett et al., 2011). Photo-elicitation is a technique used by researchers to gain the interviewees’ visual representation of an issue, that would provide different information than verbal interviews alone. These techniques have been used with young children to act either as an icebreaker or as a focus for further discussion, for example when children are asked to produce their own photographs (Mukherji & Albon, 2018). One such approach is the Mosaic Approach (Clark & Moss, 2011), where children use digital cameras to take their own photographs of places or events, within diverse context, and then discuss these. In sum, photographs may offer children the possibility to visualise the issue under study and then, the researcher and the children discuss the photographs together. Since visual material, such as photographs may present different perspectives other than those of the interviewer, it is recommended that children are interviewed about their own photographs. However, this was not possible in the current study. I was not granted permission by education authorities in Malta to ask children to take photographs. So, I had to provide the photographs of some environmental issues instead. In so doing, I acknowledge that I may have introduced my biases into the research process and these could have potentially influenced the children’s responses. Furthermore, I was aware that I might have presented the children with environmental concepts from my point of view, and this might have positioned me as a controller of the children’s space and time, thus reinforcing my role as a researcher. Being aware of this power imbalance in the research process and in order to try to minimise my influence on the children’s perceptions, I opted for seven photographs portraying a variety of environmental sustainability issues. The photograph interpretation interview was conducted with each child individually. Each individual interview consisted of showing children a series of seven photographs of different places in Malta and from around the world, and the children were invited to freely express their thoughts about these photographs.

Children’s Drawings Asking children to create drawings about a topic has a long history in early childhood research. After all, art is closely related to children’s thinking (Vygotsky, 1971). As a participatory research method, children’s drawings have been used as a tool to enhance children’s creativity and to assess their cognitive and emotional development (Clark & Moss, 2011; Mukherji & Albon, 2018). In environmental research, children’s drawings have long served as useful data collection tools, especially when children lacked the linguistic capacity to adequately present their understanding of the environment during a conversational interview (Barraza & Robottom,

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2008; Sorin & Gordon, 2013). Asking for children’s free drawings provides them with no guidance and allows them the freedom to express their ideas or mental images of a particular issue in an unguided manner. Following the photograph interpretation interview, each child was invited to a table on which there were some blank A4 sheets of white paper and crayons. Children were asked to draw their ideas related to the environment and environmental sustainability. They were free to draw as many themes related to the environment and environmental sustainability as they liked and were free to stop whenever they wanted. Drawings provide visual data and on their own, they can be open to multiple adult interpretations. In short, drawings alone did not fully communicate the meanings children ascribe to their drawings. In such cases, young children’s stories about their drawings offered tools for them to organise and explain their complex viewpoints (Anning & Ring, 2004), which would otherwise have been difficult to explain only in words. In line with the listening to children approach adopted in this study, storytelling of children’s drawings was another form of interview technique used to inform and enrich the data by providing a more holistic interpretation of young children’s perceptions of an issue. When drawings were completed, children were invited to talk about their drawings. They could either answer some of my questions about their drawing or they could create a story about it. By asking children to tell the story of their drawing, I eliminated the bias of subjecting children’s drawings to adult interpretations by providing my adult interpretation of children’s drawings, thus honouring children’s voices and agency in the research process. In most cases children explained the meaning of their drawing, but some also invented stories about their drawing. Often, young children, irrespective of their abilities, tended to enjoy drawing. This was not always the case though. Liam refused to draw as he insisted that we should talk about what was going on in the world instead. He insisted that by asking him to draw, I was treating him like a child and he felt that at his age, he was “already an adult”, and I consented to his wishes.

Ethical Considerations Ethics is a highly debated area in participatory research with young children and researchers need to be mindful of their critical rule when conducting qualitative research with young children. Parental consent and children’s assent, whether verbal or non-verbal, was sought throughout the research process. In order to protect the participants’ identities while retaining their individual and authentic voices, particularly the children’s, they were allowed to choose pseudonym names. Furthermore, confidentiality was assured by not naming the schools or their locations. However, a promise of anonymity was problematic. Living on a small island state, with a tight-knit community,  made anonymity close to impossible to ensure. Data were stored in a password-secure data storage system. The role of the researcher and the children, and the relationships of power that emerged during the research process are worth considering. The first imbalance in

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the relationship was created by the fact that as the researcher, I was an adult. Since children are in the least powerful position in the research (Barratt Hacking et al., 2013), the presence of an adult researcher, or possibly more than one researcher, puts children in a subordinate position and could potentially also make them vulnerable to abuse (Gallagher, 2009). Such issues of power could easily subordinate children (MacNaughton, 2005) in the sense that some children may believe that they are expected to fully participate in the research process because subordination has always been demanded from the adults around them (Aubrey & Dahl, 2005). While all these participatory methods used in this study were aimed at eliciting children’s perspectives and experiences, the power imbalance between the children and myself could not be ignored. Many factors such as how to define ‘research’ within the early years and what constitutes child-friendly and ethical research methods were problematic. In order to minimise these challenges, I opted for research methods that were inclusive and respectful of children’s voices, and were beneficial to children. It is true that such power relationships cannot be totally eliminated, however, children’s welfare was always a priority during the entire research process.

Data Analysis Influenced by an interpretive and qualitative methodology, data management and analysis followed guidance from Marshall and Rossman’s (2011) seven phases of analytic procedures for qualitative data. The data of each case study were organised individually. Thereafter, I revisited and reread the data several times to become familiar with what these data were telling me. I opted for manual coding of the data because in doing so, I felt that I was able to handle the data in a way that was more meaningful to me. In this regard, I followed Saldana’s (2012) recommendations and I coded the data on hard-copy printouts. In turn, this gave me more control of, and insight into, the data. Once I was familiar with the data, I started writing analytic memos about them. This eventually led to the generation of themes as they emerged from the data. Each theme was analysed individually to enable me to examine whether the case findings were in line with the situationality of the case. Next, I looked for interpretations of the themes and alternative understanding of each theme, where a number of sub-themes were created. Finally, I created a report for each case study and a final report for the findings across all case studies. To ensure trustworthiness in the research process, I did not seek to provide generalisations of the findings. Rather I opted to provide the reader with an understanding of the context of the study, and the research and ethical procedures I followed. Next, I triangulated the data and described assumptions and theories, and I spent a long time in the field where I conducted multiple visits to each site over a period of 12 weeks. Finally, participants were asked to read the transcripts and check whether the data were true to their beliefs and ideas.

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Conclusion The methodology used in this study evolved from my belief in children’s agency and from their right to a voice (UN, 1989). The participatory research methods used supported children’s voices and agency. Central to this study was a fundamental shift in thinking by adults (parents and teachers) about the role of children and the environment in Maltese society. Parents and teachers, including the head teacher, felt that they were better skilled at determining children’s needs within the environment, projecting a deficit view of the child. To the contrary, via the use of age-­ appropriate data collection techniques, the children revealed they were knowledgeable about certain environmental and sustainability issues, and they were able to absorb information about these issues from those around them. This study was framed by a socio-cultural and ecological perspective, that recognised that children were being shaped but they were also shaping their context (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Vygotsky, 1978). This fundamental approach encouraged observations of children’s behaviours and activities, as well as elicitation of their perspectives, needs and feelings towards environmental and sustainability issues, and how these were framed within their contexts, putting intergenerational environmental learning to the foreground. Perhaps, the implantation of this specific theoretical perspective is what sets the current study apart from most other studies focussing on young children and the environment. In adopting these theoretical perspectives, this study attempted to make an “ecological” inquiry into the reciprocal child-family-environment relationship. This was achieved through the use of creative research methods that were influenced by the theoretical constructs and methodological approaches adopted throughout this study. In turn, these addressed the environmental learning that emerged as a result of observations of relationships in socio-cultural contexts and through the reports of the children’s data. While several studies have now been conducted in the field of ECEfS, these often took place in early childhood settings. The difficulties in capturing children’s environmental learning in non-formal settings, such as the family home are evidenced by the lack of studies and data in the field. This study made the first attempt to address this issue. Overall, the use of the multiple methods employed, which relied on a participatory approach and based on the image of the children as social agents of change, capable of proving worthy opinions about matters that are relevant to them, provided a useful and sensitive way of describing the intergenerational influences that these children experienced. This, however, has led to the discovery of conflicting views and interpretations by children and adults. Therefore, the motivations, as well as the limitations, of the methods used were carefully considered and planned, and their implementation was constantly monitored during the research process and these were fine-tuned whenever necessary.

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Veale, A. (2011). Creative methodologies in participatory research with children. In S.  Greene & D.  Hogan (Eds.), Researching children’s experiences: Methods and approaches (pp. 253–272). Sage. Vygotsky, L. S. (1971). The psychology of art. MIT Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. Woodhead, M. (2006). Changing perspectives on early childhood: Theory, research and policy. Changing perspectives on early childhood: Theory, research and policy. International Journal of Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood, 4(2), 1–43. http://oro.open.ac.uk/6778/ Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed.). Sage.

Chapter 6

Malta and Its Environment: Stories Told by Children

Introduction This chapter presents the children’s stories. Following the various theoretical and methodological suggestions discussed in Chap. 5, in this chapter, I present the data displays in the form of 12 single case studies. Here, each child is introduced individually. In this chapter, I attempt to display “the unique vitality of each case, noting its particular situation and how the context influences” (Stake, 2006, p. 39) the children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability. My intention is to present data generated by each participant in order to give the reader enough information to better understand the “quintain” (Stake, 2006, p. vi). Here, the quintain refers to the children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, and the contextual influences upon these. In so doing, this chapter lays the foundation for further analysis presented in subsequent chapters. Therefore, Chaps. 5 and 6 should be read together for the reader to gain a stronger sense of the depth of the data generated and the techniques used to generate these. In this chapter, the case studies are presented in chronological order, starting with the youngest child first. First, I present the case studies of children attending St. Nicholas Primary. These are followed by the child attending St. Mary Primary. The participating children’s perspectives were critical to understanding the type of learning involved in interactions with adults in their contexts. As such, these children were equally involved in this study as active participants who, although still young, were considered competent to express an opinion about the environmental learning they experienced (Hedges & Cullen, 2003; James & Prout, 1997). In keeping with case study design, the school contexts are described according to the case study being presented in order to set the scene for the reader, and to establish the context for further analysis that are presented in the next chapter. This is followed by the presentation of the data of the head teacher of St. Nicholas Primary. Then, I

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_6

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present teacher’s data according to the year group the case study children are in, followed by the children and parents’ data. Following Miles et al.’s (2020) advice, I display my data visually at the beginning of each case study. As becomes evident in the children’s stories below, their participation varied. Some children spoke more than others and were willing to share more experiences. Others refused to talk at times. When that happened, I deemed the child to have ‘withdrawn’ assent for that period of time and was not interviewed. In this way, I respected the children’s ethical right to withdraw participation. I start each case study with a demographic description (Creswell, 2012), in which I present personal and demographic information about the particular child, the parent, head teacher and teacher, in the case study. Then, I present the child’s context, followed by the child’s perceptions of environmental sustainability. Whilst each case study profiles the child and his/her perceptions of environmental sustainability, the teachers, head teacher and parent’s data are included when they are particularly relevant, in order to increase our understanding of what the child said. Each case study ends with my own reflections about the uniqueness of the case; these reflections are excerpts from my researcher’s journal. The children’s stories are presented below in chronological order even though their participation varied during the research process.

The Two Schools The study was conducted in two primary State schools in Malta  – St Nicholas Primary and St Mary Primary. St Nicholas primary is situated in a modern building with large indoor and outdoor play areas and landscaped grounds. The school hosts approximately 500 pupils from kindergarten 1 to Year 6. The school has 10 kindergarten classes and 17 primary classes. St. Nicholas Primary is an EkoSkola, with a holistic healthy lifestyle policy, including the Walking Bus campaign, where children would walk to school in an organised manner guided by parents in order to promote sustainable and healthy transport to school. During the data collection period, the school was participating in a recycling competition. This was a local recycling competition in which the school that recycled the most during a whole school year would win a prize. The classrooms at St. Nicholas Primary are planned in a homogenous way. Each is a large square-shaped classroom, bounded on two sides by windows, making them very bright rooms. Each classroom is divided into different areas: the social corner; the teacher’s corner; the reading corner; the subjects’ corner (where Maltese, English, Maths, Religion, Social Studies and Science copybooks and workbooks are kept). The desks are divided into different groups of four children at each table. The teacher’s desk is at the head of the classroom in front of the interactive whiteboard. Next to the teachers’ desk there is a small open cupboard, used as a library. Beside the door there are two mini recycling bins, one for plastic and one for paper.

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St. Mary Primary is an EkoSkola and is situated in a post-World War II building. The school was built by the British in Malta and was opened in the beginning of the 1900s. The school has 10 mainstream classes, from kindergarten 1 to Year 6, and houses approximately 185 children and 15 teachers. The classroom is a large, square room with four large windows and one door. It is divided into four different areas: in the centre of the room there are the children’s desks. The teacher’s desk is at the head of the classroom in front of the interactive whiteboard and at the back of the room there are four computers. Underneath the windows, there is the library and at the other end of the room there are three cupboards in which children keep their belongings. There are two recycling bins in the classroom – one for paper and one for plastic; some of the artefacts in the classroom are made out of used and recycled material. Francesco’s family lives in a terraced house situated in a quiet area on the outskirts of the village. The home is located in a part of the village where most neighbours have well-established gardens, something which Francesco’s parents said they longed for. Just outside the family’s home, there is a well-presented leisure area consisting of a green space and a children’s playground with some play equipment.

The Head of School – Mr. D Mr. D, the head teacher, had been working in the administrative section of this school for almost 9 years and 6 months. He said that he had a master’s degree in education. He took great pride in showing me around the school and made me feel welcome every time I visited the school during the fieldwork. Teachers, janitors, parents and children told me that they had a lot of respect for him and they made many positive comments about his work in this school during the fieldwork and the interviews. The children’s work was displayed in several places around the school. During the data collection phase, Mr. D frequently discussed his interest in environmental sustainability with me. An interview with Mr. D was conducted at school. During the data collection phase, Mr. D frequently discussed his interest in environmental sustainability with me. An interview with Mr. D was conducted in his office at school. During the interview, he described the environment as being made up of the balance between the natural and the human-made environment, and environmental sustainability as protecting nature and natural resources for the future. In fact, he talked about various local and global environmental issues that concerned him, including air pollution and the lack of natural rural areas in Malta. Mr. D said that in the previous scholastic year, the Education Department had issued a policy where schools were asked to spend 10% of the government’s funding in order to implement strategies that would reduce the school’s carbon footprint. He said that teachers in his school discussed environmental activities briefly during staff development meetings, which took place once a term, after school hours, and lasted for an hour and a half. He stated that he organised various school activities to raise awareness of environmental issues amongst children, teachers and parents, out

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of his own interest, because he believed that educating children could contribute towards environmental sustainability. The activities he organised included the EkoSkola programme; school’s recycling competition; Flick the Switch campaign (to teach children to save energy); Catch the Drop campaign (to teach children to save water); sending emails to parents instead of using printed paper; using a water reservoir to collect rainwater; and organising the Walking School Bus. He told me that he liked to tell stories related to environmental issues during the morning assembly because he believed stories appeal to children, (particularly when he included himself in the story and even made fun of himself, much to the children’s amusement). He also added that stories are an effective way of teaching children about difficult concepts. Mr. D tried to include the local business community in the school’s environmental programmes because he said that the school had limited finances. He emphasised that time and finances were barriers to environmental sustainability activities at school. He believed that the school’s environmental activities were a major influence on children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability.

Case Studies in Kindergarten 1 The Teacher – Ms. A Ms. A taught children between ages 3 and 4. She had a tertiary certificate in pre-­ school education and had been a kindergarten teacher for 11 years. An interview with Ms. A was conducted at school. When I asked Ms. A to define the environment, she described it as nature and she described environmental sustainability as protecting natural resources. She emphasised keeping the natural environment clean. She was very concerned about local and global environmental issues, such as the excessive use of aerosol sprays; air pollution, rubbish and recycling in Malta; and the global issue of sea pollution and its effects on humanity. She said that she tried to use less sprays and recycle more. Ms. A had small recycling bins in the classroom too. However, during the observations I noticed that she never encouraged the children to recycle. Furthermore, she used a lot of paper and she never turned the lights off when everybody left the room. Ms. A declared that she never discussed environmental issues in the classroom because she believed the children were too young to understand; she added that adults were responsible for dealing with environmental issues. She also said that she did not have the training and resources to include ECEfS in her practice. For this reason, Ms. A said that she followed the school’s environmental and EkoSkola activities. Ms. A said that children’s ideas about environmental issues were influenced by what they saw on the Internet and by books.

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Sarah’s Story Sarah (3  years 4  months) lived with her parents and her 6-year-old brother. Her brother attended a Church school. Prior to conducting the observations and interview with Sarah, Natasha commented that Sarah did not like to draw. Upon hearing this comment, Sarah jumped out of her chair and insisted that she wanted to draw for me. Observations of and the interview with Sarah were conducted at school. Natasha and Ms. A described Sarah as a very shy girl. During the data collection, Sarah constantly followed me wherever I went. During the interview she did not answer some of my questions. Natasha, Sarah’s mother, was 32  years old. Interview with Natasha was conducted at her home but I was not given access to conduct any observations at the family’s home. Natasha said that she worked from home, on a part-time basis. Sarah’s Perceptions Talking about her drawing (see Fig.  6.1), Sarah discussed the environment as follows: Puppet: What did you draw here? Sarah: A tree. Puppet: Why? Sarah: No answer. Puppet: Is this the environment? Sarah: Yes. Puppet: Why? Sarah: Because they (trees) give us food. Puppet: You mean fruits? Sarah: Yes. They give us food. Although Sarah said that trees are good for people because they provide food, at another instance during the interview she said: Sarah: People can chop down trees. Puppet: Why? Sarah: People need to build houses. Puppet: And do people need trees to build houses? Sarah: Yes. Fig. 6.1  Sarah’s drawing of the environment

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Later Sarah described environmental sustainability as the way people take care of nature. During the interview, Sarah said that there were too many cars in Malta, which she believed led to too many accidents. Sarah perceived cars in a negative way because of the traffic jams and traffic accidents. Here, Sarah was talking from personal experience because she said her father had recently been involved in a car accident and was badly hurt. When I asked how she travelled to school, she replied that her mother drove her to school every morning. In fact, Sarah complained about the traffic situation around the school area and said that she did not like to get stuck in traffic. Mr. D encouraged children to recycle. Both Mr. D and Ms. A confirmed that Sarah participated in the school’s recycling activities. In fact, during the interview Sarah proudly mentioned recycling as a pro-environmental action she carried out on a daily basis. During the photograph interpretation session, Sarah identified the recycling bins and was able to attribute the correct colour to the correct recycling material. Sarah spoke to me about the need to recycle, (mostly paper, plastic, glass and metal) as a way of protecting the environment. During observations, I noticed that at school Sarah recycled plastic and paper in the appropriate recycling bins and she even recycled her lunch leftovers in the school compost bin. When I asked why she was throwing the different items in different bins, she told me that was what she had learned to do at school and at home too. Ms. A too commented that “Sarah is very keen on recycling, and she does it all alone.” During one of my observations in the classroom, I noticed Sarah drawing Ms. A’s attention to her wasting too much tissue paper. Sarah also commented about the fact that although the family recycled at home, they did not make compost at home. Natasha, Sarah’s Mother When I asked Natasha to define the environment, she described it as being made up of nature, the human-made environment and noise pollution. Natasha emphasised that nature was the environment that was created so perfectly by God and was ruined by humans. She made direct reference to the teachings of the Roman Catholic religion about God’s perfect creation of nature. Natasha stated that she believed that people were responsible for environmental sustainability, which she defined as protecting the natural environment. Natasha insisted that she was mostly concerned about noise pollution and that she and her family led a very sustainable lifestyle and took various pro-environmental measures. During the interview, she recounted how over the years the family made some renovations to their home to make it more energy-efficient. For example, she told me about how the family had availed themselves of a number of environmental schemes issued by the Government of Malta in order to construct a water reservoir and install solar water heater, solar panels, and energy-saving lighting at their home. She explained how these environmental

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schemes would repay a small percentage of the cost incurred by the family in their effort to make their home more sustainable. Natasha made sure that everyone in the family recycled too. Natasha confessed that initially she was motivated to take pro-environmental actions by her husband, to safeguard the environment and for the financial benefits too. She said she learned most of what she knew about the environment either from the radio, television or the Internet. Natasha described an instance when Sarah constantly nagged her to save water because she had learned about it at school, to the point where Natasha had no other choice but to do what Sarah instructed her. Eventually, saving water became a habit the family adopted. Sarah indicated that she learned a lot about the environment from television because she watched a lot of cartoons. She mentioned watching Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer cartoons about recycling on the Disney Channel. Natasha said that she attributed most of Sarah’s learning about the environment to school and to television. However, Natasha pointed out that she did not talk to Sarah about environmental sustainability, or about anything related to the environment, because she believed that Sarah was still too young to understand. This was given as an explanation for why at home Sarah recycled only paper and plastic even though the family recycled almost everything they could. However, during the interview Sarah showed knowledge of recycling metal, glass, paper and plastic. Natasha explained that she and her husband also felt that it was more important to focus all their attention on their son rather than on their daughter. This is because according to Natasha, “Sarah is a girl and she does not need to know anything about the environment and sustainability.” Specifically, Natasha explained that both parents taught their son about environmental sustainability because they felt it would be useful for his future employment as an adult but they did not teach or talk to Sarah about environmental sustainability because she was a girl. Yet, Natasha believed that education was the best way to teach children about environmental sustainability. Reflections on Sarah’s Perceptions At the time of the data collection, Sarah’s language and drawing skills were relatively limited. At times, she found it difficult to express her ideas about environmental sustainability. But Sarah and Natasha’s accounts of environment and sustainability can be compared. Unlike Natasha, Sarah did not include the Roman Catholic religion in her account of the environment. Both attributed the responsibility for environmental sustainability to humans. Recycling was mentioned by Sarah, Natasha, and Mr. D as a way of preserving nature and working towards environmental sustainability. Sarah frequently drew on her personal experience within the local context to illustrate her concerns with some of the local environmental issues, particularly traffic in Malta. But television, particularly the Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer cartoon series, also played a role in teaching Sarah about recycling. Sarah tried to emulate the behaviour of these animated figures at home and at school.

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At home and at school there were good role models of pro-environmental behaviours, even if there were some conflicting messages in and between these contexts, for example, between Mr. D and Ms. A’s engagement with environment or environmental sustainability, and the rather gendered approach of Sarah’s family. Despite this complexity, Sarah still managed to develop her own perceptions of environmental sustainability and revealed both intergenerational and contextual influence. Sarah learned about the importance of environmental sustainability directly and indirectly, in both contexts. Sarah worked between contexts, for example, by encouraging the family to save water because she had learned about this issue at school. Dalton’s Story Dalton (3 years 6 months) was described by Jeanette and Ms. A as a very quiet boy. During the data collection period, Dalton hardly talked to me unless some other child talked to me first. During the interview, Dalton was very quiet and frequently replied, “I do not know”, to many of my questions. Observations of and the interview with Dalton were conducted at school. Jeanette, Dalton’s mother, was 30 years old. An interview with Jeanette was conducted at school. She said that she worked on a part-time basis at her father’s grocer’s shop. Dalton’s Perceptions Talking about his drawing (see Fig.  6.2), Dalton discussed the environment as follows: Puppet: What is this? Dalton: This is the environment. Puppet: What is this (pointing at his drawing)? Dalton: The trees, flowers and birds. (And here he asked me to go back to his classroom.)

Fig. 6.2  Dalton’s drawing of the environment

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Dalton talked about his personal experience of traffic issues in Malta, especially on his way to school and said that he did not like traffic because, “We [i.e. he and his family] get stuck in traffic every day.” Dalton also said that he hated exhaust fumes because he believed they were harmful for human health. He specified that, “Exhaust burns our skin and we go to hospital.” During the interview Dalton did not talk about recycling, but during the observations I noticed that at times he recycled paper and some plastic. Ms. A confirmed that Dalton recycled and she also said that he frequently turns off the lights before leaving the room. Dalton mentioned only television as a source of information about the environment, and this was also confirmed by Jeanette. Jeanette, Dalton’s Mother During the interview, Jeannette described the environment as nature and environmental sustainability as “keeping the Earth clean”. She expressed some very emotionally charged statements with regard to how unsustainable practices have led to the environmental issues the world is facing today. She expressed her concern about local and global environmental issues, such as overdevelopment in Malta and her preoccupation with the war in Syria. She said that these issues negatively impacted the well-being of the environment and humanity worldwide. Jeanette said that recycling was the most environmentally sustainable action her family was engaging in and described it as an attempt to “reduce waste and keep the environment clean”. Jeanette talked about how she recycled plastic, paper, metal and glass and how she made her own compost at home. Even though Jeanette felt that Dalton was still too young to learn about the environment or sustainability, she was teaching him how to recycle paper. Jeanette said that she was proud that both she and Dalton participated in the school’s recycling competition by bringing the recyclable material from home to school most mornings. Reflections on Dalton’s Perceptions At the time of the study, Dalton had limited language and drawing skills which might have hindered him from expressing his ideas clearly, yet he still provided me with some valuable data. Dalton and Jeanette’s data shared some commonalities. For example, both described the environment as nature. Their data also shared some differences. While Dalton was concerned about the local traffic situation because he was talking about his personal experiences, Jeanette was concerned about different local and global environmental issues. Dalton drew on his personal experience to discuss certain environmental issues of concern to him. Dalton’s perceptions of environmental sustainability revealed contextual influences. At home and at school, there were good role models of pro-­ environmental behaviour, even if Jeanette and Ms. A thought Dalton was too young to know or be concerned about environmental sustainability. At Dalton’s home and

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school, there seemed to be continuity of similar pro-environmental behaviours by for example, taking recycling material from home to school in an attempt to help the school win the recycling competition. Jazlyn’s Story Jazlyn (3 years 8 months) was described by Ms. A as having an extensive vocabulary and as being very good at expressing her ideas. In contrast, during the interview Jazlyn was very quiet and did not talk much. An interview with and observations of Jazlyn were conducted at school. Josephine, Jazlyn’s mother, was 45 years old. An interview with Josephine was conducted at school. Josephine described herself as a housewife and had three children: two older boys and Jazlyn. Josephine said that she left school after compulsory primary education. Josephine complained that the family lived in an apartment, which was too small for a family of five, and with her husband’s minimum wage they could not afford any better. Jazlyn’s Perceptions Talking about her drawing (see Fig.  6.3), Jazlyn discussed the environment as follows: We take pictures of our home with mummy and daddy.

She further explained: Puppet: What did you draw here? Jazlyn: A tree and the sea. Puppet: Why did you draw a tree and the sea? Jazlyn: Because I have trees at home and we take care of them. Puppet: Why do you take care of them? Jazlyn: Because they make grapes and we take grapes in a bag and we eat them when we go to the beach. (And she was silent afterward).

Fig. 6.3  Jazlyn’s drawing of the environment

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During the interview, Jazlyn said that both adults and children need to take care of nature. She also admitted that adults were more responsible. As Jazlyn explained to me, adults had the responsibility to teach children how to care for the environment. Jazlyn stated that Mr. D had taught her about recycling and that she only recycled at school. During the photograph interpretation, Jazlyn called the recycling bins “buckets for recycling”. Jazlyn said that she recycled at school but her mother did not allow her to recycle at home. Josephine, Jazlyn’s Mother Josephine discussed the environment as nature and environmental sustainability as the way people care for the natural environment. During the interview, Josephine insisted that people were responsible for conserving the natural environment but she declared that her family did not consider environmental sustainability to be important. For this reason, she said that she did not take any pro-environmental measures at home, but she was aware that Jazlyn did. Josephine said that Jazlyn constantly talked to her about the school’s recycling activities and about the need to save water but Josephine said that having food on the table was more important for her family than recycling or saving water. This was confirmed by Jazlyn who said, “My mummy does not care when I tell her to save water or recycle”. Half-way through the interview Josephine asked me to stop interviewing her because she said that she was more interested in talking about her social problems than about environmental sustainability. Reflections on Jazlyn’s Perceptions Despite being described as an articulate girl, there were times during the interview when Jazlyn struggled to find the right words to fully express her ideas. Furthermore, her drawing skills at the time of the data collection were very limited. A commonality in this case study was that Jazlyn, Josephine, Ms. A and Mr. D attributed responsibility for caring for the environment to humans. Financial problems hindered Jazlyn’s family from engaging in any pro-environmental behaviour at home. Jazlyn tried to encourage her family to adopt some water-saving strategies and to recycle, which she had learned at school, but apparently the family had no interest in this. However, Jazlyn still managed to construct ideas of environmental sustainability and was able to understand what pro-environmental behaviour was expected of her at home and at school, and she acted accordingly.

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Case Studies in Kindergarten 2 The Teacher – Ms. P Ms. P taught children between ages 4 and 5. She held a BTEC national diploma in children’s care, learning and development and had been teaching this age group for 2 years. An interview with Ms. P was conducted at school. When during the interview, I asked Ms. P to describe the environment.  She included both the natural and the human-made environment in her definition. She defined environmental sustainability as people taking care of the natural environment. She also discussed her concern about local and global environmental issues, such as the burning of fossil fuels and its effects on climate change and talked about the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar energy and solar panels, particularly in Malta. During the observations, I noticed that Ms. P frequently reminded children to turn off the lights before leaving the room, as well as to reuse and recycle different materials, save water, and she encouraged children to use their personal cloth towel instead of paper towels. Ms. P stated that she believed that adults were responsible for dealing with environmental issues. She said that she lacked professional development in ECEfS. However, she proudly stated that despite the vast syllabus, curriculum constraints and lack of time, she tried to teach children about environmental issues during her lessons because she believed that young children were capable of taking pro-environmental actions too. During observations, I noticed that she included learning about environmental sustainability during crafts lessons, where children had several opportunities to use recyclable material to make crafts. Ms. P said that children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability were influenced by television, radio and the EkoSkola programme. She said that her ideas about the environment were influenced by the EkoSkola programme, television and the children’s families. Denzil’s Story Denzil (4 years 5 months) was described by Ms. P as an intelligent and obedient boy, who could express himself well for his age. During the study, he was able to express himself very well in Maltese and in English. An interview with and observations of Denzil were conducted at school. Georgia, Denzil’s mother, was 29 years old and a mother of two. An interview with Georgia was conducted at school. Georgia said that she was enrolled as a part-­ time mature student at the University of Malta, reading for an honours’ degree in social work, while her husband was in full-time employment.

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Denzil’s Perceptions When I asked Denzil to explain what the environment meant to him, he said that he did not know the meaning of the word “environment” but during the photograph interpretation he said that the environment was made up of nature and it included humans. Talking about his drawing (see Fig. 6.4), Denzil discussed the environment as follows: Puppet: What can you tell me about your drawing? Denzil: That is a boy. Puppet: What is he doing? Denzil: That’s me but I cannot move on this paper. Puppet: What would you do if you could move? Denzil: I would go outside and walk here and there and see the trees and the flowers and collect some fruit to take home. Denzil talked about the environment as sustaining life because, “It’s the place where we get food to cook in our kitchen.” During the photograph interpretation, Denzil defined solar panels as a swimming pool. When I indicated that those were solar panels, he said that they were used for electricity but he had never seen any solar panels in real life. During the interview, Denzil said that “The Earth is dirty”. He further explained that, “Smoke and exhaust make the place dirty. That is not good. Smoke is not good.” Here, he was making reference to the grey or black smoke coming out of chimneys and vehicles. Denzil said that he liked to walk to school whenever his

Fig. 6.4  Denzil’s drawing of the environment

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mother was not busy because according to him, walking to school was fun and it did not cause air pollution. Denzil believed that his parents were responsible for environmental sustainability because: Denzil: Mums and Dads should take care of everything. Puppet: Even the environment? Denzil: Yes. Denzil said that he learned about the environment from Mr. D, Ms. P, his parents, and television. During the observations and during the interview he said that  his parents taught him to conserve water and energy, to eat healthily and to recycle. He said that at school he learned to recycle too. Denzil also made reference to a cartoon series on television called Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer on Disney Channel, where these two characters discuss recycling. He also told me how he wanted to be like Diego, the cartoon character in this TV series, and so Denzil said that he was proud that he recycled like Diego too. Georgia, Denzil’s Mother When I asked Georgia to define the environment, she defined it as nature that also included humans. She defined environmental sustainability as people caring for nature and limiting their use of finite natural resources. She believed that, “People need to try to limit the use of natural resources that they use in order to preserve them for future generations.” Georgia said that she was concerned about traffic and limestone quarry dust in Malta because she believed that these two human activities caused a lot of air pollution and posed a lot of health risks to people. Similar views and concerns were expressed by Denzil when he said that too many cars were creating a lot of problems in Malta, such as exhaust fumes, air pollution, and traffic accidents. Similarly, Denzil also mentioned dust from limestone quarries as causing air pollution and being hazardous to human health around the world. Georgia said that even though she was busy with her studies, she tried to recycle at home and to save water and energy. This was confirmed by Denzil who added that he usually visited the recycling sites with his parents, but at the time of the study the family was bringing their recycling material to school as part of the school’s entry in the recycling competition. Denzil was aware of the need to conserve water and energy too. During the observations he constantly spoke to me about the importance of turning off the lights when leaving the room, at home and at school. This was confirmed by Georgia; she said that she carried out these pro-environmental activities for financial and environmental reasons. Georgia said that she was very happy with the environmental learning that was taking place at school, but she added that she wished the children were given opportunities at school to visit natural sites more often.

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Reflections on Denzil’s Perceptions At the time of the study, Denzil had good language and drawing skills, and he was able to express his ideas well. Denzil, Georgia, Ms. P and Mr. D shared some similar interest in environmental issues. They attributed the responsibility for environmental sustainability to people. Denzil frequently drew on his personal experience within the local context to illustrate his concerns for air pollution, traffic and quarry dust in Malta. Denzil described smoke as a cause of air pollution – but he was referring to the dark colour as being harmful rather than the carbon dioxide emissions. At school and at home, Denzil has had good role models of pro-environmental behaviours, and there was continuity between the pro-environmental behaviours within these contexts. For example, contextual continuity was observed when Ms. P encouraged children to create crafts using recyclable material, when Georgia and Denzil recycled so that they would help the school win the recycling competition by bringing recycling material to school, and when within the two contexts Denzil was taught to save water and energy. This helped develop Denzil’s perceptions of environmental sustainability. Television, particularly the cartoon series Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer, played an important role in teaching Denzil about recycling and Denzil even emulated Diego’s actions with regard to recycling at home and at school. Ayida’s Story Ayida (4 years 7 months) was a shy and quiet girl, who did not interact much with her peers, except with Thea (see next case study). An interview with, and observations of, Ayida were conducted at school. Jacqueline, Ayida’s mother, was 31 years old. An interview with Jacqueline was conducted at school. Jacqueline said that she was a married mother of two: Ayida and a 2-year-old girl and worked on a part-time basis from home. Ayida’s Perceptions When asked to describe the environment, Ayida described it as being made up of, “the flowers and the trees.” Talking about her drawing (see Fig.  6.5), Ayida discussed the environment as follows: Puppet: What did you draw here? Ayida: This girl is myself, this is a tree and this is the sun. Puppet: What else can you tell me about your drawing? Ayida: I am taking care of nature and playing. When I asked her how she took care of nature, Ayida said, “Mummy shows me how to take care of the trees and flowers because I need to do like her.”

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Fig. 6.5  Ayida’s drawing of the environment

During the interview, Ayida said that both adults and children were responsible for safe-guarding the natural environment, but she admitted that children needed some guidance from adults in order to properly care for the natural environment. Ayida was concerned that there were too many cars in Malta because she frequently got stuck in traffic on her way to and from school. Despite this inconvenience, she still said that cars were necessary for people to travel from one place to another. Ayida talked about recycling as a way of caring for the environment but she said that she only recycled at school and at her grandparents’ house but not at home. Ayida did not mention the term “recycling” per se. When asked by the puppet, “Do you know what recycling is?”, she said that she did not know. However, during the photograph interpretation it turned out that she had some understanding of recycling but she did not possess the right vocabulary yet. In fact, she explained, “We put paper, plastic and glass in different bins. In one I put the packets and the papers ... (pause), in the other I put the glass and in the other ... (pause) I put the tomato cans.” Ayida said that she liked to watch television but she did not mention any programme in particular. Jacqueline, Ayida’s Mother When I asked Jacqueline to talk about the environment, she framed it as being made up of the natural and the human-made environment. She stated that both environments were important for humans in order to live a healthy and balanced life. During the interview, Jacqueline told me that she never thought about environmental sustainability because she believed that she was not responsible for it and she did not wish to tell me what environmental sustainability meant to her. Jacqueline said that she was concerned about air pollution in Malta, particularly air pollution caused by power stations. She described how she believed the two local power stations were harmful for people’s health because she said that a local political leader during a public meeting said that, “Maltese power stations are factories of cancer.” In fact, she repeated her statement three times to make sure that I got her point. Like her mother, Ayida too was concerned about the health hazards of the local power stations, particularly the one in Marsa. Ayida said that power stations were, “Factories producing cancers and giving them to people”.

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Jacqueline believed that Ayida was still too young to learn about environmental sustainability and believed that, “It is not fair to burden young children with these problems (environmental issues).” Jacqueline said that it would be wiser to teach children about environmental issues when they were older, “... like for example, when the children are in secondary school so that they could understand more what these issues are and how to go about them.” Reflection on Ayida’s Perceptions Although Ayida was described by her teacher as a shy and quiet girl, she interacted quite well with me during the observations and the interview. There were some similarities in the views of Ayida and Jacqueline’s accounts of the environment and sustainability. For example, both believed that power stations were a major cause of air pollution and were hazardous to human health. It is worth noting that the interview with Ayida and Jaqueline was conducted after a general election was held in Malta on ninth March, 2013, where as indicated by Jacqueline, one of the political parties (the Labour party), built its electoral campaign on the idea of power stations as factories which cause cancer. Jacqueline’s claims that Ayida was too young to understand anything about environmental sustainability were in contrast with Ayida’s views because the girl said that her mother taught her how to take care of nature. Similarly, Ms. P said that Ayida hardly recycled at school, yet Ayida was capable of talking about recycling and clearly and correctly indicated the use of particular recycling bins during the photograph interpretation. Ayida was receiving conflicting messages about environmental sustainability at home and at school. Mr. D, Ms. P and her grandparents encouraged the children to recycle but Jacqueline did not encourage her child to recycle. Thea’s Story Thea (4 years 9 months) was a very talkative, well-behaved girl. Thea got along well with her peers and was constantly followed around by Ayida (previous case study). An interview with and observations of Thea were conducted at school. Catherine, Thea’s mother, was a 32-year-old. An interview with Catherine was conducted at school. She described herself as a housewife. Thea’s Perceptions Talking about her drawing (see Fig. 6.6), Thea discussed the environment as follows: There is the sun, the trees, the animals and the worms.

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Fig. 6.6  Thea’s drawing of the environment

During her drawing interpretation, Thea pointed out that Ms. P had spoken to her about nature. Thea told me that she had drawn nature as Ms. P had explained it to her. Thea said that people are responsible for caring for the environment by, “Taking care of the trees and not kill birds and worms”. Thea said that there were too many cars in Malta, which were making people’s lives difficult. Talking from personal experience, Thea said that other people’s cars were causing problems to her family, and explained: Thea: Cars are not good because yesterday we were going to grandma’s house and there was a lot of traffic and we got stuck for a long time. When we got there, there was no parking space and we had to go back home. Puppet: What would you suggest we do about this? Thea: It is best if people did not have a car but we need the car to go to grandma’s and my dad to go to work ... (pause) and cars cause traffic accidents and I do not like them. Later, during the interview Thea mentioned cycling as a healthy and environmentally friendly alternative to cars. Thea said that she spent a lot of time with her grandparents and she visited her grandfather’s fields on a regular basis. Thea said that her grandparents taught her how to recycle, conserve rainwater and how to love nature. She said: Thea: My grandfather does that in his field. Puppet: He does what? Thea: He puts water in a tank to save water. Puppet: Where does he get the water from? Thea: When it rains. Thea also talked about energy conservation and pointed out that it is not good to leave water running and the lights on when no one was in the room, for example, Thea: It’s very bad and they are naughty to waste water and leave the lights on. Puppet: Why? Thea: Because mummy and daddy told me not to do like that because of the money.

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During the interview, Catherine confirmed that she had taught Thea to conserve water and energy for financial reasons. Thea also talked about how proud she was that she recycled and said, “We put the tissues, paper and the plastic wrappers in special bins in the classroom because Ms P told us to do so.” This was confirmed by Ms. P who said that she always taught children how to recycle. During one of the observations Thea told me that she enjoyed the morning assemblies at school, especially whenever Mr. D told them a story about saving water while brushing his teeth. Mr. D confirmed this story and he told me this story again during his interview. Thea said that she watched a lot of television at home and sometimes she learned about the environment from television programmes but she was unable to mention any particular programme she was talking about. Catherine, Thea’s Mother When I asked Catherine to define the environment she framed it as including the balance between the natural environment and the human-made environment. Catherine found it quite hard to give me a definition of environmental sustainability and finally declared that she was not interested in the issue at all and asked if she could skip some of my questions. Yet, during the interview Catherine spoke to me about the importance of education as a key to raising awareness about environmental sustainability. Catherine said that she and her family did not recycle because she considered recycling material to be rubbish. This was confirmed by Thea, who also said that she did not recycle at home because “Mummy says that recycling is rubbish and mummy wants to keep the house clean.” During the interview, Catherine said that her major source of information about environmental sustainability was the local storekeeper because, “She (the local storekeeper) knows everything ... She briefs the daily news and I learn a lot from her and from the other people in her shop too.” Catherine recounted how the customers met at this shop on a daily basis and discussed various issues, events and people too. Reflections on Thea’s Perceptions During the drawing interpretation, Thea told me that she had drawn a version of nature as explained to her by her teacher. This could have been the result of the teacher’s preparation for my visit or it could have been a result of Ms. P’s own interest in teaching young children about the environment and sustainability. Thea frequently drew on her personal experiences in the local context to illustrate her concerns for local environmental problems, such as traffic in Malta. Interestingly, Catherine believed that formal education was the key to raising awareness about environmental sustainability. Yet, Thea’s informal education also played a role in her perceptions of environmental sustainability; water and energy

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conservation lessons by her grandparents and energy saving strategies at home taught her some valuable sustainability practices. Water conservation is especially important for people living on an island where rain is scarce in winter and where summer is very hot and dry. Catherine’s disinterest in recycling was in contrast with what was going on at school; Catherine considered recycling as rubbish, while at school Thea was taught how to recycle. Despite these different and complex messages about environmental sustainability, Thea still developed her own perceptions of it. Thea knew the situatedness of pro-environmental measures and how they were to be enacted contextually because she knew which behaviour was acceptable in different contexts. At school and at her grandfather’s place, Thea had some good role models of pro-environmental behaviour, even if she had some conflicting messages at home: for example, between the school and her grandparents’ engagement with environmental sustainability; and her mother’s lack of interest in environmental sustainability. Thea worked her way between these different contexts and learned which pro-environmental behaviour was acceptable according to context.

Case Study in Year 1 The Teacher – Ms. L Ms. L taught children between ages 5 and 6. Ms. L had a B.  Educ. (Hons.) and 10 years of teaching experience in ECCE. An interview with Ms. L was conducted at school. When I asked Ms. L to define the environment, she included both the natural environment and the human-made environment in her definition. When I asked Ms. L to define environmental sustainability, she was confused and admitted that she could not define it. During the interview, she placed a lot of emphasis on the conservation of the natural environment as a means of achieving environmental sustainability. Ms. L said that she was mostly concerned about local environmental issues, such as over-development of rural areas, air pollution and hunting. Yet, she admitted that she only recycled at school, and blamed her lack of pro-environmental actions outside school on her busy lifestyle. She also told me that she believed the children in her class were too young to understand the concept of environmental sustainability. She complained about the syllabus being too vast to include extracurricular activities about environmental sustainability, but said that she followed the EkoSkola activities and the school’s environmental activities too.

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Amie’s Story Amie (5 years 6 months) was a shy, quiet and diligent girl. An interview with and observations of Amie were conducted at school. Alison, Amie’s mother, was 35  years old. An interview with Alison was conducted at school. She said that she worked in the purchasing section of an electronic company. Alison said that she had a diploma in management from the Maastricht School of Management in collaboration with the Malta Institute of Management. Amie’s Perceptions When I asked Amie to describe the environment for me, she described it as, “Flowers, trees, birds, and bees.” Talking about her drawing (see Fig. 6.7), Amie discussed the environment as follows: “This is the environment with the sun, the grass and a flower.” Amie said that people were responsible for caring for the environment by, “Keeping the Earth clean.” During the photograph interpretation Amie elaborated on this by saying that people should keep the Earth clean by producing, “... less exhaust in the air” and also by producing, “... less waste and rubbish. We need to recycle paper, plastic, metal, wood and glass ... people need to waste less and recycle more and they need to use cleaner modes of transport.” When talking about sustainable fishing, Amie said that adults should not catch all the fish and they need to conserve some. She said, “That is because if the men catch all the fish, then there will be no more fish for other people to eat.”

Fig. 6.7  Amie’s drawing of the environment

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Amie said that she was aware that paper is made from trees. She said that people need to reduce their consumption of paper to save trees and to conserve paper for her own needs, for her family’s needs, as well as for the needs of all children. For this reason, she said that she recycled at school and at home too. In fact, Amie said that she recycled paper, plastic and food leftovers at school and at home. She also said that she was very excited about the school’s recycling competition. During one of the observations, I noticed that Amie used both sides of the paper and she had a laminated A4 sheet and a water-based marker underneath her table. She told me that she used the laminated sheet for rough workings during schoolwork in order to save paper and trees. Amie expressed her concern about her parents getting caught in traffic on their way to work because according to her, there were too many cars in Malta, due to the inefficient public transport system. Amie also talked about the negative effects of exhaust fumes and explained: Amie: But cars are not good either. Puppet: Why? Amie: Because they make the air dirty. Puppet: How do they do that? Amie: With their exhaust. The exhaust makes the air dirty. Puppet: What happens if the air gets dirty with this exhaust? Amie: We breathe in the dirty air from cars and we get sick. Amie said that walking short distances or cycling were cleaner and good alternative modes of transport. Alison, Amie’s Mother When I asked Alison to define the environment, she described it as consisting of the natural and the human-made environment and said that both environments were equally important for the well-being of humanity. According to her, environmental sustainability was the act of preserving the natural resources for the well-being of nature and for the benefit of humanity, now and in the future. Alison said that she was influenced by her employment in waste reduction management, which she believed increased her concern about the production of waste and its recycling process, both locally and globally. She said that her education, employment, books and the Internet influenced her decisions about environmental sustainability. Alison said that as a parent, she felt responsible for setting a good example to her children and she described how at home the family reused items until they could not be used anymore and then they recycled them. This was confirmed by Amie, who said that her parents wanted her to minimise waste and to reuse and recycle materials at home. During their interview, Amie and Alison talked about how the family recycled toys and clothes with relatives and friends, which they considered to be a way of caring for the environment.

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Amie said that she also learned about recycling during one of her favourite cartoon character series on television called Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer. Alison too made reference to this cartoon series and said that Amie had watched it several times a week for the past few months. According to Alison, Amie was still too young to possess and process certain abstract thoughts such as those about environmental sustainability. Reflections on Amie’s Perceptions Amie had very good communication skills and was able to express her ideas clearly during the interview. Amie and Alison demonstrated particular interest in environmental sustainability. Recycling featured frequently as a strategy for preserving nature in Amie’s, Alison and Ms. L’s accounts. Ms. L and Alison thought that Amie was too young to understand anything about environmental sustainability. Yet, Amie drew on her personal experience within her family, school, and within the local context to illustrate her concerns for local environmental issues. Television also played an important role in teaching Amie about recycling. Wider contextual influences in this case study were observed, for example, the mother’s education and her employment influenced the pro-environmental behaviours of the family. Alison was influenced by her employment in the waste reduction and waste management industry, and in turn, she influenced Amie’s ideas of waste reduction and minimisation as well. These contextual influences and behaviours might have helped develop some of Amie’s perceptions of environmental sustainability and might have helped her learn the vocabulary to express her ideas in this regard.

Case Studies in Year 2 The Teacher – Ms. N Ms. N taught children between ages 6 and 7. She had a B. Educ. (Hons.) and was an experienced teacher who had taught at different grade levels over the past 20 years. An interview with Ms. N was conducted at school. When I asked Ms. N to define the environment, she described it as nature, which did not include humans. When I asked her to define environmental sustainability, she discussed it as the protection and conservation of nature and natural resources around the world and in Malta. Ms. N told me that she believed education was key to help people to conserve nature and ensure environmental sustainability. She said that although she lacked professional development in ECEfS, she talked about how she encouraged children in her class to reuse/recycle objects and how she tried to

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minimise the use of paper. During the observations, I noticed that the children in her classroom used small doodle whiteboards as rough paper made of a laminated A4 sheet, instead of paper, which they could reuse several times during the school year. She said that she followed the EkoSkola and the school’s environmental activities. Ms. N also said that she wished she could teach children about environmental issues more often but she was constrained by time. Ylenia’s Story Ylenia (6 years 5 months) was a bright and quiet girl. An interview with and observations of Ylenia were conducted at school. Robert, Ylenia’s father, was 35  years old. An interview with Robert was conducted at school. He said that had an undergraduate degree in religion from the University of Malta and was self-employed. Ylenia’s Perceptions When asked to describe the environment, Ylenia discussed the environment as follows: Ylenia: The environment for me is the trees, plants, the sea, and things like that and the people can enjoy nature and it helps people live. Puppet: How does the environment help people live? Ylenia: The trees and the sea give us food. Similar perceptions of the environment were expressed in her drawing interpretation (see Fig. 6.8). She explained: Puppet: What can you tell me about your drawing? Ylenia: I drew an orange tree, the sun, and two butterflies. Another tree and a girl sitting on a bench and some bushes. Puppet: What else can you tell me about your picture? Ylenia: This is a girl and she is in the environment and she is eating an apple and there are two birds as well. Trees are part of the environment. Ylenia said that people were responsible for caring for the environment. Specifically, she said, “People should keep the world clean. People should only use materials as much as they need, and they do not waste them.” Ylenia spoke about how unhappy she was about the fact that her mother drove her around all the time. She also told me that she felt helpless because as a child, she could not do anything to convince her mother to drive less. Ylenia made reference to the use of cars and the burning of fossil fuels as a non-renewable energy source and said:

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Fig. 6.8  Ylenia’s drawing of the environment

Ylenia: Cars make exhaust. Puppet: Do you know how cars produce exhaust? Ylenia: From their engines. Puppet: And how does it happen? Ylenia: The engine uses petrol. Puppet: What happens when it uses petrol? Ylenia: If we use it (petrol) all, there would not be any petrol left and then we cannot drive cars any more. Ylenia said that walking and cycling are good alternatives to vehicle transportation. Ylenia went further to explain that: Ylenia: It (exhaust) makes the Earth dirty, causes a lot of pollution and the ice in the North Pole melts. Puppet: Why does this happen? Ylenia: Because car exhaust, the smoke from it I mean, melts the ice. Puppet: So is it only exhaust from cars that melts the ice in the North Pole? Ylenia: No, all smoke does that (melts the ice). Puppet: Why does the ice melt? Ylenia: Because the smoke is very hot and it melts the ice. Because then the smoke goes up to the North Pole and the North Pole is very cold. And hot things make cold things melt. Puppet: And then what happens when the ice in the North Pole melts? Ylenia: We get global warming. Ylenia told me that she learned about global warming and its effects on the North Pole during a science lesson at school. She also read about it at home because the topic fascinated her after they discussed it at school and at home with her parents.

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Robert, Ylenia’s Father When asked to define the environment, Robert defined it as, “The environment that God created, such as nature; and the environment that people create.” Robert said that nature was God’s perfect creation and humans were responsible for taking care of it. While he said that he was concerned about the environmental issues the world is currently facing, he felt that humanitarian issues were of greater concern and needed greater attention. At one point during the interview, he talked about his concern about climate change because it led to some humanitarian issues, particularly in developing countries. Robert stated that in an attempt to reduce his family’s carbon footprint, and to reduce energy bills, he installed solar panels and a solar water heater at home. During my interview with Ylenia, she also talked of solar power as a renewable energy source and a cleaner alternative for energy production. Ylenia said that she always turned off the lights when leaving the room and sometimes she reminded her parents and the teacher to do so. Robert talked about recycling as another pro-­ environmental strategy used by the family. This was confirmed by Ylenia, who also gave me her reasons for recycling too. She explained recycling as, “We can do something else from that material. For example, we can make tissues from used paper and so on.” Robert said that his family started saving water lately upon Ylenia’s recommendations after she learned about the importance of water during a science lesson at school and this was confirmed by Ylenia during her interview. However, Robert believed that Ylenia was too young to understand the issue of environmental sustainability. Reflections on Ylenia’s Perceptions At the time of the data collection, Ylenia had excellent communication skills and was able to express her ideas very well. Although Ylenia and Robert included nature in their definition of the environment, unlike her father, Ylenia did not include God in her definition of the environment. However, father and daughter both said that people were responsible for protecting nature. Recycling and renewable energy sources were mentioned by Ylenia, Robert and Mr. D as a strategy for preserving the environment; Ms. N mentioned reusing paper and objects before recycling them as a pro-environmental strategy in the classroom. This case study revealed some intergenerational influences such as when Ylenia encouraged her family to save water after learning about it at school. When talking about exhaust fumes, Ylenia made the connection between the burning of fossil fuels and global warming. Ylenia was aware of the environmental cost of cars and she drew upon her personal experiences and illustrated her concern about the issue and offered alternatives to private car use that were more environmentally friendly. This indicates that Ylenia had some understanding of the carbon cycle but she did not possess the vocabulary to express her ideas in a scientific

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way. Nevertheless, she was able to make the connection between the local and the global context. John’s Story John (6  years 5  months) was a very bright boy. He was able to communicate in Maltese and in English. An interview with and observations of John were conducted at school. John’s parents did not participate in this study. John’s Perceptions When I asked John to define the environment, he described it as follows: “For me the environment is nature and I know how to take care of it.” Talking about his drawing (see Fig. 6.9), John said that, “I drew nature because it is a very nice place to be in for me.” John said that nature keeps people healthy because it is a source of life for them. He also said that he had his happiest moments whenever he was in nature. John was also concerned about the state of the environment and said, “They (people) are

Fig. 6.9  John’s drawing of the environment

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killing nature bit by bit because they (people) do not care.” He stated that since people lived on Earth and since they used the Earth’s resources for their survival, they were responsible for protecting the environment. John said that he was concerned about air pollution as well, which he believed was caused by too much traffic and car exhaust fumes and explained: John: Having too many cars is not a good idea. Puppet: Why? John: Because they make the air dirty with exhaust. Puppet: How exactly? John: If cars did not use gas, they would not make the Earth dirty. Puppet: Where does this gas come from? John: From petrol. Puppet: What does petrol do? John: It gives power to cars, vans, ships, aeroplanes, trucks, etc. and people can drive them. Puppet: What else can we use instead of petrol? John: I do not know. Thereafter, John was silent for a while and then he suggested the use of public transport and walking as an alternative and cleaner means of transport. John also said that he was very worried that there is so much air pollution and unless people changed their behaviour, the world would soon come to an end. John said that his family had solar panels at home and he seemed to speak positively about them, and said: John: Because they (solar panels) give us electricity and they save the environment. Puppet: How do they save the environment? John: I think because they are good but I am not sure how ... how exactly, I mean. Puppet: OK. And why are they good for electricity? John: Because they make electricity from the sun. John believed that fishing was necessary for people to have food to eat. John also explained, “If people catch all the fish, the sea will be empty, but not completely because at the bottom there will be crabs and starfish, for example, but these are not good for people to eat.” John was also aware that fish are actually a renewable resource if fishermen adopted sustainable fishing practices and specified: John: If fishermen caught say only five fish a day, they could let the other fish live and they (the fish) will have babies and we will have more fish to eat. But then we cannot allow all the fish to live. Puppet: Why cannot we let all the fish live? John: Because otherwise there will be so many fish that the sea will be full of fish and they, the fish, will not have room where to swim in the sea. John commented that he recycled at home and at school, and he drew my attention to the recycling bins outside the school. He also said that he was proud that his school was participating in the recycling competition. During the interview, he said

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that his motivation for recycling stemmed from his belief that recycling helps people live a better life but he could not explain how. He also said that he learned about recycling from the cartoon series on television called Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer, and he tried to emulate the behaviour of Dora and Diego. John also expressed his interest in the school’s recycling competition and he wanted his school to win this competition. So, he brought used paper and plastic from home every day and sorted them in the recycling room in the morning, before assembly. This was confirmed by Ms. N, and I also observed him doing so during the observations. During observations, I noticed John often reminded his friends to bring recyclable material to school. John quoted his parents as a source of information about environmental sustainability. He said that they showed him how to have a sustainable lifestyle. John frequently reflected on the environment and said, “Sometimes when I am alone I think about the environment too because I like nature.” Reflections on John’s Perceptions John had very good language skills and was able to communicate his ideas well. He drew on his personal experience to talk about the environment. He also expressed a catastrophic worldview when he feared the world would end unless people changed their behaviours. When talking about fish, John demonstrated some knowledge of fish as renewable resources. Although I was unable to get a parental perspective of what was going on at home in terms of environmental sustainability, John indicated that his family was conscious of a sustainable lifestyle and had installed solar panels at home. In John’s case, there was continuity between what was happening at home and at school because the parents, Ms. N, and Mr. D practised the same sustainability practices at home and at school. Television too played an important role in teaching John about recycling. In fact, he tried to emulate the behaviour of his favourite cartoon characters by recycling in different contexts. But  perhaps more importantly, John pointed out his personal interest in protecting the environment. John’s personal dispositions and interests also played vital roles in helping John develop his perceptions of environmental sustainability. Jaylee’s Story Jaylee (6 years 7 months) was a talkative girl. Jaylee was a member of the EkoSkola team. An interview with and observations of Jaylee were conducted at school. Jaylee’s parents did not participate in this study.

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Jaylee’s Perceptions When I asked Jaylee to define the environment, she discussed it as follows: The environment is nature and the whole world, for example the place where you live, such as Australia or Malta. That’s the environment.

Talking about her drawing (see Fig. 6.10), Jaylee said that “I drew a girl and she is eating and threw away a paper ... (pause) on the floor. Then, another girl came and saw the paper. She picked it up and threw it in the bin. Here, there is an apple tree and a banana tree because I like them.” Jaylee talked about how she believed children are responsible for protecting the environment, “by recycling, children are leaving a better world for other people ... otherwise, they, the other people, would cry because they would not have anything left.” Jaylee further explained that adults were more responsible for protecting the environment because they had to set a good example to children. Jaylee said that as a member of the EkoSkola club she recycled whenever she could and this was confirmed by Ms. N during my interview with her. Ms. N also said that Jaylee frequently encouraged her peers to recycle as well. Jaylee was concerned about there being too much traffic in Malta. She said that her mother usually drove her to and from school, and to and from her drama lessons too. Jaylee was worried about traffic congestion in Malta because usually she arrived late for her lessons. She suggested that other people should walk or use public transport so that she and her mother did not get stuck in traffic and arrive late to events. However, Jaylee said that she would not use public transport, which she believed was unreliable.

Fig. 6.10  Jaylee’s drawing of the environment

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Reflections on Jaylee’s Perceptions Jaylee expressed her ideas clearly during the interview. In her definition of the environment, she included the natural environment and talked about both local and global contexts. She also included the human-made environment by mentioning the places where people live in her definition. The EkoSkola club, Ms. N and Mr. D encouraged Jaylee to recycle and she encouraged her friends to do so too. Jaylee’s idea of recycling as an environmental sustainability strategy was future focused, in the sense that she believed that by recycling people will be preserving the natural resources for future generations. Jaylee did not talk about what was going on at home in terms of environmental sustainability. However, she did refer to her mother’s driving and the issue of traffic congestion in Malta but displayed conflicting messages about environmental responsibility. She wanted other people to change their driving habits but she was unwilling to change hers! Liam’s Story Liam (7 years 2 months) was a talkative boy. Liam was a member of the EkoSkola team. An interview with and observations of Liam were conducted at school. During the interview Liam refused to use the puppet and he did not want to draw either. Marija, Liam’s mother, was a 39-year-old. An interview with Marija was conducted at school. She described herself as a housewife, who also worked in the fields with her husband and they had five children of between 7 and 15 years of age. Liam’s Perceptions I asked Liam what the environment meant to him and he discussed it as follows: “Well, all the trees, the bushes, the animals ... (pause) and people.” Liam said that it is very important that people keep the planet clean and recycle as ways of preserving the environment. He said that both children and adults are responsible for environmental protection. Liam spoke at length about the need to preserve the natural environment mostly by recycling and he saw people as being responsible for doing so. During the interview Liam said that he went to the village shops, “During the Easter holidays I filled a whole potato sack and I would have filled another one if only I had more time to go around and collect more material.” Liam wanted me to understand his intentions for recycling and said: Liam: Do you know why I recycle? Me: No, not really but would like to learn why. Liam: I recycle because I want Malta to be the most beautiful place on the face of the Earth. I also want my school to win the recycling competition so I recycle at

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home and I collect recyclable material and bring it to school for the competition. Liam was concerned about air pollution in Malta and said: Liam: Smoke from power stations and so on will fuck Malta and does not make it any cleaner but rather dirtier. Me: Why do you think so? Liam: Because it (smoke) smells awful and it (smoke) makes people sick, very sick. Similarly, Liam was concerned about the traffic situation in Malta because, “Cars produce smoke and there are too many accidents, and their smoke makes Malta dirty because of the black smoke.” Liam said that he was in favour of responsible and sustainable fishing practice in order to allow different species to reproduce. During the interview Liam said that he was afraid that fish were going extinct in Malta and he said that it would be a good idea to eliminate all the shark species slowly and said: Liam: Fishermen should catch three sharks a day to feed people? Me: Why three sharks? Liam: Because sharks eat people and we do not need them and sharks are big so fishermen feed a lot of people and let the other fish live. Marija, Liam’s Mother Marija was a 39-year-old. An interview with Marija was conducted at school. She described herself as a housewife, who also worked in the fields with her husband and they had five children of between 7 and 15 years of age. When I asked Marija what the environment meant to her, she described it as, “the nature around us that God created and humans are messing it up. That’s a sin!” Marija described environmental sustainability as, “people protecting nature.” She went on to talk about conservation of the natural environment for future generations of people as an environmental sustainability strategy, and she said that people and the government are responsible for preserving natural resources. Marija said that she was concerned about the use of pesticides, with particular reference to Maltese agriculture because she said that this was hers and her husband’s employment, and therefore, it concerned her a lot. She said, “A lot of people do not know what goes into these pesticides which cause a lot of health issues that just cannot be reversed.” This led her to ask, “What is the government doing to teach people how to care for the environment and about the harmful pesticides in their fruits and vegetables?” Marija and Liam said that the family also recycled their food leftovers, which they used to make their own compost for agricultural purposes. They also said that their family used local produce as much as possible. During one of the observations, Liam told me he spent a lot of time working with his family in the fields. Indeed, he insisted that this made him feel like a responsible young man.

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Reflections on Liam’s Perceptions During the interview, Liam talked like a boy older than his age. This could be explained by the fact that outside school, Liam said that he spent a lot of time with his family members, all of whom were older than him. When talking about environmental issues, Liam even used swear words to express his disgust with the local environmental situation. Unlike Marija, Liam did not include God in his definition of the environment. Liam frequently referred to personal experiences within the local context to illustrate his perceptions of the environment and sustainability. Liam showed awareness of fish as a renewable resource, but a discussion with Liam indicated that he was unaware of the role of sharks in the sea, which also indicated that he had no idea of the food chains involved. At home and at school, Liam had good role models of pro-environmental behaviours: Ms. N and Mr. D engaged the children in pro-environmental activities and according to Marija emphasised the importance of recycling and the wise use of natural resources because she had daily contact with nature through her employment. Therefore, Liam seemed to be experiencing continuity between these two contexts that helped him construct his own perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability.

Case Study in Year 2 The Teacher – Ms. M Ms. M taught children between ages 6 and 7. She had a B. Educ. (Hons.) from the University of Malta and had been teaching for 19 years at St. Mary Primary. An interview with Ms. M was conducted at school. When I asked about her definition of the environment, she described the environment as nature. She described environmental sustainability as people preserving natural resources. She spoke about air pollution in Malta by making direct reference to the power station in Marsa, which she believed was causing a multitude of illnesses and she wished that this would stop. Ms. M said that her concern for the natural environment led her to take pro-environmental actions that would lead to environmental sustainability, at school and at home. For example, she encouraged children in her classroom to recycle; save water; and turn off the lights when leaving the room as part of the school’s EkoSkola programme; and she walked to school every day. She stated that education is key to teaching children and adults how to lead sustainable lifestyles because both children and adults could contribute towards a better environment.

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Francesco’s Story Francesco (7 years 6 months) was shy at times, but in general, he was very talkative, vivacious and confident. During both  observations and interview, Francesco frequently chose to draw his responses to my questions before providing his verbal responses because he felt comfortable expressing his opinions about his drawing. Francesco attended the activities organised by a local environmental NGO (Nature Trust-FEE Malta) once a month but I was unable to observe Francesco during one of his activities due to time constraints. The interview with Francesco was conducted at his family’s home. Julie, Francesco’s mother, was 34 years old and Keith was 37 years old. An interview was conducted with Julie at the family’s home. Julie said that her husband ran a culinary family business. She said that she held a diploma in ECCE and worked as a kindergarten assistant at St. Mary Primary  – the same primary school that Francesco attended. During my initial encounter with the family, Keith mentioned his wife as the primary caregiver of the family and said that they shared the family duties equally. Keith was not present during my observations and chose not to be interviewed because he said that he was busy with work. Francesco’s Perceptions When I asked Francesco to tell me what the environment meant to him, he drew a picture (see Fig. 6.11). He described it as, “This is nature, with lots of trees, flowers and butterflies. It is nice to be in it.” He told me that this was his idea of the ideal environment. Then, Francesco drew a second picture (see Fig. 6.12). This time he said that he drew the current state of the environment according to him. When talking about Fig. 6.11 Francesco said that he included positive images of nature. When talking about Fig. 6.12 he said that he included a mixture of positive

Fig. 6.11  Francesco’s idea of the ideal environment

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Fig. 6.12  The current state of the environment according to Francesco

images of nature and the negative impact of human activity on nature. In Fig. 6.12 he said that he included objects created by people (a tower) and the negative effect these objects had on nature, where for example, “People had to chop down trees to build a tower instead.” Francesco said that people must use natural resources wisely. According to him, this was a way of achieving environmental sustainability. Francesco made the connection between the cutting of trees and the burning of fossil fuels in causing pollution in the atmosphere in the global context, “and causing global warming.” He said that people needed to plant more trees which would keep the air clean because trees absorb air pollution and produce clean air for people and animals. He also said that trees were important for, “furniture and paper and we should use both sides of a paper or use less paper so that we need to use less trees but then again we need to plant more trees.” During another observation Francesco suggested that, “We use both sides of papers and then put the papers back in the recycle bin and they can be used again without chopping the trees. That’s what I do!” Francesco also linked the cutting down of trees to the extinction of some animal species and the decreased availability of resources for humans. He clarified that, “If we chop down a lot of trees, animals may die forever.” In Fig. 6.12, he labelled the person in his drawing as an “orc”. Francesco explained that he usually compared people who destroy nature to the ugly creatures called “orcs”. He described orcs as “ugly and cruel creatures” which he had seen in the movie Lord of the Rings. The photograph below (see Fig. 6.13) was given to me by Francesco, showing the orcs he was talking about. Francesco talked about the importance of preserving nature. He said that children, adults and the government were responsible for protecting nature. But he believed that the government was most responsible of all and should make new laws to protect natural resources. Francesco also indicated that he had an understanding of the need to replenish natural resources, such as fish, in order to maintain sustainability. He suggested fish farms were a good idea, “So we do not run out of fish ... Because people are fishing too much and fish farms grow a lot of fish at once and we can eat them. Then we can throw some in the sea.” However, he said that, “We should kill all the sharks.” He

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Fig. 6.13  A photograph of two Lego “orcs”. (By Francesco)

Fig. 6.14  Air pollution caused by power stations

specified that he was referring to great white sharks, “because they [great white sharks] kill people.” Francesco was concerned about the hunting of whales and the possible extinction of the whale population worldwide. He viewed whale species extinction as a bad thing because the species would be wiped off the face of the Earth in the near future and according to him, children in the future would be at a disadvantage because they could only see whales in pictures without enjoying the real whales in the wild. In the drawing below (see Fig. 6.14), Francesco depicted his worries about pollution in Malta. Here, he referred to the black smoke coming out of the chimneys as, “that is pollution from the power station and it is going to kill us.” According to Francesco, the workers at this power station, which he referred to as the “inside people”, were dying first because, “... they were breathing in a lot of the black smoke when they went to work.”

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Francesco mentioned solar energy as an alternative to power stations. He also said that solar energy generated by solar panels was a way of saving people from dying of air pollution. He explained that, “Solar panels are clean energy and do not cause pollution.” During the observations he commented on other possible actions that people could take to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. For example, he suggested that people needed to reduce their dependence on oil and petrol to power vehicles. As a solution, he suggested more efficient public transport systems and more bikes to encourage people to use more sustainable transport systems. Francesco was very aware of the need to reuse and recycle material. Ms. M said that at school there were many instances when Francesco demonstrated positive behaviour toward environmental sustainability, especially with his emphasis on recycling. Ms. M said that he constantly reminded his friends to recycle. During the observations I noted that he made most of his flashcards from used cereal boxes. Next, Francesco drew a war scene (see Fig. 6.15) but he did not want to colour it. He said that in doing so he would emphasise the gloominess of war. According to Francesco, war was causing a lot of environmental damage too because it killed people, and bombs produced a lot of air pollution. Julie, Francesco’s Mother When I asked Julie to define the environment, she described it as being made up of the natural and the human-made environment. Julie stated that both environments were important for the well-being of humans and the planet. She said that people’s irresponsible actions were causing a lot of environmental degradation, both locally and globally. I asked Julie to give me her definition of environmental sustainability and she described it as, “an action by people who care for the natural environment and preserve natural resources for the future.” During the interview, Julie talked about how she and Keith took pro-­environmental actions at home. For example, the family used public transport often and cycled too. Julie and Francesco said that they both walked to and from school every day. Julie explained that she bought local produce and ate vegetarian meals most days a week. Recycling was also mentioned by Julie and Francesco as a useful strategy to help maintain environmental sustainability. For example, during one of the observations,

Fig. 6.15  A war scene by Francesco

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after preparing dinner with Julie, Francesco brought a crinkled paper bag and put the leftover vegetables in it and explained: Me: What are you doing? Francesco: Recycling. Me: How are you going to recycle? Francesco: The rabbits will eat the vegetables. The rabbits like them and so we do not throw the vegetable leftovers away. (With a big smile on his face) I like to feed grandpa’s rabbits. Julie said that at home the family had installed energy-saving lighting to reduce their carbon footprint. She was also interested in insulating the home to diminish the amount of heat coming in during the summer and to minimise the loss of heat during the winter. Julie also said that she and Keith discussed such issues with Francesco and he was allowed to express his ideas because they believed that the best way to teach their child to lead a sustainable lifestyle was to lead by example. During the observations at home, Francesco said that he enjoyed watching television, going to the cinema, and reading. Francesco spoke about how he enjoyed watching a movie called Ice Age because he said it is related to environmental issues, and how excited he was when later he bought the book about this film too. Julie commented about how intrigued he was with this story and he went on to ask for more books about this topic. Reflections on Francesco’s Perceptions Francesco was able to articulate well-formed opinions of his interests and choices. He showed a significant level of knowledge of environmental issues, even if at times he had partisan views about them, for example, in the case of sharks and sustainable fishing. Books, television and films were mentioned by Francesco and by Julie as a source of information about certain environmental issues. Francesco used characters in films to explain his ideas about the environment. For example, the use of the term “orcs” was a way of helping Francesco express his feelings about people who damage the environment. Francesco was a child growing up in a family with interest in environmental sustainability. He also attended a school where environmental sustainability was considered to be a priority by the teacher. This sustainability conscious family recycled, walked often and they were very conscious of their carbon footprint, which was reflected in Francesco’s responses and behaviours too. His teacher shared some of these interests as well. Therefore, Francesco experienced continuity between the pro-environmental actions and behaviours learned at home and those learned at school. This could have helped him develop his ideas and interests in environmental sustainability.

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Conclusion This chapter displayed the uniqueness about each child’s perceptions and the particular contexts which were most influential to each child. The combination of the children, parents, teachers and head teacher’s data has yielded fresh insights into the unique, personally significant factors that influence the children’s perceptions of the issue under study. The children’s data revealed that each child held varying perceptions of environmental sustainability and each came to understand the issue through different avenues. While, generalisations cannot be made from these studies, together they provide rich insights into the individual experiences of these 12 children during a particular period in their lives, and helped me understand the quintain (the children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, and the contextual influences upon these) (Stake, 2006). It is hoped that the perceptions of these 12 children will provide a tool with which to better understand these perceptions for children in Malta.

References Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research. Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. Hedges, H., & Cullen, J. (2003). The tooth fairy comes, or is it just your mum and dad?: A child’s construction of knowledge. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 28(3), 19–24. https://doi. org/10.1177/183693910302800304 James, A., & Prout, A. (Eds.). (1997). Constructing and reconstructing childhood: Contemporary issues in the sociological study of childhood (2nd ed.). Falmer Press. Miles, M.  B., Huberman, A.  M., & Saldana, J. (2020). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (4th ed.). Sage Publications, Inc. Stake, R. E. (2006). Multiple case study analysis. The Guildford Press.

Chapter 7

Young Children and the Environment: Visions of Nature

Introduction An affinity with nature has been an important part of human existence for millennia. As a species, we have always relied on natural resources for our survival. For thousands of years, we have been able to live in harmony with nature. In recent times, however, with the increase in urbanisation, globalisation and economic growth, we seem to have lost touch with nature to the point where the natural resources on the planet have been overconsumed, sometimes to the point of extinction, leading up to the current environmental crisis. This has generated considerable international interest to warrant attention to safeguard the future of the planet. Children around the world are constantly being exposed to, and affected by, these issues. Realising the massive scale of the current challenging and complex situation has led many to take action even if such action is not enough to overcome the global challenges we are facing today. Should such practices continue in the future, children and life systems on the planet will suffer the environmental, socio-ecological and economic consequences of lifestyle choices made by the current generation for longer. Urgent action is required to tackle these issues seriously, mainly by transforming the current unsustainable lifestyles as early as possible. In this book, I argue that one way of overcoming this challenge is to teach children about the value of nature, starting in the early years. Pedagogically, nature is a place that offers a wealth of sensory experiences and materials that support and enhance children’s learning and development. This process of interaction with the different elements found in nature is also believed to help children develop a relationship with nature and eventually, become environmentally responsible citizens (Elliott, 2018; Louv, 2005; Wilson, 2019). Young children experience the environment differently, in different contexts, across cultures (Kalvaitis & Monhardt, 2012) and these are not easy to change. As a result, they develop different views of the environment, and build different relationships with it © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_7

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(Payne, 1998). Strong evidence suggests that formative learning experiences in nature can  help children develop environmental literacy in the early years and enable them to build a connection to nature that can last a lifetime (Kos et al., 2016; Sageidet et al., 2019; Simsar, 2021; Simsar et al., 2021). However, research also shows that due to the current global changes, children have lost their connection with nature (Louv, 2005). Here, one of the issues is related to a definition of nature. In the literature, different interpretations of the term ‘nature’ abound, making it a constructed and contested term. Moreover, in the literature, the terms ‘nature’, ‘environment’ and ‘natural environment’ are used interchangeably. Oftentimes, the variety of interpretations of nature that exist are influenced by context and culture. Given these different interpretations, and the cultural and contextual influences on what constitutes nature and the natural environment, it would be interesting to explore the perceptions of the environment held by the 12 young children introduced in Chap. 6. This chapter will also explore how the context of a small island and its culture may have played a role in this regard.

The Environment as Nature The first theme which emerged from the data presented in Chap. 6 was the children’s perceptions of the environment, which was central to their perceptions of environmental sustainability. During the photograph interpretation I asked children, “What does the environment mean to you?” Most children conceptualised the environment as synonymous with nature. While children unanimously expressed the idea that the environment equated nature, including flora and fauna, their definitions of nature were varied and dynamic. Several romantic descriptions of nature, often consisting of lists of elements from the natural environment or images of nature, such as trees, birds, bees, butterflies, flowers and the sun, were mentioned by the children. The perceptions of the environment as nature resonate with findings from prior research with young children from the UK (Bonnet & Williams, 1998), Australia (Stuhmcke, 2012), New Zealand (Prince, 2006), the USA (Rejeski, 1982) and internationally (Engdahl & Rabušicová, 2011). Overall, while the findings in the current study indicated that most children held a positive perception of the natural environment, their perceptions were certainly influenced by a Westernised education system that was focussed on teaching children about natural elements, such as birds, bees, trees, rather than helping them to create deep connects with nature, an idea propagated by post-­ humanistic thinking in ECEC.  Walker (1995) suggests that the perception of the environment as nature might have been influenced by the use of the term “environment” in curricula and pedagogy, therefore, implying the notion that the term “environment” was limited to the natural environment. In the current study, this perspective was also reinforced in the implementation of the Maltese curriculum and the majority of the schools’ activities.

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Notions of the environment as nature being made up of wilderness were also expressed in the children’s discussions of their drawings. Some children also perceived the environment as an entity ‘out there’, separate from human existence (Niarn & Kraftl, 2016). In this regard, nature was viewed as a finite resource to be used by humanity, while narrowly defined as the outdoors (Louv, 2005). Indeed, this humanistic perspective, depicts nature as an entity dominated by humans, for advancement of humanity (Wilson, 2019). However, some children were able to make a distinction between the human-made and the natural elements in nature, and sometimes they included humans in nature too. This is significant because it indicates that at this age, they were developing an awareness of the natural environment around them and were able to refer to certain elements of the natural environment appropriately when articulating an idea. Also, while the idea of nature as wilderness relates to many of the definitions of the natural environment found in the literature, the latter view of nature as consisting of planetary ecosystems which support all life on earth is more ecocentric, in that it highlights an interconnection between all living species (human and nonhuman) on the planet, a contrasting view to the idea of human-environment disconnect.

The Environment as a Sense of Place and Identity A sense of place refers to an individual’s connection to a place, which in turn constitutes a combination of cognition, affection, meanings and values attributed to it (Farnum et al., 2005; Spiteri et al., 2022). In taking this point forward, Niarn and Kraftl (2016, p. 5) describe places as gaining: their place-like qualities through human experience (and here, already there are obvious overlaps with the logic of spatiality). Thus, places gain meaning – through human action, through dwelling, through emotional attachments, through events, and through memories attached to them.

Some children appeared to struggle with the concept of the environment meaning everything around them. They indicated this by using language such as “around” or “around us”. They defined the environment as including their home, family, community and even the whole world. For example, phrases like “our home” (Jazlyn), “the place where you live, such as Australia or Malta” (Jaylee) and “what is around us” (Denzil, Ylenia, Liam, John and Francesco) also pointed to children’s notion of environment as broader than nature. Interestingly, Jazlyn explored the idea of the environment as including everything around her; she described the environment as, “We take pictures of our home with mummy and daddy.” This could indicate that either Jazlyn included herself and her family, as well as elements of the humans, in her definition of the environment, or else she did not possess the right vocabulary to express herself, because later, during the drawing interpretation, she described the environment as “a tree and the sea.” My finding supports Keliher’s (1997) finding, who reported that 6- to 7-year-olds saw “nature (as being) everywhere” (p. 245).

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A closer look at the data also indicates that some children appeared to relate the natural environment to a sense of place in a geographical manner, an idea which was mostly influenced by their personal experiences. When asked to describe the environment, some children spoke of both their immediate environment, whereas others spoke about their neighbourhood and a local place they were familiar with. In addition, linked to their descriptions of the environment as a sense of place, the children spoke about nature as a nurturing place and a place of wonder. These ideas were expressed via the children’s narratives of how they valued their local natural environment, with the global environment as second preference. Some, like Denzil, Liam, Jaylee, Ylenia and Francesco, proudly referred to Malta as the most beautiful place on the planet, emphasising that such beauty could not be found anywhere else. Their personal interest in their home country contributed to their sense of place and place attachment. Jaylee spoke of the environment in a geographical manner and she included faraway lands, such as Australia, in her definition of the environment. One commonality across international research is the romanticised perception of the environment, where the environment is represented as natural and pristine places, with or without humans (Alerby, 2000; Barraza & Robottom, 2008; Engdahl, 2015; Engdahl & Rabušicová, 2011; Payne, 1998; Rejeski, 1982). For John and Francesco, the local environment provided validation and a sense of worth to their place. They romanticised the natural environment as a nice place to be in for recreation. They also made positive remarks about nature and expressed positive feelings about it. John remarked that, “Nature keeps people healthy and it is a source of life for them.” In this case, John described nature as a source of well-being for people and said that he enjoyed being in nature. Francesco’s drawing (see Fig. 6.11) was a romanticised/idealistic image of the natural environment according to him. While, their connections with the natural environment seemed to have become also emotional, using words like “Nature is beautiful” (John) and Francesco told me that Fig. 6.11 represented his ideal image of the environment, they also offered an anthropocentric worldview of their idea of the natural environment even though during the fieldwork they offered other worldviews, which will be discussed below. An anthropocentric worldview is a human-centred worldview, where people are viewed as the “masters” of the natural environment (Fien, 1993). The children’s past experiences of human-environment relationships (both positive and negative), could have influenced the way in which some of them perceived the quality of their place, making environmental perceptions context-dependent.

Human-Environment Relationship Prior environmental research has indicated a positive relationship between children and the natural environment (Davis, 2018; Engdahl, 2015; Sageidet et al., 2019). While questions surrounding human-environment relationships were found in the literature, few explicitly examined how children position themselves, and others, in

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relation to the environment. Discourse of human-nature relationship indicates a divide between nature as a system of living and non-living elements, as separate from, and excludes people (adults and children). This perspective positions humans as being outside nature, an idea that keeps humanity repeating the same destructive patterns (Malone, 2016), and one which is reinforced by the Maltese curriculum. In the present study, children did not see the environment as devoid of human development, or intervention. Rather, people were seen as part of nature. During their discussions, the children implied a relationship between people and nature in the sense that the environment was characterised as providing relaxation and well-­ being to humanity. Children’s drawings and their descriptions of them reinforced this human-environment relationship too. While some children did not include people in their drawings, they included notions of human-environment relationships in their descriptions of their drawings. For example, Denzil, Ayida, Ylenia, John, Jaylee and Francesco talked about their perceptions of the aesthetic and recreational qualities of nature that might be lost due to human activity, thus, indicating awareness of the interconnection between humans and nature and awareness of the impact of human activity in nature. Additionally, Denzil, Ayida, Ylenia and Jaylee drew pictures of recreation in the natural environment. Interestingly, Denzil and Ayida included themselves in their drawings and described themselves as having fun while enjoying nature; while Ylenia, Jaylee and Francesco included other people in their drawings of the environment. When talking about their drawings, these children discussed the idea of people as having recreational time in nature or doing recreational activities. Sarah, Amie, Thea, Ayida, John and Liam also talked about enjoying nature, indicating that they recognised a human-environment relationship, and specifically themselves, as part of nature. In this sense, it might be argued that these children indicated an anthropocentric worldview because they perceived the environment as a source of enjoyment for human needs, in this case as a source of entertainment and relaxation. The dominant paradigm in Western cultures, and in the Maltese curriculum as well, is oriented towards the environment, or nature, as separate from people. In contrast, the children’s data indicated that they were able to conceptualise how natural and human systems interact as parts of the environment. Over four decades ago, Rejeski (1982) found that children, aged 6–7 years, did not include people in their drawings of nature. However, he found that 9- to 10-year-olds saw “man” as a passive participant in nature, and 13- to 14-year-olds recognised “man” as a part of nature. In the current study, the majority of children pictured themselves and others in nature, whereas Rejeski reported that only older children possessed a clear recognition of people as part of nature, even if with passive roles in nature. Similarly, some children aged between 6 and 7  years in a study by Keliher (1997) did not include humans  in their definition of nature. In  contrast, in my study, most of the children portrayed people as having an active relationship with nature; either solving, or causing, environmental issues. My findings contradict Rejeski (1982) and Keliher’s (1997) in the way children understood human-environment relationships. There could be various explanations for this contradiction. An examination of the social context of the three studies might provide an explanation for the

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passive portrayal of people found by Rejeski and Keliher versus the active and damaging portrayal of human behaviour evident in my study. In a changing society, successive generations differ in the education they get and the needs they might have. At the time of Rejeski (1982) and Keliher’s (1997) studies, children might have had little awareness of environmental  and sustainability issues. In addition, Rejeski and Keliher’s studies were also conducted at a time when most of the important international policy documents related to ESD discussed in Chap. 3 were not yet established, and therefore, ESD might not have been part of these children’s education. In line with prior environmental research, the children’s stories presented in Chap. 6 suggest a positive relationship between children and the natural environment (Davis, 2018; Engdahl, 2015; Sageidet et  al., 2019; Spiteri et  al., 2022). Perhaps more critically, children in the current study conceptualised a relationship with, and felt connected to, the environment in a cognitive sense. In this sense, such findings contradict Louv’s (2005) concept of the nature-deficit disorder, that is believed to have negative consequences for children, including diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and increased rates of physical and mental illnesses. As a result of the nature-deficit disorder, children are believed to miss out on a critical aspect of childhood and learning, and opportunities to play, wonder, and experience joy in nature (Beery & Jørgensen, 2018; Braus & Milligan-Toffler, 2018; Louv, 2005; Wilson, 2019). Louv’s concern is increasingly supported by research showing that children nowadays are spending less time outdoors and are having less spontaneous contact with nature (Adams & Savahl, 2015; Elliott, 2018). So, why did children in my study, living in a Western culture, adopt a perspective of humans as part of nature? Several explanations could be found in the practices and reification of the notion of environment in the surrounding community. It is likely that the children in my study have been exposed to, informed and enlightened about, nature to foster their innate connectedness to it, and as a result, were able to acquire information to assist them in understanding and appreciating nature (Phenice & Griffore, 2003; Malone, 2016). This idea will be explored further in Chap. 9, where the influence of family, context and culture on children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability are explored in more detail.

The Environment as an Asset Tied to children’s perceptions of human-environment relationships and their sense of place was their perception of the environment as an asset to meet human needs. It appears that an anthropocentric view of the environment as both a necessity and a commodity that meets and sustains human existence on different levels, ranging from essential items (like food and shelter) to other necessities (like recreation), was also expressed by children. For example, Sarah, Jazlyn, Denzil, Ylenia, Amie, Liam, John and Francesco talked about the idea that nature provides food, resources and shelter for people. This is an important finding because while children at this age

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might have limited understanding of nature as an asset, their comments showed that they had an awareness of these assets as a way of expressing the relationships between people and nature. Nevertheless, such comments indicated an appreciation of a one-way relationship regarding food and nature as a provider of resources, suggesting limited understanding of the complex relationships inherent in the environmental sustainability scenarios. To appreciate the significance of the finding that children conceptualised the environment as an asset to meet human needs, it is important to consider the Maltese context. In fact, this finding can be understood as a consequence of Malta’s colonial past. As described in Chap. 2, Malta’s colonial history, culture and education have influenced the way the Maltese perceive, and interact with, the local environment. For millennia, and particularly in the post-colonial era, flora and fauna in Malta were used and altered in a way that satisfied the needs of an independent country. Indeed, the Maltese education system and much of Malta’s industrial output have been channelled toward establishing an affluent society, to the point where, to date, authorities in charge of the management of the Maltese countryside still believe that the building industry is the foundation of the Maltese economy. A belief that has resulted in land exploitation, overdevelopment, and environmental degradation. These approaches were founded on a perception of abundance of natural resources (the land in particular) and a multiple-use philosophy that viewed nature as a valuable resource for human survival and enjoyment. Furthermore, the Maltese education system in the post-colonial era is founded on a strong sense of optimism about economic growth and development, based on human use of the environment. Therefore, it comes to no surprise that children in the current study perceived the environment as an asset to meet human needs for survival.

Fear for the Environment In modern urbanised environments, children spend more time indoors because the outside world is seen as potentially dangerous by parents/caregivers. Too often, in a risk-averse society, children are protected from risk by being kept inside. This has also been the case in Malta in recent years, where as a result of overdevelopment and lack of green areas, children nowadays lack direct contact with nature, compared to previous generations. Research suggests that lack of positive experiences in nature can lead children to develop biophobia, or fear of nature, prejudice against nature, and a tendency to view nature as an object to be used and manipulated, thus, promoting nature as an objectified entity (Gifford & Chen, 2016). Because of the lack of direct experiences in nature, there is the risk that children may perceive the natural environment as distant, exotic, and even dangerous (Adams & Savahl, 2015). As a result, they may also lack emotional connection to nature. Interestingly, despite the rate of environmental degradation in Malta, fear of nature, or biophobia, and pessimistic views toward nature did not feature in the children’s data presented in Chap. 6. In fact, the children’s responses demonstrated

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a heightened sense of awareness of the detrimental effects human intervention in nature can bring, with some expressing serious concern for the current state natural environment in Malta. As a result of their concerns, these children talked about their fears in relation to nature. My finding is similar to that of Keliher (1997), who found that 6- to 7-year-olds perceived nature as a threatened place. However, these findings are in contrast with those of Wilson (1994), who reported that children between 2½ and 5 years of age showed fear, violence, and lack of understanding about the natural environment. Additionally, my finding supports Barraza’s (1999) findings that children aged 7–9  years manifested a deep environmental concern in their drawings. However, my finding also contrasts with Barraza (1999) with regard to children’s pessimistic views about the future of the environment. The variation between my study and that of Wilson (1994) and Barraza (1999) could be due to temporal, cultural and geographical reasons. Both studies by Barraza (1999) and by Wilson (1994) took place well over two decades ago, so children’s awareness and understanding of nature and the kind of education these children received may have been different. This could possibly explain the different environmental concerns, at different times, and in different cultures and places. In his critical review of 100 pieces of international EE research, Rickinson (2001) reported that children associated nature with both reaction, nature as a threatening place and nature under threat (p. 276–277). There is an interesting distinction between findings in my study and those discussed by Rickinson (2001). While the ideas of nature as a place for recreation and nature under threat were supported in the children’s data in Chap. 6, the idea of nature as a dangerous place, and therefore leading to biophobia, was not. Interestingly, the danger expressed by children in Chap. 6 was related to fear of harm to natural elements from human intervention in nature rather than the sense of nature as a threatening place as reported by Rickinson (2001). The difference in my findings and in Rickinson’s (2001) report could be related to the settings the studies were conducted in. Children living in very large and heavily populated urban cities (Detroit) such as those described in Rickinson’s review, can have had different experiences in nature than the children in the current study, who lived on a small island state (Malta). Children in my study lived in rural communities, where they had daily opportunities of pleasant experiences in nature. In fact, Rickinson (2001) cited evidence suggesting that fear of being in nature can diminish with pleasant experiences of nature. This has relevance to my study because the natural environment in Malta is very different to natural environments abroad, in the sense that, in Malta there are relatively few natural elements, such as extreme  weather conditions  and wild animals, which can pose threats to human lives, but there is very little countryside left for people to enjoy. This could possibly explain why children in my study evidenced pleasant experiences in nature. Or maybe, fear of being in nature had not been introduced to these children yet. Certainly, this finding is important for several reasons. First, whenever the children expressed fear, it was fear for the degradation of nature rather than fear of nature. Specifically, they viewed the natural environment as a threatened place, and fear was expressed in relation to the negative impact of human activity on nature rather than fear of nature, or natural elements. Second, this finding indicates that

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the children expressed a sense of the temporality of nature and did not see it as a static place, but rather as a place that would change with human intervention. Third, they were aware of the harmful consequences of human intervention in nature. Fourth, children expressed positive images of nature and indicated biocentric and ecocentric worldviews, particularly when they understood that nature needed to be protected. Fifth, this finding is inconsistent with the theories of Piaget (1952), who identified young children in the preoperational stage as being inherently egocentric. An egocentric child might not take someone else’s view, but these children were able to take different perspectives and think in terms of the harmful effects of human activity on the environment and the well-being of living creatures (particularly people and animals). They were also able to think about the permanent destruction of natural resources, and in such instances, they exhibited both altruistic and biospheric value orientations. This is an interesting finding for ECEfS, because as suggested by Steg et al. (2005), environmental messages can be tailored to meet the individual’s value orientation as values direct attention to value-congruent information.

A Positive Outlook The children’s views on the notion of the environment were gathered using observations, drawings and interviews. In prior research with young children, Alerby (2000), Barraza (1999), Prince (2006) and Stuhmcke (2012) used a combination of artwork and interviews to explore children’s ideas about the environment and to overcome the difficulty children might experience in talking about environmental issues. One of the largest differences between these studies and mine was in the high proportion of positive views on the environment found in Sweden (Alerby, 2000) and in New Zealand (Prince, 2006), less positive images of the environment were found in Mexico and the UK (Barraza, 1999), and the lowest positive images of the environment were found in Australia (Carroll, 2002; Weeks, 2010). In contrast however, in Stuhmcke’s (2012) Australian study, children expressed positive perspectives about the environment. As evidenced in Chap. 6, a positive outlook was also predominant in the children’s data. It is difficult to explain why children in one country hold such optimistic views while others hold pessimistic views towards the environment. An important factor in all studies was that the children who portrayed a pessimistic outlook were older, whereas children in my study and even in Prince (2006) and Stuhmcke’s (2012) studies were younger. That so many older children portrayed pessimistic pictures of the environment might be an indication that environmental issues permeated their perceptions as they got older and many might have perceived them as being beyond their control. Conversely, that so many children in my study, and in other studies in the early years, did not have a gloomy view of the environment could suggest that either environmental issues had not yet permeated their perceptions or that these children were still hopeful that such issues could be resolved in the future.

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Conclusion Taken together, the findings presented in this chapter confirm that young children are capable of understanding certain environmental concepts (Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; Spiteri et al., 2022; Spiteri, 2021a, b). The various conceptualisations of the environment as nature held by the children reinforced the idea that nature can be understood and experienced in various ways. While definite conclusions cannot be drawn, it appears that children’s perceptions of the environment were not fixed. Rather, their perceptions changed according to the context they talked about, and according to their interests and past experiences in nature. This is not surprising given that the science involved in understanding the environment is complex and children were at an early stage in developing their scientific understanding. What is surprising though is the fact that children defined the environment as nature in a context of relationships between humans and nature, “who through their presence and activities, contribute to its shaping” (Ferro et al., 2011, p. 7). Children’s understanding of the environment was predominantly mediated by their lived experiences in their habitual environments, and mostly mediated by their interaction with nature. It would suffice to say that children’s experiences in nature, in different parts of the world, may help them develop different kinds of connections with nature, some of which are very robust, while others may not be so strong. Ultimately, if children are to foster a real connectedness with nature, they need to be exposed to nature via first-hand sensory learning experiences, so that they learn to understand and appreciate nature (Malone, 2016; Spiteri et al., 2022). This is particularly important when considering the research that supports the fact that an individual’s attitudes and positive behaviours towards nature are shaped via interactions with nature prior to age 11, which further supports the need to help children create connectedness to nature from an early age (Wells & Lekies, 2006).

References Adams, S., & Savahl, S. (2015). Children’s perceptions of the natural environment: A South African perspective. Children’s Geographies, 13(2), 196–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/1473328 5.2013.829659 Alerby, E. (2000). A way of visualizing children’s and young people’s thoughts about the environment: A study of drawings. Environmental Education Research, 6(3), 205–222. https://doi. org/10.1080/13504620050076713 Arlemalm-Hagser, E., & Elliott, S. (2020). Analysis of historical and contemporary early childhood education theories in the Anthropocene. In S. Elliott, E. Arlemalm-Hagser, & J. Davis (Eds.), Researching early childhood education for sustainability: Challenging assumptions and orthodoxies (pp. 3–12). Routledge. Barraza, L. (1999). Children’s drawings about the environment. Environmental Education Research, 5(1), 49–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350462990050103 Barraza, L., & Robottom, I. (2008). Gaining representations of children’s and adults’ constructions of sustainability issues. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 3, 179–191. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ894859.pdf

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Beery, T. Y., & Jørgensen, K. A. (2018). Children in nature: Sensory engagement and the experience of biodiversity. Environmental Education Research, 24(1), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.108 0/13504622.2016.1250149 Bonnet, M., & Williams, J. (1998). Environmental education and children’s attitudes towards nature and the environment. Cambridge Journal of Education, 28(2), 159–174. https://doi. org/10.1080/0305764980280202 Braus, J., & Milligan-Toffler, S. (2018). The children and nature connection: Why it matters. Ecopsychology, 10(4), 193–194. https://doi.org/10.1089/eco.2018.0072 Carroll, C. (2002). “What is the environment anyway”? A study of children’s perceptions of the notion of environment (Unpublished professional Doctorate thesis). University of Canberra. Davis, J. M. (Ed.). (2018). Young children and the environment. Early education for sustainability (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. Elliott, S. (2018). Children in the natural world. In J. Davis (Ed.), Young children and the environment. Early childhood for sustainability (2nd ed., pp.  32–54). Cambridge Cambridge University Press. Engdahl, I. (2015). Early childhood education for sustainability: The OMEP world project. International Journal of Early Childhood, 47(3), 347–366. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s13158-­015-­0149-­6 Engdahl, I., & Rabušicová, M. (2011). Children’s voices about the state of the earth. International Journal of Early Childhood, 43(2), 153–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-­011-­0031-­0 Farnum, J., Hall, T., & Kruger, L. E. (2005). Sense of place in natural resources recreation and tourism: An evaluation of and assessment of research findings. USDA, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Ferro, E., White, R., Cox, E., Bebbington, J., & Wilson, S. (2011). Craft and sustainable development: Reflections on Scottish craft and pathways to sustainability. Craft + Design Enquiry, 3, 1–26. Fien, J. (1993). Education for the environment: Critical curriculum theorizing and environmental education. Deakin University Press. Gifford, R., & Chen, A. (2016). Children and nature. What we know and what we do not. Lawson Foundation. Kalvaitis, D., & Monhardt, R. M. (2012). The architecture of children’s relationship with phenomenographic investigation seen through written narratives of elementary students. Environmental Education Research, 18(2), 209–227. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2011.598227 Keliher, V. (1997). Children’s perceptions of nature. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 6(3), 240–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.1997.9965051 Kos, M., Jerman, J., Anžlovar, U., & Torkar, G. (2016). Preschool children’s understanding of environmental behaviours: Is it too hard for them? International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 11(12), 5554–5571. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1115643.pdf Louv, R. (2005). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Workman. Malone, K. (2016). Posthumanist approaches to theorizing children’s human-nature relations. In K. Nairn, P. Kraftl, & T. Skelton (Eds.), Space, place, and environment (pp. 185–206). Springer Science+Business Media Singapore. Niarn, K., & Kraftl, P. (2016). Introduction to children and young people, space, place, and environment. In K. Nairn, P. Kraftl, & T. Skelton (Eds.), Space, place, and environment (pp. 1–24). Springer Science+Business Media Singapore. Payne, P. (1998). Children’s conceptions of nature. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 14(1), 19–26. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0814062600003918 Phenice, L.  A., & Griffore, R.  J. (2003). Young children and the natural world. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 4(2), 167–171. https://doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2003.4.2.6 Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. International Universities Press, Inc. Prince, C. M. (2006). A knowledge creation approach to environmental education in early childhood: Creating a community of learners (Unpublished Ed.D. thesis). Massey University.

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Rejeski, D.  W. (1982). Children look at nature: Environmental perception and education. The Journal of Environmental Education, 13(4), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/0095896 4.1982.9942653 Rickinson, M. (2001). Learners and learning in environmental education: A critical review of the evidence. Environmental Education Research, 7, 207–320. https://doi. org/10.1080/13504620120065230 Sageidet, B. M., Christensen, M., & Davis, J. M. (2019). Children’s understandings of environmental and sustainability-related issues in kindergartens in Rogaland, Norway, and Queensland, Australia. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 14(4), 191–205. ijese. net/makale/2115.html Simsar, A. (2021). Young children’s ecological footprint awareness and environmental attitudes in Turkey. Child Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-­021-­09810-­7 Simsar, A., Dogan, Y., & Sezer, G. (2021). The ecocentric and anthropocentric attitudes towards different environmental phenomena: A sample of Syrian refugee children. Studies in Educational Evaluation., 70(2021), 101005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2021.101005 Spiteri, J. (2021a). Why is it important to protect the environment? Reasons presented by young children. Environmental Education Research, 27(2), 195–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350462 2.2020.1829560 Spiteri, J. (2021b). Can you hear me? Young children’s understanding of environmental issues. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 30(1–2), 191–213. https://doi.org/10.108 0/09620214.2020.1859401 Spiteri, J., Higgins, P., & Nicol, R. (2022). It’s like a fruit on a tree: Young children’s understanding of the environment. Early Child Development and Care, 192(7), 1133–1149. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/03004430.2020.1850444 Steg, L., Dreijerink, L., & Abrahamse, W. (2005). Factors influencing the acceptability of energy policies: A test of VBN theory. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25, 415–425. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2005.08.003 Stuhmcke, S. M. (2012). Children as change for sustainability: An action research case study in a kindergarten (Unpublished Ed.D. thesis). Queensland University of Technology. Walker, K. (1995). Improving the teaching and learning of environmental education in the NSW primary school curriculum: A problem-based approach (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis). University of Technology. Weeks, G. E. (2010). Perceptions of environmental sustainability held by students in a NSW primary school (Unpublished Ed.D. thesis). University of Technology. Wells, N. M., & Lekies, K. S. (2006). Nature and the life course: Pathways from childhood nature experiences to adult environmentalism. Children, Youth and Environments, 16, 1–24. http:// www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/ Wilson, R. A. (1994). Preschool children’s perspectives on the environment. Paper presented at the International Conference of the North American Association for Environmental Education, Cuncun, Mexico. Wilson, R. (2019). What is nature? International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 7(1), 26–39. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1233589.pdf

Chapter 8

Young Children and Environmental Sustainability: An Emerging Relationship

Introduction Tied to children’s perceptions of the environment discussed in the previous chapter, were their ideas about environmental sustainability, what it means and how it could be maintained. In the literature, environmental sustainability has been described as the environment’s “ability to support human life and maintain all existing ecosystems and life into the future despite resource depletion through human activity” (Brinkmann, 2020, p. 2). As we will see in this chapter, while no child specifically used the terms “sustainable”, “sustainability” or “environmental sustainability”, there were numerous comments articulated by children that suggested that they had some ideas about environmental sustainability. A reason for not using the term could include the difficulty of pronouncing the term in Maltese (which is complicated for adults to pronounce, let alone young children). In fact, during the photograph interpretation and the interpretation of their drawings, children offered their interpretation of the term in their own words. This chapter explores the ways in which young Maltese children conceptualised environmental sustainability. For them, environmental sustainability entailed an activity by humans, for humans, for other living species, and for the environment.

Conservation of Natural Resources During this study, the most prominent and valued aspect of environmental sustainability discussed by the children was the conservation of natural resources. Consequently, they referred to the environment as finite; as something that can be used up and will eventually disappear unless some sort of action is taken to preserve it. Of significance for most children was the need for natural resources, such as trees, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_8

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fossil fuels and fish, to remain sustainable for the survival of humans, and also to supply food or habitats for other animals. When discussing this idea, some children spoke about their concerns that current and future generations of people would be unable to enjoy these natural resources if we continued to exploit nature with our current lifestyles. It appeared that the children were concerned that others could selfishly use up something belonging to humanity, which would result in poorer quality of life for them, their families, other people, and other living species on the planet. This points to the notion that children saw the natural environment as needing more attention and care. Based on their ideas of the environment and its resources as finite, and therefore, needing protection, it is clear that they were starting to develop some awareness of the need to place limits on the use of natural resources in order to maintain environmental sustainability. In other words, they recognised the need to maintain natural resources at appropriate levels to maintain the well-­ being of the ecosystems on the planet rather than permit their continued overuse and decline. Additionally, this idea also suggests that their notion of environmental sustainability is related to the need to maintain the natural environment in balance in order to ensure the continued survival of nature and different species, thus, indicating their awareness of the essential reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. Therefore, it might be suggested that even if the children did not always articulate environmental sustainability as a reason for protecting nature, such notions may be deduced. Some children were aware of the differences between renewable resources, such as fish, trees and solar energy; and nonrenewable resources, such as fossil fuels. Interestingly, while issues of renewable and non-renewable resources were sometimes differentiated, no specific reference was made to these terms “renewable resources” and “non-renewable resources” by the children. Nevertheless, these children could understand the need to replace natural resources. This was evidenced for example when they mentioned that only a small quantity of a resource should be used in order not to deplete it. However, they did not seem to recognise that, depending on the resource, in some cases this simply postpones rather than solves the problem. Some children seemed to be unaware that for example oil reserves are finite, and using half only reduces consumption until there is none left. Therefore, their responses were related to conserving the resource rather than its long-term sustainability. Overall, the children’s data indicated that they were aware that environmental sustainability permits the use of the natural environment for the benefit of humanity, provided that people do not degrade it to a level where it will not sustain itself. Such awareness of environmental sustainability also suggested an understanding of their natural surroundings. Furthermore, it demonstrates that at this age, the children valued the environment because they were starting to develop awareness of their position within the environment. This is an important finding for several reasons. First, here children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability were in line with the idea of maintaining balance within the ecosystem. Second, it resonated with the Brundtland Report’s (WCED, 1987) definition of sustainable development. Third, they proposed a strong sustainability perspective that was evidenced when showing interest in preserving natural resources for their intrinsic and non-replaceable value (Ang & Van Passel, 2012; Davies, 2013). Fourth, it indicates that children were

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aware of the environmental impact of human reliance on natural resources. This has been recently highlighted by the IPCC (2022), which reported that human reliance on natural resources for survival has impacted the environment and has led to environmental degradation and a host of global environmental problems ranging from pollution, loss of biodiversity to global warming. Fifth, it contrasts Piaget’s (1952) description of the egocentric child. Actually, these children were not thinking in egocentric terms when they expressed their ideas about environmental degradation caused by human activity in nature and its detrimental effect on future generations. Rather, in such instances, they expressed altruistic and biospheric values. This suggests that at this age, these children had already formed future-focused ideas about the need to conserve natural resources for current and future generations, which is an important element of environmental sustainability.

Environmental Responsibility Like in prior research, young children in this study were capable of expressing a sense of responsibility towards the natural environment (Sageidet et  al., 2019; Šorytė & Pakalniškienė, 2019; Spiteri, 2021). For them, environmental responsibility was essential in order to achieve environmental sustainability. While the children’s perceptions of the environment were largely based on utilitarian and anthropocentric worldviews toward resource use, they declared that it was important not to degrade the environment to a point where it will not be able to regenerate. In their discussions about the environment’s functionality to human productivity and well-being and the use of natural resources, they talked about the active role played by humans in causing environmental problems. More importantly, the children tended to regard human intervention in the environment as a direct cause of environmental degradation, indicating that they were cognisant of the fact that people had some impact on their natural surroundings. Consequently, they placed people in a position of responsibility for the maintenance of the environment, thus ensuring environmental sustainability. In doing so, they also portrayed the environment as dynamic, therefore, as something that could change over time, particularly because it could be used up. Therefore, they expressed the need to save and protect it, indicating that they valued the natural environment. For example, Amie, John, Liam and Francesco strongly believed that it was not acceptable to disrupt the harmony and balance of the natural environment to satisfy their own wishes, for example, by catching all the fish and eating them, using a lot of paper, or by chopping down trees, which would have a detrimental effect on the environment and on people’s lives now and in the future. From a biocentric perspective, the children were aware that the environment needed to be valued for its intrinsic value, possibly pointing to the notion of the environment as broader than nature, or a place that could change with human intervention, highlighting fluidity in their perceptions.

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Despite their age, the children seemed to possess information on the consequences of individual consumption. They recognised that the issue of environmental responsibility was a complex one and one that could rest on the behaviour of several people, including themselves, parents, adults and the government, depending on the situation and depending on the issue being addressed. For example, Denzil, Ylenia and Amie implied that responsibility for appropriate pro-environmental actions laid on others, such as parents and other adults. However, Jazlyn, John, Jaylee, Liam, Francesco and Ayida expressed a personal responsibility for appropriate pro-­ environmental actions but they also recognised that the issue of responsibility for the environment was a complex one, and required both individual and collective effort. Therefore, the children saw that environmental responsibility is an activity for the benefit of the natural environment, involving a number of individuals and multiple generations working together, depending on the issue being addressed. Interestingly, inanimate objects, such as vehicles and power stations, were associated with air pollution by a number of children, including Dalton, Denzil, Ayida, Ylenia, John, Liam and Francesco. This is not surprising considering the environmental impact, and the direct and negative impacts these have on children’s lives on a daily basis. What is surprising though is the fact that these objects were not attributed the role of the polluter, rather people operating these machines were named as responsible for the environmental damage caused by these inanimate objects. Of significance here is the fact that when people were mentioned, it was primarily as contributors to environmental problems, and therefore, the polluters. Indeed, only a few children placed people in a positive role, mainly as protectors of the environment. Despite the children’s negative comments about human behaviour in relation to the natural environment, they did offer a range of solutions to achieve environmental sustainability, in addition to individual and collective environmental responsibility. Governments were attributed with environmental responsibility by Francesco, who felt that it was their duty to safeguard the environment in Malta. Consequently, Francesco called for law enforcement as a way to “punish” people for degrading the environment, and also as a way of protecting nature and natural resources for future generations. Francesco’s emphasis on law enforcement contrasts with findings reported by Gonzalez (2013), where Maltese children aged 4 to 6 years, referred to religious or law enforcement reasons for preserving natural resources based on monetary value rather than for the preservation of natural resources for future generations. Taken together, the findings of the two studies indicate that in ECEfS literature there is a gap related to children’s attribution of responsibility toward the environment and environmental sustainability. Most children were able to think of the consequences of human actions on the environment, which is in line with (UNESCO)’s (2002) view of sustainability, which states that people must learn how to think of the consequences of their own actions, envision a sustainable future and create the steps needed to achieve this vision. This thought is in line with the philosophy of ECEfS, in that it focuses on how people think about environmental sustainability and the interactions between these relationships, and how these relationships affect the environment and its

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functioning (Davis, 2010). Therefore, people of different ages, both children and adults, were portrayed as having an active role in maintaining environmental sustainability by working together for social development in order to achieve sustainability. Children also adopted a strong sustainability perspective, when they believed that the natural environment should be looked after and implied that the value of natural capital should not decline (Ang & Van Passel, 2012; Davies, 2013). This is an important finding, especially since the development of environmental values and behaviour in the early years is dependent on the understanding of the impact of their behaviour on the environment. Such understanding is likely to create positive pro-­ environmental behaviour change that is believe to last a lifetime (Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Davis, 2018; Engdahl, 2015; Engdahl & Rabušicová, 2011; Kahriman-Ozturk et al., 2012; Sageidet et al., 2019).

 ajor Environmental Sustainability Issues of Concern M and Proposed Actions – Litter and Air Pollution To understand how young children in my study approached environmental sustainability, I sought their views regarding what they considered to be essential action towards environmental sustainability and the location of such action. Because sustainability issues are multi-disciplinary, involving scientific, economic, political, social and cultural understanding, they are complex to fully comprehend by adults, let alone children. This required children to draw on many knowledge disciplines to explain these phenomena, a cognitive activity which sometimes was beyond their comprehension. In an attempt to simplify these issues, children made reference to local environmental issues which they could understand to help them interpret complex scientific, ecological and environmental phenomena, which would have been otherwise too difficult, if not outright impossible, for them to explain. For this reason, most of the time, they discussed local rather than global environmental sustainability issues they were familiar with. Consequently, they proposed local solutions for these issues based on their lived experiences. Litter was the predominant environmental concern that according to the children, caused most damage to the environment. This was followed by air pollution. Indeed, these are two major environmental issues in Malta. When discussing litter and waste management, all children considered recycling as the most important activity for the maintenance of environmental sustainability. They agreed that for them, litter was unsightly and a nuisance and, therefore, they considered the picking up of litter and recycling as a panacea for solving environment problems, especially within the local context. When discussing waste management activities, they also expressed a predominantly personal responsibility for recycling. At this point, they were able to understand that certain resources are finite and could cause environmental damage if disposed of inappropriately, and therefore they need to be recycled prior to being

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thrown away forever. Mixed results are presented in the literature in this regard, with some confirming these findings (Engdahl & Rabušicová’s, 2011; Palmer, 1995; Palmer et  al., 2003), while others contrast these (Kahriman-Ozturk et  al., 2012). Such differences in young children’s understanding could be due to contextual and cultural issues. It is also worth noting that children in my study attended schools which implemented the EkoSkola programme and Francesco was a member of Nature Trust - FEE Malta, one of Malta’s most prominent environmental groups. As shown in Chap. 4, both the EkoSkola programme and Nature Trust  - FEE  Malta engaged their members in practical activities related to recycling, planting trees and caring for the local environment. Furthermore, the environmental unit with major focus at the time of the fieldwork in both schools was recycling. Also, at the time of the data collection, St. Nicholas primary was participating in a national recycling competition. Such findings may have been influenced by the EkoSkola programme, and the schools’ focus on local, rather than global, environmental issues. The children were able to adopt these ideas and relate them to their implied local action, possibly suggesting that involvement in an environmental group supports children’s attitudes of personal responsibility for the environment in terms of reducing litter and increasing  recycling. It also appears to have encouraged some children to believe that local action can impact on global environmental issues. Air pollution was another major concern for the children. Perspectives about air pollution were expressed by them in a variety of ways, with most commenting on the issue in an appropriate manner within the local context. The children spoke of an increase in air pollution in Malta, and mentioned vehicles and power stations as the main polluters. In fact, traffic featured in all of the children’s data, except that of Jazlyn and Francesco. Apparently, the children who spoke about air pollution as a major concern for them had learned about it through first-hand experience. They were seriously concerned about the negative impacts of air pollution and also about the health issues caused by it. The children’s concerns over the health hazards of air pollution could be explained by looking at the Maltese context, where at the time of the data collection the National Statistics Office (Malta) (NSO, 2013) reported that the total number of registered vehicles on the road in March 2013 was 315, 875 in an area of 316 km2. Six years later, the number of registered vehicles in Malta had increased to 385,326 (NSO, 2019). During our conversations, some children spoke about their discomfort with the high number of cars in Malta as a major cause of air pollution. They did this by referring to their direct and personal experience of getting caught in traffic and smelling exhaust fumes. While during my observations, any classroom discussions did not provide any avenues for the children to participate in creating solutions for local air pollution levels, at the school level, St. Nicholas primary provided some opportunities for children to learn about ways to work together to solve the issue of air pollution. In his effort to reduce private vehicle use in the school surroundings, Mr. D organised the Walking School Bus activity on a daily basis to encourage children and parents to walk more and drive less. When talking about air pollution, some children made reference to the burning of fossil fuels as a possible cause of pollution in the atmosphere. However, their responses indicated that they were unaware of the carbon cycle. Specifically, most

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children expressed awareness of the link between vehicle exhaust, power station emissions and air pollution but showed no awareness of the link between vehicle exhaust and increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Rather, they believed that since fumes are components of vehicle exhaust and power stations, these cause air pollution and are hazardous to human health. Possibly, this broad generalisation was based on an overemphasis on fumes and they applied this idea in an uncritical manner. There was also a general and simplistic view among the children that when the world runs out of fuel, people will not be able to drive cars anymore. Here, people were seen to be in some mutually dependent relationship with fossil fuels as a natural resource. Of significance here is the fact that recycling and air pollution are two important environmental issues associated with environmental sustainability in Malta. While recycling is not a politicised issue in Malta, air pollution is highly politicised and controversial. Furthermore, both issues affected children directly, however, recycling was relatively easier for them to understand than air pollution because they experienced its impacts daily and it was integrated into school practices. More importantly, they considered litter and air pollution as two separate environmental issues that needed to be dealt with. When talking about other causes of air pollution, only one child, Denzil, associated limestone quarry dust with air pollution and health issues. This is an interesting finding when considering the fact that in Malta most buildings are constructed using limestone. In fact, limestone quarry dust is an environmental issue that local NGOs frequently discuss in the local media. Yet, none of the other children discussed this issue, possibly because it did not impacted them personally. During my conversation with Denzil, further questions revealed that he had based his perceptions of air pollution and its association with limestone quarry dust on personal experience.

 ajor Environmental Sustainability Issues of Concern M and Proposed Actions – Local Vs Global Environmental Issues The children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability tended to be multidimensional consisting of both concrete and abstract aspects. Even though most of the children tended to focus on local environmental issues and based their responses on their concrete experiences, some were able to make the connection between local and global environmental issues. For example, Francesco, John and Ylenia discussed a range of consequences of air pollution within the local context and its connection with the global context even though there was some uncertainty in their responses about how this happened. This finding may point to the fact that global environmental issues did not have the same local effect on children; most either did not know about them or felt uncertain about how to act in relation to them. This appears to suggest that at this age, the children were better able to identify and act on local environmental issues rather than on global issues. Essentially, their concrete processes highlighted their personal experiences within their local physical

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environment, while abstract processes highlighted their affection towards the environment, such as feelings, attitudes and imaginative thought. Consequently, they suggested local solutions for major environmental sustainability issues. This is not surprising. Indeed, extant research shows that children often talked about those environmental and sustainability issues which impacted them the most within their local context (Barraza, 2001; Bonnet & Williams, 1998; Carroll, 2002; Spiteri, 2021; Walker et al., 2000; Wals, 1992, 1994; Weeks, 2010; Yencken et al., 2000). Taking account of the situation, I agree with Barraza (2001) who concluded that a possible explanation for the variation for the environmental perceptions presented by children in different parts of the world is influenced by the cultural, social and political situation of the society the children are in. Perhaps the most surprising point about the children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability here is the fact that they were able to consider the impacts of their own actions in relation to environmental sustainability. Despite the complexity of the issue under investigation, they demonstrated willingness to take pro-­ environmental action, particularly in the local context. That is, while they were more likely to point fingers at others as causing environmental problems, they also understood that they were, in part, responsible. Therefore, they viewed personal actions as being consequential even though they believed that the large-scale impacts of certain environmental issues were beyond their control. Somehow, they were aware of their connection to the environment and most felt responsible, and able, to contribute to significant environmental improvements by changing their lifestyle. In doing so, they exhibited altruistic and biospheric value orientations in that as well as being interested in their own welfare, they were interested in the welfare of others, the ecosystem and the biosphere. Generally, they believed that local action, such as recycling and using less paper, could positively impact, and possibly resolve, larger and more complex environmental sustainability issues. However, the linking of local action to a global effect was difficult for them to explain due to the complex nature of the global environmental issues and the scale of the solution involved. An interesting dichotomy was observed when children felt empowered to take local action and implied that local action could have a positive effect (local and global) on environmental sustainability issues, yet they felt powerless in the face of more complex global issues and realised that they needed to depend on others to create change within a wider global context. This was evident in particular when they could not grasp the complex nature of an environmental problem for which solutions were sought. It seemed that the complexity of the larger global issues tended to both overwhelm and confuse them, and consequently, they offered inadequate and confused responses. As such, they found it difficult to grasp complex ecological facts, and their understanding of strategies for change and awareness of an alternative vision for environmental issues, were limited (Spiteri, 2021; Spiteri et al., 2022). Nevertheless, most of the children demonstrated a strong locus of control when they believed that their actions could make a difference by leading to a significant improvement in the quality of the environment. This resonates with the Responsible Environmental Behaviour Model (Hines et al., 1987), which highlights

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the importance of a “strong internal locus of control”, “personal responsibility”, “knowledge of action strategies”, and “action skills” in engaging in practice. The desire to change their behaviours and habits, as well as the need to motivate others to do the same show that they felt able to contribute to significant improvements in environmental quality by changing their personal lifestyle because they felt empowered to do so. This was based on an awareness of potential consequences for their actions and acceptance of responsibility for these consequences (Schwartz, 1977). The goal here is to give importance to the factor of altruism and to prevent harm to others. This relates to the children’s strong sense of caring and sharing natural resources fairly. Here, they felt connected with, and responsible for, environmental improvement, as well as capable of expressing and adopting environmentally caring behaviours for humanity’s well-being and environmental sustainability. Caring for the environment also meant that children may have felt concerned about the environment, even if such concern may not always lead to behaviour change. In this regard, ECEfS can help young children become environmental agents of change and motivate others to adopt environmentally caring behaviours. The solutions for local action as proposed by the children seemed to be influenced by local environmental agenda, such as recycling. Consequently, these children suggested simple local solutions for the environmental sustainability issues they discussed, based on their first-hand experience. While this finding might sound too simplistic, it could be pre-conditional on the development of abstract concepts, such as environmental sustainability. A focus on local environmental problems may encourage children to take action in favour of the environment. It might be argued that focusing on local solutions is a weakness, however, I argue that by looking away and addressing only problems elsewhere, children and communities neglect their country’s environment. Therefore, starting with a focus on local environmental solutions could act as a stepping-stone for the exploration of global environmental solutions by encouraging a sense of ownership and enthusiasm in children to engage in pro-environmental action within their community (Ballantyne et  al., 2001). In addition, UNESCO (2012) calls for a focus on local environmental issues to equip individuals with the “knowledge, skills and values as well as heightened awareness to drive such change” (para. 1).

 ocio-Cultural, Political and Economic Dimension S of Environmental Sustainability At times, some children made reference to their human dispositions as consumers of natural resources. This may be thought of as awareness of sustainable management of the Earth’s resources. Overall, children’s interpretations of environmental assets could be deduced as including ecological, aesthetic, economic, social and recreational functions as these related to personal and community livelihood. These physical-social-cultural functions were experienced and observed to positively

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serve the children and others too. Furthermore, landscape features, and infrastructural and demographic structures dominated their narratives of positive environmental attributes of place, a popular and scholarly image of children’s descriptions of the environment. However, the children’s comments tended to be simplistic and limited to the consumption of certain natural resources, such as trees, paper, fish and fossil fuels. Reference to economic, political and socio-cultural factors relating to the use of these resources remained at a simplistic level, if ever mentioned at all. On the one hand, the economics of environmental sustainability issues were mentioned by some children when these involved both cost-saving strategies adopted at home or at school, and the environmental impact of their actions in relation to the issue under discussion. For example, Denzil, Thea and Ylenia mentioned water and energy conservation both as a cost-saving strategy and as an effective pro-environmental strategy. Still, economic reasons for acting pro-environmentally cannot be discounted as these could still lead to achieving and maintaining environmental sustainability. On the other hand, the economic and political issues associated with environmental sustainability were discussed by Liam and John, when they talked about sustainable fishing; and Francesco, when he talked about whale-­ hunting  – a political issue in many countries around the world but not in Malta. Indeed, Liam, John and Francesco were able to connect environmental sustainability issues with economic and political issues even though they did not specifically mention the economic and political contexts directly in their responses, and even if the political, social, cultural and economic factors related to environmental sustainability were least understood by them. Overall, however, while some children appeared to have been developing some understanding of certain scientific phenomena relating to the environment (e.g. pollution and extinction of species), and they were aware of, and were able to, discuss certain environmental issues (e.g. resource depletion and global warming), they lacked the broader understanding of social, political, cultural and economic issues (e.g. overpopulation, poverty and social equity) that are essential to the development of a broad view of the factors involved in many environmental sustainability issues. A possible explanation could be the fact that at this age, they found these elements of environmental sustainability difficult to understand. Alternatively, they had never been exposed to these ideas. Awareness of the impact of human intervention on environmental sustainability issues would be deemed difficult to be understood without a broader understanding of political, social, cultural and economic issues involved. This concern has been addressed by Fien (1997) who argues that EE needs to abandon its preoccupation with the natural environment to instead include concepts of sustainability, in addition to issues of human rights, gender, racial equity, social equity and nature conservation. Based on the evidence of my study, Fien’s concern appears to remain prevalent in the Maltese education system, where environmental learning revolves mostly around environmental issues rather than addressing their causes. Economic, political, social and cultural elements of environmental sustainability issues are generally ignored within the Maltese education system. When considering that educators, and most parents expressed no desire to deal with these issues either, possibly because they were not exposed to these

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ideas either, it is not surprising that the children did not discuss broader them either. This is not to say that educators and parents had not addressed these issues with children in other ways, but this seems to support the assertion that educators in particular were less likely to refer to political, social and cultural issues in their teaching about environmental sustainability. Perhaps Ayida’s story may be the exception, since political issues were discussed by both mother and child as they related to a local environmental issue – power station emissions. However, their perspectives were motivated by a partisan political ideology, rather than by environmental concerns. In addition, both Ayida and her mother proposed erroneous scientific facts about air pollution. When taking these findings into consideration, one can understand why teaching about environmental sustainability issues remains problematic in Malta, especially since such issues are generally influenced by different sociocultural, political and economic phenomena.

Conclusion Environmental perceptions represent one’s values and beliefs about the environment and correlate with one’s behaviour towards the environment (Marcinkowski & Reid, 2019; Mónus, 2021). These are shaped by experiences in early childhood (Engdahl, 2015), making this an important period in human development for the development of pro-environmental behaviour. As the world continues to grapple with serious environmental issues, this research reveals that at an early age, children were effectively aware of certain environmental issues. However, the  findings of this study also highlight the fact that at this age, these children also held misconceptions, that if not acted upon, will continue in the future. Listening to the children’s stories is significant in that they showed how growing up on a small island state has  already impacted their environmental experiences and their lives. They also highlighted that as a species, we need to reconsider our relationship with the environment to hopefully learn more harmonious relations with all living species on the planet. Young children face serious danger from traffic and pollution, and other toxins present in their environment. Therefore, environmental issues will continue to be important for children living on small island states, especially when considering their vulnerability to climate change and other natural global disasters, which are predicted to increase in the future (IPCC, 2022). These vulnerabilities are likely to be further intensified in the future by the increase in global temperatures and the worsening effects of climate change as it continues to undermine children’s rights. For these reasons, research projects focussing on environmental  sustainability issues with young children living on small island states have a central role in providing a model of how to engage with children, giving them an opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge and values required to lead sustainable lives, and to share their experiences.

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Chapter 9

Contextual, Cultural or What? Influences on Children’s Environmental Perceptions

Introduction The Education 2030 Framework for Action urges governments worldwide to provide access to education and skill development for all children by 2030 (UNESCO, 2016). Specifically, Target 4.7 aims to ensure that all children acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote long-term sustainability (UNESCO, 2016). This is an important step towards increasing children’s access to education because it is believed that such access also increases their chances of better outcomes later on in life, and could potentially lead to more sustainable ways of living. In most countries around the world, constant effort is made to ensure that all children receive an education. In fact, it is estimated that at the time of writing this book, globally, governments will be spending an estimate of $5 trillion dollars on education (Gill & Saavedra, 2022). However, recent evidence suggests that despite the large proportion of school enrolment records in primary education around the world over the past couple of decades, student achievement and learning outcomes are still low in most parts of the world (Angrist et al., 2022). In their international study, with data collected from 164 countries in different regions, Angrist et  al. (2022) report that “Learning has a stronger and more positive relationship with economic growth than schooling. However, greater incomes do not inevitably produce a more educated and skilled society.” According to Angrist et al. (2022), the world seems to be on track in terms of universal primary school enrolment by 2030, yet progress in learning outcomes has been limited in most countries. Furthermore, the authors argue that while providing children with access to school can provide them with more opportunities to learn, this is not enough to guarantee learning. More work is required to expand learning. So far, these studies have focussed on academic learning. This raises the question as to whether this is also the case for environmental learning? When it comes to learning about the environment and environmental sustainability, children experience these differently across cultures and contexts. As a result, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_9

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they develop a variety of understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability, and they build a variety of relationships with these. From a socio-cultural and bio-ecological perspective, children learn in a socio-cultural context via interactions with others (peers and/or adults) around them (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Vygotsky, 1978). In this context, adults and children alike experience bidirectional influences that help them create new skills and knowledge together. In the current study, 12 young Maltese children drew their understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability from a wide range of sources, including home and school, but not only. The data generated with children, parents, teachers showed various contextual influences upon children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability. These will be discussed in this chapter. Here, however, the parents and teachers’ perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability sat alongside, rather than in front of, the children’s perceptions of these. For this reason, and since my study focused on children’s perceptions, a detailed exploration of the adults’ perceptions was beyond the scope of my study. However, adults’ perceptions will be included when they help to illuminate children’s responses, as will be the case of this chapter. While children’s homes and school programmes seemed to be the main contributing sources to developing their understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability, other significant contributors included the extended family, books, the Internet, films, television, politics, culture and religion. As we will see in this chapter, children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability did not exist in isolation. Rather their perceptions were socially and culturally constructed in the context of home, school, and wider community.

Child Characteristics As we have seen in Chap. 5, in the literature, different theories articulate the significance of the child as an active individual in context. These theories also suggest that the biological aspects of child development, such as the child’s age, and the child’s interaction with cultural tools within a context, can influence the child and peers. Therefore, the impacts of individual child-related factors are worth considering here. In this study, each child’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability were composed of different elements, in different combinations, and were therefore, a unique profile for each child. There were more children from St. Nicholas primary than St. Mary primary. The children who participated in this research study were aged between 3 years 4 months and 7 years 6 months. While they were recruited from particular age groups, this was not necessarily indicative of their experience or maturity. Furthermore, even though each age group was not represented by the same number of children, their ages and temperaments influenced the development of their perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability.

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Children’s interpersonal and intrapersonal characteristics and abilities were also influential factors in developing positive attitudes towards the environment and environmental sustainability. For example, during my observations I noticed that children who appeared to me to be shy and timid, like Sarah, Dalton and Ayida, tended to focus only on personal actions for environmental sustainability, such recycling on their own; whereas children who appeared to me to be more outgoing, like Liam and Francesco, tended to involve others, such as friends or relatives, in their pro-environmental actions. Although there were more girls than boys, the data did not evidence any clear gender differences between girls and boys’ perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability. While this could be due to the limited number of participants in my study, other factors may be relevant, such as culture and upbringing, though this would need further investigation. The broad patterns and awareness in children’s understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability were different among older children (year 1 and year 2) in the sample, compared with the younger children (kindergarten 1 and kindergarten 2). Evidence from the children’s stories (Chap. 6) suggests that different aspects of the children’s attitudes towards the environment and environmental sustainability, at different ages, could be the result of increasing knowledge and social influences, but not only. These could also emerge as result of changes in their cognitive and artistic development, and a growing selectivity towards environmental issues. Their participation in environmental programmes, in both formal and non-­ formal contexts, does not necessarily translate into the acquisition of environmental knowledge, skills and attitudes, but it is an important element in the development of environmental literacy in the early years. Therefore, I argue that both participation in formal and non-formal environmental programmes and the children’s increased maturity as they get older can, individually or in combination, possibly influence their perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability.

Lost for Words Defining certain complex scientific terms related to the environment and environmental sustainability in simple language proved to be problematic for some children. In such instances, the children used simple language to explain complex scientific facts. In doing so, they also exposed their scientific misconceptions about the environment and environmental sustainability issues. For example, Dalton, Denzil, Amie, John, Liam, Ylenia and Francesco used simplistic language to represent their understanding of complex scientific phenomena. Dalton said that, “Exhaust burns our skin” when further questions revealed that he intended to mean that exhaust is bad for people’s health. In his drawing of a power station (see Fig. 6.14) Francesco, drew the “inside people” falling off the power station building and went on to explain that these were people working at the power station and since there was a lot of smoke and air pollution, these workers were becoming very ill and they needed help. Denzil, Amie, John and Liam used the word “dirty” to mean

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“polluted”; Denzil, Ylenia and Liam used the words “black smoke” when referring to vehicle exhaust or smoke from power station emissions. Specifically, when they used the words “black smoke”, they were actually referring to the dark colour of the smoke or exhaust; when they used the word “dirty”, they were referring to air pollution and bad smells as a result of vehicle exhaust and power station emissions. Like the young children in Engdahl and Rabušicová’s (2011) study, here, most of the children perceived the dark colour and the bad smell of these emissions to be harmful to the environment and to health, rather than the CO2 emissions. There were two instances in particular when Liam and Francesco could not find the right words to express their strong emotions about people who degrade the environment. When they were lost for words, they used words they were familiar with to express their disgust and made up for the vocabulary which was lacking. Liam said that, “Smoke from power stations and so on will fuck Malta.” Further questions revealed that Liam used the word “fuck” to express his disgust and disappointment at what he perceived to be a degrading situation related to power station emissions and their related environmental issues in Malta. Francesco used the word “orcs”, derived from the movie The Lord of the Rings, to describe his disgust at people who degraded the environment. He compared people who degrade the environment to the horrible creatures he had seen in the movie Lord of the Rings. To further explain his idea, Francesco gave me a photograph (see Fig. 6.13) of these orcs. He insisted that he handed me the photograph to make sure that I understood how ugly these orcs were, just like the “ugly people who destroy the environment.” Therefore, when Francesco and Liam were lost for words, they tended to use words they were familiar with to explain their ideas about complex issues. In particular, Francesco also used a different medium to express himself: photography, which helped both Francesco and myself construct meaning of his perception of people who degrade the environment. Despite the age differences and language barriers, the children were able to talk about the environment and certain environmental sustainability issues to varying degrees, particularly by drawing on personal experience. Despite being so young, they had already witnessed some local environmental changes, and had already experienced their direct effect, which had a lasting impact on them. The children’s data indicated that direct and first-hand experiences, particularly in their local contexts, seemed to influence how they talked about and perceived the environment and environmental sustainability issues. As the children observed changes in the nearby environment and were personally affected by them, such as quarry dust, traffic, air pollution and litter, they were able to talk more about these issues. Environmental sustainability is a complex issue and these examples from the children’s data as presented in Chap. 6, confirm that most of the children encountered linguistic barriers when trying to explain their understanding of complex scientific issues. However, contrary to Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of language as a cultural tool, these children were not devoid of internal processes in their thinking. Rather they simply lacked the linguistic tools to express their thinking in words. I acknowledge that the issue under study is complex for young children to understand and I did not expect them to possess the vocabulary to explain complex scientific

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phenomena. However, the fact that only seven out of 12 children struggled to express themselves because of linguistic difficulties does not signify that the other children did not have any difficulties in expressing themselves. Possibly, the latter chose not to answer my questions instead of struggling to find the right words to express themselves. In addition, I acknowledge that the children’s limited language skills and lack of scientific, or appropriate vocabulary, was a significant issue in my study. In light of this, and drawing on my experience as a teacher of young children, one of the reasons for using a range of data collection methods with the children was to enable them to present their ideas in a variety of ways by listening to their voices. These methods were also used as a means of minimising difficulties with the use of complex scientific terminology as far as possible. Also, this strategy was intended to minimise the possibility of imposing adult terms on the children’s ideas, and  to allow them the freedom to use terms they were familiar and could understand.

Environmental Worldviews and Personal Experience Perceptions represent the worldviews individuals hold, and these enable them to make sense of the world around them (Mónus, 2021). Individual pro-environmental behaviour is related to one’s value orientations and environmental attitudes, which in turn are underpinned by environmental worldviews and personal experience. The children’s values and worldviews appeared to have been flexible and dependent upon the context being discussed. Indeed, the children exhibited mostly altruistic and biospheric value orientations when discussing environmental issues, but some exhibited egoistic value orientations. When discussing issues related to their local contexts, the children expressed bio-centric worldviews, and when discussing the needs of the natural environment as a whole, they expressed ecocentric worldviews. Interestingly, the children expressed anthropocentric worldviews when discussing the management of natural resources to meet their own needs and the needs of current and future generations. Nevertheless, given the same context, different children expressed mixed worldviews. When they talked about human needs, they first focused on how their personal needs or their family’s needs can be met first. In such instances, anthropocentric worldviews were guiding their thinking about the environment and environmental sustainability, and maybe genuine sustainability of the resource under discussion was not the main consideration. While this does not necessarily indicate that most children were positioning themselves as the next generation for whom sustainability of natural resources is necessary, they appeared to be concerned with the need to share the resource fairly between humans, and between humans and animals, over time, so that there would still be some of the resource available for them to use when eventually they become adults. This was particularly evident when talking about fossil fuels and trees, with some expressing outrage at the continuous depletion of fossil fuels and the negative consequences these could have on them when they become adults. What is interesting here is the fact that while, Ylenia, Francesco, John and Liam thought that they were responsible to use

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such resources wisely in order to prolong their availability; others, like Jaylee, thought that other people were being greedy and should not be using fossil fuels, in order to save fossil fuels to satisfy her own and her family’s needs. Conflict with ecocentric and biocentric worldviews was evident when an anthropocentric worldview would benefit them personally. Their responses highlighted the conflict between the need to use the natural environment for human needs while at the same time recognising the need to implement strategies to sustain the natural environment. Indeed, the more environmentally-aware children were, the more they reflected ecocentric worldviews, one in which a level of interdependence exists between human and nature, indicating awareness that humans are not the only ones using natural resources. Therefore, I argue that anthropocentric, biocentric and ecocentric worldviews expressed by children were not seen as mutually exclusive. Overall, the children’s perceptions were framed by notions of personal worldviews and first-hand experiences of everyday events that occurred within their local contexts. Thus, indicating that they formed their perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability based on what they did and knew, suggesting that they also engaged in socio-cultural processes in order to construct their understanding. This posits that their environmental learning was a function of an activity, and the context and culture in which it occurred. Very often such learning was unintentional as opposed to classroom learning, which was usually deliberate. While I acknowledge that such an analysis may be limited and open to alternative interpretations, it certainly contributes to the discussion on the link between environmental sustainability, local environmental issues, and direct experience in the natural environment in the early years.

The Family The role of families and communities are paramount in re-orienting ECCE towards ESD, especially since children’s first social relationships take place within the family. The specific components of the family units that influenced each child’s understanding were unique and personalised. Nevertheless, there were some commonalities among the family units that might have, or have not, contributed to the development of the children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability. The first commonality concerned the construction of each of the family units, which were made up of a two-parent family: a mother and a father. Of these, only one father, Robert, agreed to be interviewed; the other nine parents whom I interviewed, were all female (mothers). The second commonality was that these mothers declared they were usually the ones who spent most time with the children outside school hours. Despite these commonalities, the interactions within the home environments were complex and multi-faceted. Parents’ definitions of the environment ranged from the environment as nature to the environment as made up of both the natural and the human-made environment. Despite their varied descriptions of the environment, most parents indicated

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preference toward the natural environment. This finding is consistent with previous research by Prince (2006), who reported that parents in her study too equated the environment with nature, and by Stuhmcke (2012), who also reported that parental contribution featured a predominant preference for natural phenomena. In the current study, there were some similarities between some of the children and parents’ definition of the environment in three cases: Georgia and Denzil, who defined the environment as nature that included people; Jeanette and Dalton, who described the environment as nature; and Julie and Francesco, who defined it as including both the natural and the human-made environment. In fact, Georgia confirmed that she had spoken to Denzil about recycling, and water and energy conservation; Jeanette said that she was teaching Dalton how to recycle; and Julie and Francesco were observed carrying out various pro-environmental actions at home, such as recycling, redistribution of vegetable leftovers, and water and energy-­ saving. These parents could have influenced their children’s perceptions of the environment through the social interactions that took place at home, but not only, especially since children also interacted with other people in different contexts, which could have also been influential. Parents offered different definitions of environmental sustainability, ranging from the preservation of natural resources; using natural resources wisely; protection of nature; keeping the Earth clean; to being unable to give an explanation of the term. The children and parent’s perception of environmental sustainability were similar in two cases. The first case is that of Josephine and Jazlyn, who defined environmental sustainability as people taking care of nature. Next, is the case of Julie and Francesco, who defined environmental sustainability as using natural resources wisely. Environmental sustainability is a complex scientific issue that might be difficult for people to understand unless they are involved in it. The fact that in only two cases did the perceptions tally, does not necessarily indicate that the other parents had no influence on their children’s perceptions of the term. A lot of complex cognitive and scientific processes are involved in defining a complex phenomenon such as this, and the fact that some adults felt uncomfortable during the interview, might have contributed to these divergences. Some parents, such as Natasha, Josephine, Marija and Jacqueline, expressed their concern with the imbalance of natural capital and, like their children, they discussed the idea that people are responsible for ensuring environmental sustainability. This is an important finding for several reasons. First, both children and parents indicated awareness that environmental sustainability permits the use of the natural environment for the benefit of humanity, provided that people do not degrade it to a level where it will not sustain itself. Second, this finding indicates that these parents and their children were aware that individual actions could lead to change for sustainability. Third, this similarity could indicate that through the social interactions at home, parents could have influenced children’s perceptions of environmental responsibility. Fourth, this finding is also in line with UNESCO (2002), which posits that in order to ensure sustainability, people must learn how to think of the consequences of their own actions, envision a sustainable future and create the steps

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needed to achieve this vision; and is also in line with SDSN’s (2014) argument that different generations in society need to work together to achieve sustainability. Both similarities and differences between the children and parents’ data emerged during data analysis. Possibly, children who shared similar views to their parents’ may have been influenced by their parents’ concerns through the proximal processes (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) that took place at home. However, while this may suggest that some parents influence their children’s perceptions of the issue, others did not. This however, certainly suggests that, at some point, some parents and their children were talking about issues which concerned them the most, which is very subjective and therefore, an issue which concerned a child might not have necessarily concerned a parent, and vice versa. What is interesting here though is that in all the cases, both children and parents shared a commonality in their environmental concern, in that their concerns were initially local environmental issues. In keeping with the above discussion regarding the children’s perception, this finding indicates that by focusing on local environmental issues, children and parents can feel more enthusiastic and empowered to take action. While the children’s data did not show any differences between genders in terms of the issues discussed and the way they were discussed, children’s age influenced some of the environmental discussions between parents and their children. This was certainly the case with Jeannette and Dalton, Alison and Amie, and Robert and Ylenia. In fact, Jeannette, Alison and Robert believed that their children (Dalton, Amie and Ylenia) were too young to understand complex issues like environmental sustainability. However, their children were able to engage in a conversation about environmental sustainability issues. A similar finding was also reported by Engdahl and Rabušicová (2011). Gender influence on parent, Natasha, in that she chose not to talk to Sarah about environmental sustainability because Sarah was a girl, but she talked to her son about these issues. However, Natasha admitted that she had taught Sarah how to recycle. Here, these parents indicated unawareness of their children’s understanding of the issue under study, particularly because they thought their children were too you to understand complex issues. From a socio-cultural perspective, learning happens through participation in shared activities with more experienced others; in this case, the parents determined the child’s potential for learning within the zone of proximal development [ZPD] (Vygotsky, 1978). At times, parents were not working within the ZPD of the child because they were influenced by the child’s age and gender, respectively. However, their children still indicated awareness of certain issues parents thought their children were too young to understand. This indicates that at this age, children did not associate gender with environmental issues. While no definite conclusion can be drawn, parents’ data could indicate that assigning gender roles to children could lead to different ways of perceiving, and dealing with, environmental issues later on in life. Some parents stated that they encouraged their children to engage in pro-­ environmental activities at home, such as recycling, water conservation and energy conservation. Recycling, and water and energy conservation activities are laden with sustainability concepts with which children seemed to connect. However, parents indicated that they engaged in these sustainable practices mostly for economic

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reasons first, and then, for environmental reasons. Energy and water conservation, even if it is done for financial reasons, does not diminish the parents’ pro-­ environmental efforts and their influences on their children because cost-saving was found to be a good motivator for parents and children to take pro-environmental actions. From a socio-cultural perspective, within environmentally-conscious families learning was situated in social interactions where parents and children interacted with mediating, cultural tools (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978). Therefore, these families tended to provide their children with cultural tools that helped them build environmental knowledge and attitudes through family interaction, socialisation and parental instructions, reminders, rules and modelling, such as recycling, and water and energy conservation practices. In fact, children’s data indicate that they had gained knowledge about environmental sustainability issues mostly from working alongside their parents, but not only. Thus, environmentally-conscious families acted as role models and guided children’s environmental learning. My findings concur with those reported by Meeusen (2014) who shows that parents can act as role models for their children’s environmental learning by behaving in an environmentally-­conscious way, by talking about environmental issues with their children, and by providing an environmentally friendly home environment. My finding is also consistent with previous research by Ballantyne, Fien, and Packer (2001) and Uzzell (1999), that highlight the importance of family dynamics in the children’s pro-environmental efforts at home. Parental attitudes toward waste management did not seem to have affected Jazlyn and Thea’s attitudes towards recycling. Therefore, in these cases there was a lack of relationship between parental attitudes towards recycling and children’s attitudes towards recycling. Following a socio-cultural perspective, children coming from less environmentally-conscious families lacked learning in social interactions, and parents and children did not interact with mediating, cultural tools (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978). Therefore, Jazlyn and Thea must be thought of as lacking some of the cultural tools which were common to children coming from environmentally-­ conscious families, such as support from their family to learn about recycling for example. Furthermore, from a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), these children lacked the proximal process necessary for the development of environmental learning, for example about recycling. However, Jazlyn and Thea were able to learn the cultural tools necessary to engage with recycling from interacting with educators and other children at school (Rogoff, 2003). Through the proximal processes (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) happening at school, Thea and Jazlyn, acquired new environmental learning. In fact, these two children still valued recycling as a way of ensuring environmental sustainability. This finding suggests that while family dynamics are important because parental support and encouragement can enhance the effectiveness of their children’s pro-­ environmental efforts at home, learning about pro-environmental efforts can happen in other contexts, and be just as effective. From a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), not only did the context where recycling takes place change, from home to school, but so did the interactions that occurred between

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the child and the environment that allowed, or prevented, proximal processes from occurring. It seems that Jazlyn and Thea learnt about what is unique to them, and to their particular contexts, and learned to act accordingly, suggesting that children formed their perceptions in different contexts, other than the family. Interestingly, despite some apparent family influences on children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability, when children were asked who they believed mostly influenced their perceptions of the issue, only Denzil, Ylenia and Francesco said that they associated their parents with pro-environmental habit-forming. This finding resonates with Rogoff’s (2003) concept of guided participation, which takes place when children’s learning needs are understood within particular cultural and social contexts. Guided participation assumes that children and adults are partners in the learning process. Through guided participation from their parents, these children had common experiences with the members of their family and learned about water and energy conservation. The role of the parents as those modelling co-­ operative support strategies, as more experienced people in the community, supported children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability and guided children’s participation towards shared understanding of pro-environmental behaviour. This suggests that at the time of the data collection, some children considered others (rather than parents) as being more influential on their perceptions but it does not mean that family practices did not influence children indirectly. Following from this discussion, findings from Denzil, Ylenia and Francesco’s data contradict the findings of Musser and Diamond (1999), but Jazlyn and Thea’s data concur with the findings of Musser and Diamond (1999). Indeed, Musser and Diamond (1999) report that there was no direct relationship between parental attitudes and children’s attitudes; children’s attitudes were reported to have developed from a wide variety of influences (such as siblings, teachers, grandparents, media and books). Perhaps the most significant finding in Musser and Diamond’s (1999) study was that children’s attitudes correlated with the degree to which they participated in pro-environmental activities at home, with children who participated in such activities showing more positive attitudes towards the environment. Presumably, the children in Musser and Diamond’s (1999) study all had equivalent experiences outside of the home.

The School Data generated with the teachers and the head of school indicated that both schools tried to help children develop respect for the natural environment. The environment was reinterpreted by educators as including both the natural and human-made environments; they said that both types of environments are essential for the well-being of humanity. My finding is in contrast with previous research by Prince (2006), who found that early years’ teachers equated the environment with nature because in my study, some  teachers equated the environment with the human-made environment too.

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A contrast was noted in the data of Amie and Ms. L’s perceptions of nature. Amie understood the environment as being made up of natural elements; whereas Ms. L included both the natural and the human-made environment in her definition. This might indicate that since Ms. L did not include ESD-related activities, she did not influence Amie’s definition of the environment. Possibly, in Amie’s case, her parents were more influential than the teacher. Another contrast was noted in three children’s data in Ms. P’s classroom, where Denzil, Ayida and Thea described the environment as nature. During drawing interpretation, Thea said that Ms. P had talked to her about the environment as nature and so, Thea drew a picture of nature the way Ms. P described it to her. This indicates that Ms. P could have influenced Thea’s perceptions of the environment as nature by intentionally preparing lessons about the environment prior to my visit. It could also be the result of a misunderstanding of what my study was about, in the sense that Ms. P must have thought that I was going to judge her pedagogy, or her lesson content, rather than children’s understanding of an issue. Another possible explanation could be that Thea interpreted Ms. P’s definition differently than that intended by her teacher. The head of school and three teachers (Mr. D, Ms. M, Ms. A and Ms. N) referred to the environment as nature, which they believed was also essential for the well-­ being of humanity. A similarity was noted between these teachers and the children’s definition of the environment. This indicates that some teachers could have influenced some of children’s environmental worldviews through classroom and school activities to certain extent, but not only. The perceptions of environmental sustainability held by the head of school and the teachers involved in this study were also explored. Mr. D, Ms. A, Ms. P, Ms. M, and Ms. N perceived environmental sustainability as protecting natural resources. They felt that it was their duty as educators to protect natural resources for the future benefit of younger and future generations. A similarity was only noted in Francesco and Ms. M’s data, and in Ylenia and Ms. N’s data regarding environmental sustainability as meaning the protection of natural resources and the maintenance of balance of natural capital. Therefore, the extension of resources available to satisfy human needs now and in the future influenced their perceptions of environmental sustainability. Like children, educators attributed people with the responsibility to ensure and maintain environmental sustainability.

The Media The media is an example of a distal process, described by Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2006), which can have either a direct or an indirect influence on children. A relationship between media viewing and the children’s perceptions of the environment, environmental sustainability and their proposed pro-environmental behaviours, were suggested. In this regard, children’s ideas varied from positioning the media as a powerful influence, to insignificant. Access to television varied in

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households, yet reference to television programmes came up frequently during interviews with both children and parents. The media influenced some children’s perceptions of recycling. The cartoon movie series Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer influenced Sarah, Denzil, Amie and John’s perceptions of recycling. Particularly, Denzil and John said that they emulated Diego’s and Dora’s behaviour by recycling like these cartoon characters. Thea and Liam mentioned television in general as an influence on their perceptions about the environment. Francesco talked about the movie Ice Age and how he had learned about certain environmental issues from watching it. Francesco also used creatures from the movie Lord of the Rings to convey his ideas about people who chopped down trees, who he referred to as “orcs”. Francesco turned to the media to help with his difficulty in finding the right words to express his ideas. This does not mean that the movie Lord of the Rings influenced Francesco’s perceptions of environmental sustainability, but he was able to convey meaning by using these creatures to portray those  invidividuals who cut down trees and cause environmental damage. It seems likely that while children mentioned television programmes as influential, these had a minor influence on their perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability. In this regard, my finding contrasts findings reported in past research (Davis, 2010; Keliher, 1997; Murphy, 1993; Ostman & Parker, 1987; Payne, 2014), which suggest that television and the media are primary influences on children’s perceptions of the environment.

Politics Life in Malta is highly influenced by the political polarity between the two major political parties – the Nationalist Party (PN) and the Labour Party (PL). Local political decisions about environmental sustainability  issues were influential at both home and school levels. Local political decisions, which from a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) were taken at the level of the exosystem, had an influence at the level of the microsystem of the home in two cases. The local general election campaign influenced Ayida and Jacqueline’s perceptions about the impact power stations had on the health of the Maltese, which they described as factories which produce cancers. To understand the significance of this finding one has to take a look at the political climate in Malta. Around the time of the data collection, there was a political general election campaign in Malta which centred round issues of air pollution from power stations. Ayida and Jacqueline’s perceptions have been influenced by the political message presented to the Maltese public by the Labour Party, in opposition at the time. As part of their electoral campaign, in 2013, they frequently insisted that the power stations in Marsa and Marsaxlokk were factories which produced cancer. These two power stations were referred to as “cancer factories” by members of the Labour Party. It seems that in this case, political influences negatively affected Ayida’s and Jacqueline’s perspectives, in that it led to misconceptions about cancer, power station emissions and environmental

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sustainability. Possibly, this political focus could explain why Ayida, Liam and Francesco, perceived the two power stations in Malta as posing health risks to people. This might not be the only reason why these three children perceived power stations as a health threat. In fact, the WHO (2009, p. xii) reported that power stations have contributed significantly to air pollution and an increase in asthma prevalence in Malta. This finding has also been supported by local medical research by Montefort et al. (2009) showing a rapid increase in respiratory disease among 5- to 8-year-old Maltese children. These reports, coupled with children’s personal experience of air pollution, could have led to increased awareness of air pollution among the Maltese public, even among these children, albeit several scientific misconceptions. While international research shows that young children hold environmental misconceptions (Madden & Liang, 2017), in the case of this study, it was not only the children who held misconceptions, but also adult, including politicians. Next, Natasha said that her family had benefited financially from a government-­ subsidy scheme to install solar water heater, solar panels, energy-saving lighting, and the manufacture of a water reservoir at home. Although Natasha agreed that initially the family availed themselves of this subsidy scheme for financial reasons, she was also happy that they made their home more sustainable for environmental reasons too. In this case, political decision-making had a two-fold positive influence: financial and environmental, which both led to two of the pillars of sustainability. In terms of sustainability, Natasha was thinking of the consequences of her actions on the environment and when the time was right, she took the opportunity to ensure a sustainable future for her family. There were other political decisions, which from a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) were taken at the level of the exosystem, or the government level, and had an impact on the level of the microsystem of the school. Education authorities, under the guidance of the Education Minister, are in charge of establishing the curriculum for all schools in Malta. ECEfS never featured in any Maltese curriculum. A review of the NCF shows that despite The Gothenburg Recommendations on Education for Sustainable Development (UNESCO, 2002) to teach children about sustainability in the early years, ECEfS still does not specifically feature in the Maltese curriculum (Ministry of Education and Employment, 2012). Rather, ESD was included within this curriculum as a “unit” to be covered as part of the formal curriculum, thus, compartmentalising EE as another subject to be covered only in upper primary and secondary levels. ESD requires the re-orientation of educational systems and structures, as well as teaching and learning towards sustainability, rather than merely considering ESD as an extra subject within the existing educational system and curriculum. There were some policies in place which had an influence on the running of the school. For example, the policy issued in 2012 by the Ministry of Education and Employment, in which schools were asked to spend 10% of their government’s funding to implement strategies that reduced the school’s carbon footprint. From a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), this policy is an example of a distal process, which indicates that decisions taken at the level of the exosystem can have an impact on the level of the microsystem.

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Conditions of teachers’ service are issued by MEDE for all to follow. A number of prominent issues were highlighted by the teachers regarding the vast syllabi, curriculum constraints, lack of resources, lack of time and lack of teacher training courses in ESD as influencing how much environmental learning they included in their practice. A condition of service that impacted teachers’ practices with regard to the environment and environmental sustainability also included the lack of professional development opportunities in ECEfS. These early years’ teachers felt that they lacked the support needed to include ECEfS in their teaching. Indeed, Mr. D confirmed that decisions about any activities happening at school were discussed during staff development meetings, which took place once per term, for an hour and half, and after school hours. Extant local research shows that the majority of Maltese teachers requested teaching resources as part of the successful implementation of EE in Malta because they felt under-trained and believed that resources for the effective implementation of EE in Malta were difficult to produce (Bezzina & Pace, 2004; Mifsud, 2012; Pace, 2009). From a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), teachers’ working conditions are yet another example of how decisions taken at the level of the exosystem directly influenced the level of the microsystem. Therefore, teachers’  working conditions, that translated into school and classroom practices, included the obligations to cover the syllabus and to comply with professional expectations, directly influencing the conditions of children’s learning. In turn, this had an impact on the children’s exposure to environmental activities at school, which focused on education about the environment, rather than education in and for the environment. The data spoke to the need for more planning time and more professional development course for teachers in ESD, and ECEfS in particular, which would enhance their professional teaching skills and would be more valuable than simply presenting teachers with a few resources and a syllabus to cover, without any prior training, as has been the case in both schools. Data also indicate that political decision-making and partisan politics influenced some perceptions and misconceptions held by both adults and children. In part, this is to be understood since people living on small island states tend to affiliate with a political party, a behaviour that in the long run ensures their livelihood in terms of employment and financial stability. Unfortunately, in the case of this study, such affiliation did not assist in children’s understanding of the politics of sustainability. Unless the political implications of sustainability are understood, environmental issues will remain problematic as children are likely to propagate these misconceptions in the future, and these will influence their pro-environmental behaviours. The need for a model of living sustainability in Malta requires that children are taught about the political and economic aspects of sustainability. While such an approach is critical to improving children’s development of environmental literacy, a model of living well with others (including all living species on the planet) can support new ways of meeting the needs of the community (natural, economic, cultural and social), within planetary boundaries. Doing so would ensure that children’s lives, and the livelihood of people living  on small island states, can be sustained and sustainable.

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Culture Environmental perceptions are context-dependent (Barraza & Robottom, 2008). Collective cultural values can contribute to environmental sustainability since it is believed that these are transmitted when children interact with other members of the community. In keeping with the above discussion, children’s perceptions of, and attitudes towards, the environment and environmental sustainability did not exist in isolation. Rather, these were influenced by the cultural, social and political norms of Maltese society. Interestingly, some children spoke mostly about recycling, traffic and air pollution, three major environmental issues which are most discussed in Malta, even in the Maltese political arena. Here, it was clear that the children’s perceptions in this regard were related to their direct experiences of the problem within the culture of their community. Interestingly, despite some children’s concerns for, and interests in, environmental sustainability issues, some still expected others, rather than themselves, to change their behaviours for their own benefit or for the benefit of their own families, thus exhibiting egoistic value orientations. Particularly, Ayida, Thea, Amie, and Jaylee reflected what I term the Maltese “car culture”,1 where even though they believed that cars were causing both environmental and health problems, they still believed that private car use was a necessity in Malta. In other words, these children expected others to limit their private car use so that they, and their families, would avoid facing traffic congestion and air pollution, but they said that they were not willing to change their behaviour with regard to private car use. This is an example from my data of the value-action gap (Blake, 1999), where even though children indicated awareness, and understanding of, certain environmental problems, they did not follow through to take action to remedy the problem. Through participation in their community, at the level of the macrosystem (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), these children learned about private car use prevalent in the culture of their community. Through the interactive guidance of adults, in this case their parents, they appropriated these cultural practices and artefacts, and thus, progressed and developed in ways that were consistent with the culture of their communities (Ellis & Rogoff, 1982; Wertsch, 1985).

 Private car use is a prevalent perspective in Maltese society. Even though there are a high number of vehicles on Maltese roads and the Maltese experience traffic congestion every day, the number of licensed vehicles in Malta continues to increase annually (NSO, 2022). In 2019, the number of vehicles per 1000 residents in Malta was 773; in 2020 the number of vehicles per 1000 residents increased to 780 and the number of vehicles to 1000 driving licence holders stood at 1513 (NSO, 2022). At the end of 2021, there were 413,019 licensed vehicles in Malta, of which 313,177 (75.8%) were passenger cars (NSO, 2022). In the same year, there were 21,034 newly licensed vehicles, of these 11,417 were newly licensed ‘new’ vehicles and 9617, were newly licensed ‘used’ vehicles (NSO, 2022). This a huge number of vehicles considering the geographical size and the population density of the Maltese Islands. Perhaps this is an example of what Pace (2009) referred to as a culture of resistance to change, where although people are aware of the issues, some of their behaviour such as driving are causing, they still resist change. 1

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Religion The Roman Catholic religion and the Maltese culture are mingled together in such a way that oftentimes it is difficult to separate one from the other. The  Roman Catholic religion featured as an influence in 3 out of 10 parents. Natasha, Robert and Marija perceived the environment as including natural elements, created by God. An important finding in my study is that the idea of God as the creator of nature, or the environment, was specifically mentioned by these three parents but absent from their children’s data. Indeed, none of the children in my study made direct reference to God in relation to the environment. The children of these three parents, Sarah, Ylenia, and Liam, turned to personal experience to explain issues and situations which they could not easily explain using simple language. While in my study I did not set out to explore the relationship between religion and environmental sustainability, the children’s data suggest that the influence of the Church is diminishing in younger generations. How this relates to environmental sustainability would be an interesting prospect for future research. This is not an unusual finding when we consider the parents’ data, but it is an unusual finding when we consider the children’s data. These parents were brought up at a time when the Church in Malta was powerful. Nowadays, although the Church still has some influence and power, it has diminished significantly, and therefore, these children have probably been influenced less by the Church’s power than their parents were. This finding is in contrast with findings by Gonzalez (2013), who reported that 4- to 6-year-old Maltese children made reference to the Roman Catholic religion to explain issues they found otherwise difficult to explain using simple language, such as life and death. It is also in contrast to research by Spiteri (2022) with young children in Malta. Both these studies reported that children suggested notions of care and respect for the environment and connected this notion to their Christian faith and God, elements which were absent from children’s data in the current study. Children in these two studies attended Church and independent schools in Malta, and while the differences between contexts were not significantly different, in terms of the children’s reference to religion and environmental sustainability, there was a significant difference. These contrasting findings could be due to several reasons, including the children’s upbringing, school ethos and religious background, issues which I did not delve into in this study but which certainly merit further investigation. Even though children in my study did not specifically mention religion as an influential factor, to a certain extent religion may have been an indirect influential factor in their views of nature as an asset discussed above. In other words, ethics of the Roman Catholic religion, which are embedded in the belief that nature exists only for the benefit of humans, where God planned to create humans to rule, reproduce and establish dominance over the Earth, could be concealed within the children’s anthropocentric worldviews. Such a belief system sustains the Western anthropocentric worldview and is exploitative to the environment because only human needs and interests are considered as essential, thus propagating a

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destructive attitude toward the natural environment. A counter argument, however, has been offered by Kellert (1993), who suggests that there might be a biological basis to anthropocentric worldviews, particularly the need for survival. Thus, a concern for nature could ultimately be “driven by a profound sense of self-interest and biological imperative” (Kellert, 1993, p. 60). Consequently, it would be both fascinating and valuable to explore potential relationships between religions, religiosity, and children’s conceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability.

Conclusion This chapter considered the connections and configurations of children in an ecological community with others. It took into account the socio-cultural influences upon children’s environmental perceptions, based on their personal experiences. In doing so, this chapter reconsidered new ways of thinking and theorising children’s environmental learning in the context of a small island state. The case studies presented in this book explored how young Maltese children perceived, and even experienced, the environment and environmental sustainability in Malta. Through their participation in this research, the children provided a window into what they envision their future to look like. Clearly, the  children were still  unaware of the full implications of certain environmental issues, such as climate change and the rise in sea levels as the greatest threats people living on small island states will face in the future, making these children more vulnerable. What is important though is the fact that their data are entangled in the human-environment relationships of past, present and future generations. Philosophically, it is this concept that should encourage us to act. It opens a number of possibilities for exploring children’s environmental concepts and their lived experiences.

References Angrist, N., Patrinos, H., Djankov, S., & Goldberg, P. (2022). Mapping the global learning crisis. Education next. University of Chicago Press.  Ballantyne, R., Fien, J., & Packer, J. (2001). Intergenerational influence in environmental education: A quantitative analysis. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 17, 1–7. https:// doi.org/10.1017/S0814062600002378 Barraza, L., & Robottom, I. (2008). Gaining representations of children’s and adults’ perceptions of sustainability issues. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 3(4), 179–191. http://www.ijese.net/makale_indir/IJESE_1357_article_58257ce326ba3.pdf Bezzina, C., & Pace, P. (2004). Promoting school development through environmental education. Trends: Monograph series in education, issue 1. University of Malta. Blake, J. (1999). Overcoming the “value-action gap” in environmental policy: Tensions between national policy and local experience. Local Environment, 4(3), 257–278. https://doi. org/10.1080/13549839908725599

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Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 793–828). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Davis, J. (Ed.). (2010). Young children and the environment. Early education for sustainability. Cambridge University Press. Ellis, S., & Rogoff, B. (1982). The strategies and efficacy of child versus adult teachers. Child Development, 53, 730–735. https://doi.org/10.2307/1129386 Engdahl, I., & Rabušicová, M. (2011). Children’s voices about the state of the earth. International Journal of Early Childhood, 43(2), 153–176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-­011-­0031-­0 Gill, I., & Saavedra, J. (2022). We are losing a generation: The devastating impacts of COVID-19. World Bank Blogs. https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/ we-­are-­losing-­generation-­devastating-­impacts-­covid-­19 Gonzalez, A.  B. (2013). Education for sustainability in early childhood education: Children’s discourses (Unpublished M.Ed. thesis). Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology and University of Malta. Keliher, V. (1997). Children’s perceptions of nature. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 6(3), 240–242. https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.1997.9965051 Kellert, S.  R. (1993). The biological basis for human values of nature. In S.  R. Kellert & E. O. Wilson (Eds.), The biophilia hypothesis (pp. 42–69). Island Press. Madden, L., & Liang, J. (2017). Young children’s ideas about environment: Perspectives from three early childhood educational settings. Environmental Education Research, 23, 1055–1071. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2016.1236185 MEDE. (2012). A national curriculum framework for all. Ministry of Education & Employment. Retrieved from https://curriculum.gov.mt/en/Resources/The-­NCF/Documents/NCF.pdf Meeusen, C. (2014). The intergenerational transmission of environmental concern: The influence of parents and communication patterns within the family. The Journal of Environmental Education, 45(2), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2013.846290 Mifsud, M. (2012). Environmental education development in Malta: A contextual study of the events that have shaped the development of environmental education in Malta. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 14(1), 52–66. http://versita.metapress.com/content/ c23571k18840x7j2/fulltext.pdf Montefort, S., Ellul, P., Montefort, M., Caruana, S., & Agius Muscat, H. (2009). Increasing prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis but not eczema in 5- to 8-year-old Maltese children (ISAAC). Paediatric Allergy Immunology, 20(1), 67–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-­3038.2008.00746.x Mónus, F. (2021). Environmental perceptions and pro-environmental behavior–comparing different measuring approaches. Environmental Education Research, 27(1), 132–156. https://doi. org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1842332 Murphy, T.  P. (1993). The portrayal of the environment and development in two commercial movies. Journal of Environmental Education, 25(1), 3–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/0095896 4.1993.9941942 Musser, L. M., & Diamond, K. E. (1999). The children’s attitudes toward the environmental scale for preschool children. The Journal of Environmental Education, 30(2), 22–30. https://doi. org/10.1080/00958969909601867 NSO – Malta. (2022). Regional statistics MALTA: 2022 edition. National Statistics Office, Malta. Retrieved from https://nso.gov.mt/en/publicatons/Publications_by_Unit/Documents/02_ Regional_Statistics_(Gozo_Office)/2022/Regional%20Statistics%20Malta%202022%20 Edition.pdf Ostman, R.  E., & Parker, J.  L. (1987). Impact of education, age, newspaper, and television on environmental knowledge, concerns and behaviours. The Journal of Environmental Education, 19(1), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.1987.10801954 Pace, P. (2009). Emerging from limbo: Environmental education in Malta. In N.  Taylor, M. Littledyke, C. Eames, & R. K. Coll (Eds.), Environmental education in context. An international perspective on the development of environmental education (pp.  73–82). Sense Publishers.

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Payne, P. (2014). Children’s conceptions of nature. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 30(1), 68–75. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2014.26 Prince, C. M. (2006). A knowledge creation approach to environmental education in early childhood: Creating a community of learners (Unpublished Ed.D. thesis). Massey University. Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford University Press. SDSN. (2014). Young children as the basis for sustainable development. Issue brief, 18 February 2014, prepared by the thematic group on early childhood development, education, and transition to work. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Retrieved from http://unsdsn.org/ wp-­content/uploads/2014/02/ECD-­Brief1.pdf Spiteri, J. (2022). How can environmental sustainability be achieved? The perceptions of young children. International Journal of Early Childhood, 54, 13–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s13158-­021-­00312-­9 Stuhmcke, S. M. (2012). Children as change for sustainability: An action research case study in a kindergarten (Unpublished Ed.D. thesis). Queensland University of Technology. UNESCO. (2002). Education for sustainability. From Rio to Johannesburg: Lessons learnt from a decade of commitment. Report presented at the Johannesburg World Summit for Sustainable Development. World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 26 August  – 4 September 2002. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001271/127100e.pdf UNESCO. (2016). Education 2030: Incheon declaration and framework for action for the implementation of sustainable development goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245656 Uzzell, D. (1999). Education for environmental action in the community: New roles and relationships. Cambridge Journal of Education, 29(3), 397–413. https://doi. org/10.1080/0305764990290309 Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of mind. Harvard University Press. WHO. (2009). Environment and health performance review Malta. WHO Regional Office for Europe. Retrieved from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/95343/ E93547.pdf

Chapter 10

Intergenerational Learning: Environmental Literacy in the Family and Beyond

Introduction The current environmental crisis calls for urgent individual and collective action towards protecting the natural environment worldwide. Research suggests that environmental learning, starting in the early years, can last a lifetime (OECD, 2018; Pramling Samuelsson et al., 2019). From a socio-cultural and bio-ecological perspective, children learn in a socio-cultural context via interactions with others (peers and/or adults) around them (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Vygotsky, 1978). In this context, adults and children alike experience bi-directional influences that help them create new skills and new knowledge together. Parents are the children’s first educators and therefore, they can play a vital role in supporting their children’s environmental learning opportunities, yet they face numerous barriers. While parental support for children’s environmental learning is important, this is an area of environmental research that is still under-researched. Since in this study I conducted interviews with parents as well, their perceptions of how young children understand and learn about the environment and sustainability are important. Teachers are equally important in supporting children’s environment learning in the early years. In fact, the Education 2030 Agenda urges governments worldwide to provide access to education to all children by 2030 (UNESCO, 2016). This is an important step towards increasing children’s access to education and learning to increase their chances of better outcomes later on in life (Angrist et al., 2022). Such access could potentially lead to more sustainable ways of living too. Taking a constructivist perspective in this book, I see the role of young children, their family, the school, and their social context as interactively shaping child development. In turn, family dynamics  and school functioning  are also influenced by child development. In this book, I see young children as active agents in their own development. Furthermore, I believe that children have the potential to influence their social environments through social interactions. For this reason, in this book, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_10

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the role played by families and schools in helping young children develop their perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability are explored. The potential influence that young children can have on their parents and teachers’ perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability are explored as well. This necessitates an understanding of intergenerational learning and influences, as well as an understanding of how knowledge is transferred between individuals, within these, and possibly other, contexts. People of different ages can learn together, and from each other. They can enrich each others’ thoughts, feelings, experiences and information processes, leading to what is known as intergenerational learning (European Map of Intergenerational Learning, n.d.; Istead & Shapiro, 2014). Intergenerational learning refers to the bi-­ directional learning of knowledge, skills, competencies, attitudes and habits that happen between generations (Istead & Shapiro, 2014; Peterson et al., 2019; Lawson et al., 2018). Specifically, intergenerational learning is defined as: learning that happens in the home and in communities, including online, and that involves different members of the family ... [and] captures the multi-directionality of learning interactions, i.e., children can learn from adults; adults from children; younger children from older siblings, and from other relatives. Therefore, it is a collective learning process in which the whole family learns together. (UNESCO, 2020c, p. 2).

In the literature, intergenerational learning is often associated with the learning that takes place between children and parents, and its benefits are widely acknowledged (UNESCO, 2020c). Given the benefits of intergenerational learning, many organisations designed intergenerational learning programmes aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of elderly and younger participants alike (Generations United, 2021; Kennedy-Behr et al., 2021). Such programmes “are defined as services that aim to increase sharing, interaction, or exchange between two generations, particularly when separated due to changes in social structures” (Kennedy-Behr et al., 2021, p. 1).

Adult-to-Child Intergenerational Learning Theories of intergenerational learning within the field of environmental research operate on the premise that the global issues society is currently facing require immediate action, and parents are in a better position than their children to create this change (Sutherland & Ham, 1992; Uzzell, 1999). The benefits of intergenerational learning are widely acknowledged too (UNESCO, 2020a). In the literature, intergenerational learning is often associated with the learning that takes place between children and parents (UNESCO, 2020a). In the past, it was believed that children could not influence their parents’ beliefs and behaviours, and if that ever happened, such learning would be trivial because of children’s immaturity. Consequently, past research in family influence was understood in a direct and linear parent-to-child casual process (Kuczynski et al., 2016), often showing older generations as the primary knowledge-holders, influencing

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younger generations’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours. In fact, in the literature adults has often been considered to be the primary knowledge-holders (Istead & Shapiro, 2014). For this reason, intergenerational learning has been considered from a unidirectional point of view, whereby most educational programmes, even in EE (Ballantyne et al., 1998b, 2001b, c), have focused on how adults, such as parents, can influence the environmental knowledge, beliefs and actions of children, rather than the ways in which children can influence family members and their community. Consequently, such research reported on the role adults played in influencing children’s learning.

Parent-to-Child Intergenerational Learning Both similarities and differences between children and parents’ data emerged in my study. Possibly, children who shared similar views to their parents may have been influenced by their parents’ concerns through the proximal processes (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) that took place at home. Previous research strengthens the notion that family is an essential locus for the transmission of knowledge about environmental and sustainable behaviour with both primary school children and secondary school children (Chineka & Yasukawa, 2020; Lawson et al., 2019; Meeusen, 2014; Spiteri, 2020). However, in the current study, while the data suggested that some parents influenced their children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, others did not. This indicates that parents and children were talking about issues which concerned them the most, which were very subjective, and therefore, issues that concerned a child might not have necessarily concerned a parent, and vice versa. What is interesting here though is that in all the cases children and parents shared a commonality in their environmental concern: their concerns were initially local environmental issues. This finding is a strong indicator that by focusing on local environmental issues, children and parents can feel more enthusiastic and empowered to take action for the environment. Some parents stated that they encouraged their children to engage in pro-­ environmental activities at home, such as recycling, water conservation and energy conservation. Recycling, and water and energy conservation activities are laden with sustainability concepts, with which children seemed to connect. However, parents indicated that they engaged in these sustainable practices mostly for economic reasons first, and then, for environmental reasons. Energy and water conservation, even if it is done for financial reasons, does not diminish the parents’ pro-­environmental efforts and their influences on their children because cost-saving was found to be a good motivator for parents and children to take pro-environmental actions. From a socio-cultural perspective, within environmentally-conscious families, learning was situated in social interactions where parents and children interacted with mediating cultural tools (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978). Therefore, these families tended to provide their children with cultural tools that helped them build environmental knowledge and attitudes through family interaction, socialisation

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and parental instructions, reminders, rules and modelling, such as recycling, and water and energy conservation practices. In fact, children’s data indicate that they had gained knowledge about environmental sustainability issues mostly from working alongside their parents. Thus, environmentally-conscious families acted as role models and guided children’s environmental learning. Indeed, prior research confirms that parents can act as role models for their children’s environmental learning by behaving in environmentally-conscious ways, for example by talking about environmental issues with their children and by providing an environmentally friendly home environment (Meeusen, 2014). Together, these findings highlight the important role of family dynamics in the development of children’s pro-environmental behaviour at home (Ballantyne et al., 2001a; Spiteri, 2020; Uzzell, 1999). In contrast, parental attitudes toward waste management did not seem to have affected Jazlyn and Thea’s attitudes towards recycling. Therefore, in these cases there was a lack of relationship between parental attitudes towards recycling and children’s attitudes towards recycling. Following a socio-cultural perspective, children coming from less environmentally-conscious families lacked learning in social interactions, and parents and children did not interact with mediating cultural tools (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978). Therefore, Jazlyn and Thea must be thought of as lacking some of the cultural tools which were common to children coming from environmentally-conscious families, such as support from their family to learn about recycling for example. Furthermore, from a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), these children lacked the proximal process necessary for the development of environmental learning, for example about recycling. However, Jazlyn and Thea were able to learn the cultural tools necessary to engage with recycling from interacting with teachers and other children at school (Rogoff, 2003). Through the proximal processes (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) happening at school, Thea and Jazlyn, acquired new environmental learning. In fact, these two children still valued recycling as a way of ensuring environmental sustainability. In essence, this finding suggests that while family dynamics are important because parental support and encouragement can enhance the effectiveness of their children’s pro-environmental efforts at home, learning about pro-environmental efforts can happen in other contexts, and be just as effective. From a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), not only did the context where recycling took place change, from home to school, but so did the interactions that occurred between the child and the environment that allowed, or prevented, proximal processes from occurring. It seems that Jazlyn and Thea learnt about what is unique to them and to their particular contexts, and learned to act accordingly, suggesting that these children formed their perceptions in different contexts, other than the family. Interestingly, despite some apparent family influences on children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, when children were asked who they believed mostly influenced their perceptions of the issue, only Denzil, Ylenia and Francesco said that they associated their parents with environmental learning and pro-environmental habit-forming. This finding resonates with Rogoff’s (2003) concept of guided participation, which takes place when children’s learning needs

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are understood within particular cultural and social contexts. Guided participation assumes that children and adults are partners in the learning process. Through guided participation from their parents, these children had common experiences with the members of their family and learned about water and energy conservation. The role of the parents as those modelling co-operative support strategies, as more experienced people in the community, supported children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability and guided children’s participation towards shared understanding of pro-environmental behaviour. This suggests that at the time of the data collection, some children considered others (rather than parents) as being more influential on their perceptions. Still, this does not mean that family practices did not influence children indirectly. Following from this discussion, findings from Denzil, Ylenia and Francesco’s data contradict the findings of Musser and Diamond (1999), but Jazlyn and Thea’s data concur with the findings of Musser and Diamond (1999). Indeed, Musser and Diamond (1999) report that there was no direct relationship between parental attitudes and children’s attitudes; children’s attitudes were reported to have developed from a wide variety of influences (such as siblings, teachers, grandparents, media and books). Perhaps the most significant finding in Musser and Diamond’s (1999) study was that children’s attitudes correlated with the degree to which they participated in pro-environmental activities at home, with children who participated in such activities showing more positive attitudes towards the environment. Presumably, the children in Musser and Diamond’s (1999) study all had equivalent experiences outside of the home.

Parent-to-Child Intergenerational Learning and Gender While children’s data did not show any differences between genders in terms of the issues discussed and the way they were discussed, children’s age influenced some of the environmental discussions between parents (Jeannette, Alison and Robert) and their children (Dalton, aged 3 years 6 months; Amie, aged 5 years 6 months; and Ylenia, aged 6 years 5 months). In fact, these parents believed that their children were too young to understand complex issues, such as environmental sustainability. However, their children were able to engage in a conversation about the environment and environmental sustainability issues. In fact, a similar finding was also reported by Engdahl and Rabušicová (2011). Gender influenced Natasha in that she chose not to talk to Sarah about environmental sustainability because Sarah was a girl, but she talked to her son about these issues. However, Natasha admitted that she had taught Sarah how to recycle. Some parents indicated unawareness of their children’s understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability, particularly because they thought their children were too you to understand such complex issues. From a socio-cultural perspective, learning happens through participation in shared activities with more experienced others; in this case the adult determines the child’s potential for learning within the

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zone of proximal development [ZPD] (Vygotsky, 1978). At times, parents were not working within the ZPD of the child because they were influenced by the child’s age and gender, respectively. However, their children still indicated awareness of certain issues even though their parents thought their children were too young to understand these. This indicates that at this age, children did not associate gender with environmental issues. While no definite conclusion can be drawn, the parents’ data could indicate that assigning gender roles to children from an early age could lead to different ways of perceiving, and dealing with, environmental issues later on in life.

Child-to-Adult Intergenerational Learning Recent research confirms that relying on older generations to teach younger generations about current environmental issues, such as environmental sustainability or climate change, may be unproductive (Lawson et al., 2018). After all, human communication is not unidirectional from adults to children, and adults are not the sole focus of knowledge and influence in the family. Research suggests that in the early years, children too can have a potential impact on what goes on in their family in terms of environmental behaviour (Spiteri, 2020). Although research in intergenerational influences in ECEfS is starting to emerge, the little that there has been has confirmed the intergenerational learning potential of sustainability programmes in the early years, for children and their community (e.g., Davis et al., 2005, 2008; Duvall & Zint, 2007; Istead & Shapiro, 2014; Spiteri, 2020). Still, research that explores family learning environments, using observational data from families and observations of family dynamics involved in intergenerational environmental learning in ECEfS, is still scant. The research is clear, children too can influence their parents and other adults’ behaviour (Ballantyne et al., 1998b; Spiteri, 2020). Prior research also confirms the potential of child-to-parent intergenerational influence in behaviours and attitudes in different sectors of life, for exmaple in purchasing power and family consumption patterns (Dikčius et  al., 2019; Kerrane et  al., 2012; Spiteri, 2020), consumer choices (Lawlor & Prothero, 2011) and parenting practices (Kuczynski et al., 2016). In recent years, a growing body of evidence suggests that within contemporary families, children are becoming increasingly influential and are exerting more influence on parents, including family dynamics (Kerrane et al., 2012; Lawlor & Prothero, 2011; Lawson et  al., 2018, 2019; Peterson et  al., 2019). Therefore, child-to-adult intergenerational learning seems to be an effective way to reach parents and achieve the desired results sooner, rather than later (Chineka & Yasukawa, 2020; Duvall & Zint, 2007; Lawson et  al., 2018, 2019; Peterson et  al., 2019; Vaughan et al., 2003). In the current study, instances of child-to-adult intergenerational learning were observed in four cases, where those children who were influenced by the school’s pro-environmental practices, were able to transfer that knowledge to their parents. This knowledge transfer happened  particularly in relation to pro-environmental

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activities, such as recycling, energy and water conservation strategies in their homes. Natasha and Robert confirmed that their children, Sarah and Ylenia, were able to influence them to take pro-environmental action and adopt water conservation strategies in their homes. Similarly, Jeannette and Georgia told me that they began recycling following Dalton and Denzil’s desire to participate in the school’s recycling competition. Indeed, both water-saving strategies and recycling activities, focus on local solutions to local environmental problems. Thus, by focusing on local environmental issues, these children were able to influence their family’s pro-­environmental behaviours. In fact, social science research has recognised the value of the child-to-­ adult learning relationship, which has given rise to the developing status of children as a source of new knowledge, even in environmental research (Ballantyne et al., 1998a, b, 2000, 2001a, b, c; Duvall & Zint, 2007; Istead & Shapiro, 2014; Sutherland & Ham, 1992; Uzzell, 1994, 1999; Vaughn et al., 2003). Taken together, these studies support the idea that young children are capable of acting as catalyst of environmental change among their parents and community members (Uzzell, 1994).

School-to-Child Intergenerational Learning Education has the potential to educate adults via children through intergenerational influence on their family and the community at large (Ballantyne et  al., 2006). Research has shown that EE programmes that are specifically designed to foster the influential potential of children have often embraced the vision that children will eventually transfer some of what they’ve learned during the programme to their parents (Ballantyne et al., 2001b; Sutherland & Ham, 1992; Vaughan et al., 2003). Furthermore, a focus on local issues could possibly lead to intergenerational transfer of environmental knowledge and attitudes, from child-to-parent (Ballantyne et al., 2001b; Davis et al., 2008; Duvall & Zint, 2007; Sutherland & Ham, 1992; Vaughan et al., 2003). Indeed, recent environmental research has confirmed the fact that children may influence their parents’ approaches to different environmental iss ues (Chineka & Yasukawa, 2020; Duvall & Zint, 2007; Istead & Shapiro, 2014; Lawson et al., 2019; Spiteri, 2020; Williams et al., 2017). There is evidence to suggest that programmes that are focused on local environmental issues (Sutherland & Ham, 1992; Ballantyne et al., 2001b; Lawson et al., 2018; Peterson et al., 2019), that include long-term engagement, in-depth, hands-on projects, and parental engagement (Sutherland & Ham, 1992; Lawson et al., 2018; Percy-Smith & Burns, 2013; Peterson et al., 2019) and, that also include frequent experiences and interactions with wildlife (Ballantyne et al., 2001b; Lawson et al., 2018; Peterson et  al., 2019), are more effective  at encouraging children to adopt pro-environmental behaviour. One such programme is the international Eco-school programme (Foundation for Environmental Education [FEE], n.d.), which is now well-established internationally, even in Malta. In most cases in the Western world, it is likely that EE programmes, such as the Eco-School programme, which cater for intergenerational learning result in successful transfer of environmental knowledge,

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behaviour and attitudes to adults, and have direct implications for environmental sustainability. Within the Maltese context, the Eco-school programme, known as EkoSkola, is aimed at helping children to adopt pro-environmental behaviour and thus, influence  pro-environmental behaviour within their community (Briguglio & Pace, 2004; Pace, 2009). Stated differently, the Eco-school programme is designed to encourage children to take local action to address environmental issues in their community (Chineka & Yasukawa, 2020; Ryan & Ferreira, 2019). Rickinson (2002) asserts that by participating in EE activities, children can influence the environmental attitudes and/or behaviours of their parents however, he warns that such influences are not the result of an automatic process. Rather, such influences can be facilitated by programmes that are enjoyable for children and parents (such as tasks which can involve parents and deal with real local issues). Indeed, Rickinson’s suggestion can be reflected in Sarah, Ylenia, Denzil, and Dalton’s responses, when they indicated that they enjoyed the school’s environmental learning programme. The EkoSkola programme seems to have helped them to transfer that learning from school to their parents. Therefore, it is likely that the nature of child-to-parent influences were both direct and intentional (Kuczynski et al., 2016). However, research also shows that while in the Global North, intergenerational learning seems to be influential in helping parents mitigate ideologically fraught topics (Lawson et al., 2019), in the Global South, multiple cultural and historical barriers seem to limit children’s ability to influence their parents even when the Eco-School programme managed to equip children with some agency to initiate change (Chineka & Yasukawa, 2020). Therefore, while it is true that in some case parents can be reached through their children’s effective education programmes and encouraged to engage in pro-environmental behaviour change (Lawson et al., 2018; Peterson et al., 2019), the effectiveness of such programmes depends on the context and culture in which such programmes are implemented (Chineka & Yasukawa, 2020). In addition, there is evidence to suggest that the success of an EE programme is influenced by context, culture and school ethos. In this study, given the high environmental ethos in both schools, teachers encouraged children to participate in environmental activities. Particularly, some teachers said that they tried to include environmental learning in their practice whenever possible, out of their own personal interests. This finding is in line with international reports by Davis (2010) and Davis and Elliott (2014), indicating that ECEfS is usually characterised by individual teacher and school’s efforts rather than a coordinated approach within this sector of education. Therefore, in the case of some of the teachers in this study, any environmental learning that has taken place, has occurred inside the school setting out of their own personal interest, in addition to those environmental activities imposed on them by EkoSkola. Barraza (1999, 2001) considers the school’s environmental ethos to have an important role in the acquisition of environmental information by children. In her study, she contrasted schools with high environmental ethos with those with no particular environmental agenda and found that children from schools with a higher environmental ethos actually had more pessimistic views than children from schools with lower or no particular environmental ethos. This

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contrasts with the optimistic views in my study. Nevertheless, the precise way in which school ethos affected children’s perceptions of the environment needs further exploration. Different environmental concerns, ranging from local to global, were discussed by teachers during interviews. While it is difficult to ascertain whether teachers influenced children’s perceptions, a closer look at the data indicates that there was a commonality that children and teachers’ shared views: all of their concerns started with concern for local environmental issues. Possibly, like in the case of children’s perceptions and family influences discussed above, this finding supports the idea that focusing on local environmental issues would enhance children and teachers’ interests in such issues. Environmental programmes may provide children with experience as an indirect catalyst for parents’ behaviour change towards sustainability. In fact, research has also confirmed the benefits of participation in environmental programmes (Musser & Diamond, 1999), and their correlation with the development of pro-­environmental values (Owens, 2004), even if children’s perceptions were often more anthropocentric rather than eco-centric (Simsar et al., 2021). During my observations in schools, I noticed that both schools encouraged children to recycle. In Liam’s case, I observed child-to-community influences via the school’s environmental programme. Liam’s interest in recycling helped him encourage the local business community to recycle more, even though his intention was to help the school win a recycling competition. While it might be argued that Liam’s interest was primarily in his school winning a recycling competition, his recycling efforts cannot be discounted because they contributed towards ensuring environmental sustainability in his community in terms of recycling. This can be explained from a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), where through participation in the school’s recycling competition at the level of the microsystem, Liam was able to influence the recycling practices of the business community at the level of the exosystem. As evidenced in this case, intergenerational learning depends on two core premises. First, effective environmental programmes in schools are necessary to help develop environmental literacy; and second, children’s environmental literacy can be transferred to the home and the community, thus fostering environmental literacy among their parents and other members of the community. In most cases in the Western world, it is likely that EE programmes, such as the Eco-school programme, which caters for intergenerational learning, results in successful transfer of environmental knowledge, behaviour and attitudes to adults, and may have direct implications for environmental sustainability. In the current study, the teachers’ pedagogy in relation to environmental sustainability was influenced by children’s age and their role as educators. While some teachers believed that children were too young to deal with environmental sustainability issues, others felt that if such issues were explained in a way that made sense to children, young children would be able to understand some environmental issues. While the teachers and the head teacher’s actions were in the children’s best interests and in accordance with Article 3 of UNCRC (UN, 1989), this assigns children to a developmental stage that creates a division between adults and children, where children are considered to be incompetent, immature and vulnerable, thus, denying them the right

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to have an opinion and a say about environmental sustainability. It is true that children are vulnerable, but they are not incompetent and can voice their opinions. In fact, children in these teachers’ classrooms were able to discuss issues of environmental sustainability. Engdahl and Rabušicová (2011) too report that adults are often  influenced by children’s age and tended to underestimate the ability of young children to talk about sustainability. Some teachers believed that children could understand certain environmental issues and therefore, they helped them to do so by integrating some environmental learning into their practices. Mr. D felt his role as a head of school was to protect the environment for the well-being of current and future generations by encouraging pro-environmental behaviour in school, as well as encouraging parents to participate in this endeavour. This could indicate a reason why Mr. D, Ms. P, Ms. N and Ms. M supported children to develop some ideas about the environment and sustainability. Consequently, these teachers supported children in forming some ideas about the environment and sustainability because they believed that nurturing the children’s interest facilitated children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability as participants in the school. Theoretically, the children’s understanding of environmental sustainability was mediated by the teachers and the head teacher’s teaching practices and strategies. In turn, such practices formed the conditions in which the children’s perceptions of environmental sustainability were supported by the culture of the school and by guided participation from their teachers (Rogoff, 2003). Most of the teachers in this study tended to focus on environmental issues rather than address their direct causes in relation to social, cultural and economic situations. This has also been supported by local research (Bezzina & Pace, 2004; Mifsud, 2012; Mayo et al., 2008; Pace, 1995, 2007, 2009). Interestingly, all of the teachers and the head teacher indicated that they were reluctant to deal with the political aspect of environmental sustainability for fear this might lead to a threat to their employment and future promotion prospects. This point has been taken forward by Mifsud (2012), who reports that some Maltese do not challenge their superiors for fear that there could be repercussions for their families, particularly with respect to the future employment of their children, if they were to challenge the status quo. Since all educators were government employees, they were unwilling to challenge the status quo for of fear of discrimination, which would result in a threat to their job security. This perspective is counter-productive to my description of ESD, and even ECEfS. Only by looking at the different reasons underlying environmental issues can children really learn how to deal with these issues, and eventually create change. Maintaining the status quo could lead to more harm in terms of environmental degradation for two reasons: first, children do not learn how to critically deal with an issue; and second, it would steer educational programmes away from the true meaning of ESD, which is aimed at fostering critical thinking skills in citizens, even young children. Again, this is an example of the culture of resistance to change described by Pace (2007). In fact, local research (Bezzina & Pace, 2004; Mifsud, 2012; Pace, 2009) shows that many Maltese educators still request teaching resources for successful implementation of ESD in Malta because they feel

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under-trained and believe that resources for the effective implementation of ESD are difficult to produce, an attitude which undermines teachers’ professional status.

Grandparent-to-Grandchild Intergenerational Learning Ageing is a biological fact of life whether we like it or not. It is estimated that between 2015 and 2050, the world’s population of over 60s is expected to almost double, and the population of individuals over 80s is expected to triple (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021). Healthy physical environments, a healthy diet, physical exercise, and supportive social environments are known to positively impact the health of an ageing population. The recent advancements in globalisation, urbanisation and technology have brought direct and indirect influences on older people’s lives (WHO, 2021). In our society, families are often separated by economic, demographic and social pressures. Such separation influences how each generation perceives another. In our society, the care of children and the elderly are often segregated, with limited opportunities for the two age groups to spend extensive time together even though the elderly can contribute a lot to the next generation. Indeed, the psychological and social benefits of children and older adults sharing experiences have already been shown to be generally positive, even during difficult times or a global health crisis, for example during a pandemic (Lyu et al., 2020). Older adults, such as grandparents, often have a wealth of skills that are often under-utilised, and they also have time to spare. Needless to say, interactions between young children and grandparents could help solve some of the economic issues associated with the cost, and the demand and supply of old-age care and childcare. Via these interactions, the two generations are more likely to engage in intergenerational learning, where one generation learns something new from the other. More importantly, engaging in intergenerational activities is equally beneficial for the acquisition of lifelong skills by children and feelings of validation for adults. The United Nations declared the decade we are living in, that is the years between 2020 and 2030, to two important generations of people – children and the elderly. On the one hand, the Decade of Healthy Ageing is a call for all governments and professional bodies so that by 2030, they foster longer and healthier lives in the ageing population (UNESCO, 2020b). On the other hand, the Education 2030 Agenda is a call for global commitment to ensure access to education for all children around the world as a means of achieving sustainable ways of living by 2030 (UNESCO, 2016). These two international calls highlight the importance of lifelong learning for both the elderly and the young. This part of the chapter combines the two important international documents, the Decade of Healthy Ageing (UNESCO, 2020b) and the Education 2030 Agenda (UNESCO, 2016) to draw insights into how each generation of people could potentially influence the other’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability.

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In different sectors of education, adult-to-child intergenerational influence research that exploring the intergenerational learning between grandchildren and grandparents has yielded positive learning advantages for children (e.g., Cheng et al., 2022; Liu & Kaplan, 2006; Newman, 1980; Spiteri, 2020; Strom & Strom, 1995). Recently, emerging educational research has once again confirmed the bi-­ directional benefits of intergenerational learning to all involved – grandchildren and grandparents (Cheng et al., 2022; Kennedy-Behr et al., 2021). Musser and Diamond (1999) support the idea that the pro-environmental attitudes of children, aged between 3 years 4 months and 6 years 1 month, were reported to have developed from a wide variety of influences, such as siblings, teachers, grandparents, media and books. In a broad sense, these studies have identified the extended familial influence as a critical driver for the development of sustainable (pro-environmental) behaviour. Still, little is known about the intergenerational environmental learning that happens between grandchildren and grandparents in terms of learning about the environment and environmental sustainability that happens in non-formal contexts. One quite surprising finding that emerged from the current study was related to intergenerational influences from extended family members  – the grandparents. Although none of the children’s grandparents participated in my study, grandparent-­ to-­child intergenerational influences related to learning about the environment, environmental sustainability and pro-environmental behaviour were evident in three cases: Ayida, Thea and Francesco’s. Ayida said that she recycled with her grandparents. Thea recalled being taught about water conservation by her grandfather and I observed Francesco setting aside leftover vegetables for his grandfather’s rabbits. From a socio-cultural perspective (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978), the extended family, in this case the grandparents, acted as role models for these children’s environmental learning. Through interactions within the ZPD, and with guided participation, grandparents acted as experts. Through their pro-environmental behaviours, the grandparents taught these three young children something about recycling, water conservation and redistribution of waste, respectively. From a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), this is an example of how something happening at the level of the exosystem can have an influence on the child. This finding points to the importance and significance of the extended family in influencing children’s pro-environmental behaviour. This is especially of interesting for ECEfS because while intergenerational influences between grandparents and grandchildren have been studied in other areas of education, for example by Liu and Kaplan (2006), Newman (1980) and Strom and Strom (1995), grandparent-to-child intergenerational influences in ECEfS are scant and need further investigation. Child-to-parent or grandchild-to-grandparent intergenerational learning raises some ethical questions (Chineka & Yasukawa, 2020; Lawson et al., 2018; Peterson et al., 2019), especially in the early years. Some might question whether it is ethical to place pressure on young children to teach their parents and grandparents about sustainability issues. In order to answer ethical questions related to child-to-adult intergenerational learning, one must carefully consider the balance between the ethical concerns of failing to empower young children in creating a better world (Peterson et  al., 2019; Spiteri, 2020). Additionally, child-to-adult

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intergenerational learning does not turn children into “agents of conflict challenging their parents’ views” about an environmental and sustainability issue, rather it shifts “roles from being the last barrier to sustainable behaviour to becoming the primary impetus for positive change some parents want to make” (Peterson et  al., 2019, p.  293). What is certain though is that this is an area of ECEfS research worth exploring in the future.

Conclusion Adults have a significant role in promoting young children’s connections with the environment and environmental sustainability. A view shared by Rachel Carson (1956/1998), who believes in the critical role of adults. Carson (1956/1998) states that, “A child needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in” (p. 55). Research suggests that children’s competence to advocate for, and take a position on, environmental issues can expand as they participate with their families and teachers in addressing real-life environmental issues in their own communities. My findings indicate that adults (parents, teachers and grandparents) played major roles in supporting children when they took pro-environmental actions, and often acted as role models for children’s development of environmental learning and pro-­ environmental behaviour, especially through the demonstration of their own actions. Possibly, adults who share environmental experiences with children may have the greatest impact on life-long dispositions towards the environment. Nevertheless, my findings report that not only adults but also children had an important role to play in environmental learning, particularly by demonstrating care for the environment and encouraging adults to take pro-environmental actions. Therefore, young children too have an important role to play as agents of change for sustainability.

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Chapter 11

Early Childhood Education for Sustainability in the Postcolonial Era: Knowledge, Identity, Power and Voice of Early Childhood Teachers

Introduction On small islands, education is considered a key contributor to economic growth. Due to their small size and limited employment prospects, islands with small economies like Malta, face unique challenges that are believed to be overcome by investment in education. It is estimated that small economies tend to disproportionately spend more on social development, including education (Read, 2021). Given the economic and social rates of return on investment in education, intensive human capital activities are regarded as supporting the international competitiveness and long-term economic growth of small islands (Read, 2021). Influenced by the central argument of this book around the environment and environmental sustainability in early childhood education on an archipelago of small islands that have suffered in the hands of colonisers for centuries, it seems rather fitting to discuss the influences and impacts of colonialism on early childhood education in Malta, with specific focus on early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS). Thus far, in this book, I have focused mainly on the data that emerged from the research process with children. In keeping with the argument in this book, children’s interests in, and understanding of, the environment and environmental sustainability do not emerge from thin air. As we have seen in previous chapters, children’s interests were initiated by relationships with significant others in the family, school and community, as well as by children’s participation in cultural and social experiences and artefacts. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the community in which children’s environmental learning has taken place. The members of the community of interest in this chapter are the head teacher and the teachers who participated in this study. Strong evidence suggests that starting in early childhood, teachers have the potential to influence children’s environmental conceptions (Decker & Morrison, 2021). In addition, teachers have key responsibility in raising environmentally-­ literate citizens who are more likely to take pro-environmental action to bring about © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_11

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change in an uncertain future (UNESCO, 2021). It is likely that teachers draw on their funds of knowledge and experiences in order to plan and implement environmental pedagogical activities for children (Spiteri, 2022). Yet, to date, in the literature, early childhood teachers’ ‘funds of knowledge’ and ‘funds of identity’ in relation to the environment and environmental sustainability  are rarely explored (Spiteri, 2022). Furthermore, how these might spark new interests in young children, together with the environmental knowledge that teachers bring to their pedagogy, are largely invisible (Spiteri, 2022). In this chapter, I will discuss findings related to early childhood teachers’ ‘funds of knowledge’ and ‘funds of identity’ that emerged from the teachers and the head of school’s (collectively referred to as teachers) data in my study. I will then analyse these from a postcolonial perspective. Based on this theoretical framework, the findings have important implications for early childhood education in Malta, and possibly in other previously-colonised islands. By applying a postcolonial theory (Viruru, 2005), this chapter provides an understanding of the long-lasting impact of colonialism and its legacies over the years. Specifically, it applies a postcolonial framework to our understanding of knowledge, power, voice and identity by early childhood teachers, and how they perceive the environment and environmental sustainability in relation to early childhood pedagogy. I argue that for a long time, early childhood pedagogy has been colonised, and the pervading effects of colonialism and the emergence of postcolonialism still have implications for early childhood education in Malta. By positioning this chapter on the understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability held by early childhood teachers, this chapter provides a better understanding of how teachers develop their environmental knowledge and identities, and how they see themselves, in their culture and communities. In turn, I will discuss how these are reflected within the school context.

The Significance of Place An understanding of place from the perspective of a small island inhabitant is important to help you, the reader, get a better understanding of the cultural and geographical context of the study. Colonialism has left its mark on Malta’s environment, its resources and education, and the way the Maltese relate to the environment (see Chaps. 2 and 4). The environmental impact of colonialism on small islands is largely recognised (IPCC, 2022). In the literature, the environment has been described as being made up of the “physical and biological, human and non-human, natural, cultivated and constructed, social and political, cultural and aesthetic, and temporal with a past and future” (Smyth, 1998, p. 1). For the purpose of this chapter, the terms ‘nature’ and ‘environment’ are used as synonyms. As an ecological entity, or a place, the environment is a space in which people develop their identities, as well as their connections with, and attitudes towards, their place.

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The relationship between people and their special setting helps develop a sense of belonging to a particular place, what is commonly referred to in the literature as a sense of place, or people’s connections and relationships with their physical settlement (Loughland et al., 2002; Payne, 2014). A sense of place is made up of three dimensions: place identity, in the form of beliefs and values linked to the local environment; place dependence, reflected in the opportunities and conditions provided to the dwellers; and place attachment, influenced by how people experience their place (Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001). Reflections upon these could evoke a range of feelings and emotions towards one’s place. In this sense, a sense of place is influenced by one’s attitudes towards, and experiences in, a place. Therefore, the environment as a sense of place becomes a socio-cultural and political construct, influenced by social, cultural, geographical, historical and political contexts and histories. A place constitutes affection. It influences the values and meaning people ascribe to it. In this sense, a place has a moral significance to the people who dwell in it (James, 2009). Several studies suggest that people’s relationship with the environment can influence their environmental behaviour, particularly if this has developed as a result of spending time in nature at an early age (Spiteri et al., 2022). Formative experiences in the environment enable the development of, and the interest in the environment, making it more meaningful to them, ultimately encouraging individuals to want to protect it. Place attachment that develops in the early years has stronger significance to the development of place identity, leading to an ethos of care for the environment later on in life (Spiteri et al., 2022). Furthermore, such experiences are also influenced by the social and cultural meanings people ascribe to the environment. In terms of place, Malta’s small geographical size and isolation, ecology, human-­ environment interactions, and its unique and complex colonial history have left some distinguishing marks on contemporary Maltese society. A major influence of Malta’s colonial past is  still present  to date in the top-down government structures, where people in authority have always been responsible for important decision-­making. Furthemore, the belief that authority should not be questioned, still prevails in Maltese society most of the time. Tied to Malta’s colonial past is the issue of transferability of educational practices. While education authorities encourage a bottom-up approach to school management, the system is still largely centralised, bureaucratic and dominated by a highly hierarchical management style as a means to maintain the status quo. In fact, local research confirms that the impact of Malta’s colonial legacy is still present in the pedagogical documentation and responses to early childhood education (Baldacchino, 2018). Another major influence of Malta’s colonial legacy is apparent in the way schools are managed, usually based on Western and Eurocentric education models. This choice reflects the long-held common belief amongst the Maltese that anything that has been manufactured or created in a foreign country is by far better that what we, as Maltese, could ever create or manufacture. In addition, over the years, the Roman Catholic Church has fostered a steady alienation from environmental concerns, which has led to a narrow and anthropocentric view of the value of the land, giving rise to an impoverished environment as a result of unsustainable development (Pace, 2009). Together, these influences have created a culture of resistance to change

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and a culture of double standards in Maltese society (Pace, 2007, 2009). To date, the majority of Maltese people still lay responsibility for the environment on the government and reject any personal responsibility (individual and collective) toward the natural environment.

Funds of Knowledge Sociocultural theory explains how individuals participate in learning opportunities in diverse settings – family, community, cultural activities (see Chap. 5). Culturally-­ sensitive approaches to teaching and learning in ECEfS are important. Culturally-­ responsive teaching in place-based education and funds of knowledge are important for helping children develop environmental stewardship. While a sense of place refers to people’s relations with their settlement, funds of knowledge refer to the assets the place provides to people. ‘Funds of knowledge’ refer to “historically accumulated and culturally-developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household and individual functioning and well-being” (González et al., 2005, p. 133). As such, funds of knowledge refer to the knowledge, goods, services, skills and cultural practices individuals exchange within a sociocultural context as a result of interactions with family and community members and life experiences, over time (Hedges, 2022; Moll et al., 1992). Funds of knowledge are “based on a simple premise: People are competent, they have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge” (González et al., 2005, p. ix). Hedges (2012) described three sources of funds of knowledge which I will draw upon in this chapter, including: 1. Informal funds of knowledge, including family-bases funds of knowledge, which develop as a result of teachers’ personal and family experiences. 2. Centre-based funds of knowledge, that emerge as a result of teachers’ beliefs on education. The latter are also influenced by family-based funds of knowledge, and are further developed via interactions with other educators. 3. Community-based funds of knowledge, that emerge out of processional sources that influence teachers’ knowledge and practice. Life experiences provide teachers with the informal knowledge that they can draw upon, often unconsciously, in their pedagogy (Hedges, 2012; Spiteri, 2022). As a dynamic concept, funds of knowledge encompass a theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical concept that recognises the range of learning, relationships, and knowledge that individuals build in families and how such learning evolves to new circumstances and cultures (Hedges, 2022). These funds of knowledge are sources of informal, interests-related learning rich with possibility, and are  promoted through authentic, collaborative, community participation with others. Funds of knowledge research “speaks back to the neoliberal and deficit discourses permeating education …, seeking a way to recognise and value capabilities” (Hedges, 2022, p. 80).

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Funds of knowledge are intrinsically-motivated informal learning sources that occur via collaborations and relationships in a community (Hedges, 2022). For example, children might observe their parents regularly recycle food waste to make compost. In that way, children develop knowledge of composting embedded in these specific family routines and practices. How people on small islands interact with each other in order to ensure survival is another example. We have seen some examples of this in Chap. 2, where I have explained how within Maltese society, individuals who do not follow the unspoken and unwritten rules of social and moral behaviour, risk structural and political oppression, hindering their participation in society. These are knowledge and practices that emerge from transformation of participation (Rogoff, 2003). Therefore, ‘funds of knowledge’ are assets developed via personal lived experiences within the family, community and culture that are reciprocally inextricable and that enable individuals to build their own identity (Hogg & Volman, 2020; Rodríguez-Arocho, 2020). In this sense, funds of knowledge become a significant explanation for the individual understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability presented in this book. In addition, funds of knowledge also become a way to apply an analytic frame to observations of these perceptions in order to establish what is meaningful to these early childhood teachers.

Funds of Identity Identities develop in a sociocultural context, in which funds of knowledge are developed via ongoing and fluid relationships, mediated by cultures (Esteban-Guitart, 2021a; Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014; Hedges, 2022; Hogg & Volman, 2020). Identity can also be constructed by narratives (Bruner, 1996). As an identity theory, funds of identity emerged within the framework of the funds of knowledge theory to complement the latter by taking account of the participants’ voices and contexts, and whether they derive skills, hobbies and knowledge from their family funds of knowledge or from somewhere else (Esteban-Guitart, 2021a). Specifically, ‘funds of identity’ refer to: The historically accumulated, culturally developed, and socially distributed resources that are essential for a person’s self-definition, self-expression, and self-understanding. Funds of knowledge – bodies of knowledge and skills that are essential for the well-being of an entire household – become funds of identity when people actively use them to define themselves. From our point of view, identity is made up of cultural factors such as sociodemographic conditions, social institutions, artifacts, significant others, practices, and activities. (Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014, p. 31)

Just like in the case of children, teachers’ funds of knowledge are tied to their identities. When teachers apply their funds of knowledge to their self-understanding, self-­ expression and self-definition, these become ‘funds of identity’ (Esteban-Guitart,

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2021a; Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014; González et al., 2005; Moll, 2019). From a sociocultural perspective, funds of identity describe context-specific affordances and constraints that are socially and culturally constructed, and historically accumulated, in a particular context, over time. The ‘funds of identity’ theory described by (Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014) contains five categories: 1. Geographical, referring to meaningful spaces. 2. Practical, referring to meaningful social activities. 3. Cultural, referring to language and artefacts. 4. Social, referring to significant people in one’s life. 5. Institutional, referring to social institutions and family. Both funds of knowledge and funds of identity are social phenomena that are culturally-­mediated, and therefore, are located in Vygotskian sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978). Funds of identity theory aims to enrich the funds of knowledge theory (Esteban-Guitart, 2021a). Individual and collective significant life experiences that develop from funds of knowledge help shape identity development, and help people define themselves (Hedges, 2021). In such instances, these are taken up as funds of identity. Like funds of knowledge, funds of identity consist of the “social, historical and cultural resources used by people to define and understand themselves” (Hedges, 2022, p. 105). When applied to educational settings, a fund of identity theory encourages teachers to visit children’s homes and capture their identity artefacts, ideally through arts-based methods, such as drawings, collages, and photographs, in order to improve pedagogical practices (Esteban-Guitart, 2021a). In other research setting, such as the one presented in this book, a funds of identity approach enables the participation of a small group of teachers and the researcher to work together and visit children’s homes over an extended period of time to identify the funds of knowledge that can be used in the classroom while taking children’s identity artefacts into consideration (Esteban-Guitart, 2021a). Recently, Esteban-Guitart (2021a) advanced the funds of identity theory to conceptualise its applicability to educational research. Esteban-Guitart (2021a) describes funds of identity as being dynamic, subjective, social and cultural activities, grounded in social interactions-intersubjectivity and the use of symbolic resources, such as cultural funds of identity. Since significant life experiences help people create funds of identity, these could be geographical, institutional and practical funds of identity. Therefore, funds of identity are highly contextual; are mediated by action, culture and social, material and symbolic resources; and, these develop over time across context (Esteban-Guitart, 2021a). Applying funds of knowledge and funds of identity theories to teachers’ data could possibly help us understand how and why they related to the environment and environmental sustainability the way they did. Such understanding is important especially since it could also be a significant contributor in determining the extent of young children’s environmental learning and experiences for several reasons. First, since children spend a long time at school, teachers play a key role in modelling environmental behaviour to children; second, teachers determine if, when and

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how teacher-initiated environmental learning and experiences are offered; and third, teachers are in a position to choose which environmental and sustainability issues are recognised and presented in the classroom.

Funds of Knowledge and Funds of Identity in ECEfS To date, discussion of funds of knowledge and funds of identity in environmental literature that consider how early childhood teachers’ own interest, along with their knowledge and position from a postcolonial perspective, are rare. In considering this omission, in this chapter, I undertook a rapid search of the University of Malta’s library databases. My aim was not to conduct a systematic literature review, as doing so would deviate my focus from the scope of this book. Consequently, I opted for a narrative review methodology, an approach that is often used to enable researchers to explore this particularly when developing innovative areas of practice (Grant & Booth, 2009). In this process, I located articles (peer-reviewed and grey literature) related to early childhood teachers, ECEfS and education for sustainable development, funds of knowledge and funds of identity in early childhood education. Specifically, by discussing the intersection of these fields, this chapter aims to provide a rationale for further research in the field, by pointing out their significance. As such, it pulls together the currently fragmented information about early childhood teachers, and their funds of knowledge and funds of identity related to the environment and environmental sustainability that can be found in the literature. A search on PubMed database using the following keywords: ‘early childhood teacher’, ‘funds of knowledge’, ‘funds of identity’, ‘environment’, ‘environmental sustainability’, ‘sustainability’, ‘early childhood education’, ‘early childhood’, ‘colonialism’ and ‘post-colonialism’. A narrative synthesis of the findings in the literature and how these relate to the findings in my study are summarised below. There are limitations in the approach that I adopted here. First, this chapter presents a snapshot of the literature that has been published in English, therefore, literature published in any language other than English was not considered. Next, due to the lack of research in this emerging field, only a small number of papers were available. At the end of this process, I could locate several papers highlighting students and teachers’ funds of knowledge and funds of identity across all sectors. Nevertheless, only a small number of these highlighted the funds of knowledge and funds of identity of teachers in early childhood education in general (e.g., Hedges, 2012, 2022). I could only locate one article related to early childhood teachers’ funds of knowledge and environmental education in the early years (Spiteri, 2022). In the paper, entitled Early childhood educators’ conceptions of the environment: A ‘funds of knowledge’ approach (Spiteri, 2022), I explored the environmental perceptions of five early childhood teachers and one head teacher, and the funds of knowledge they drew upon to describe these. While a plethora of research has explored teachers’ environmental knowledge, this is the first time that research has also explored early childhood teachers’ funds of knowledge and how these influenced their

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understanding of the environment. These teachers are the ones presented in Chap. 6, and all held a minimum of a certificate in early childhood education, with years of teaching experience ranging from 2 to 20 years. This publication presented some significant findings that will make a contribution to early childhood education for sustainability on small islands. It also makes a contribution to the debate around the impact of colonialism on the environment and on environmental education. Therein, I argued that in order to advance the field of ECEfS in the early years, we also need an understanding of teachers’ funds of knowledge and funds of identity. These need to be explored, accepted and understood more openly and legitimately to be included in the curriculum, as part of their pedagogical documentation and responses. Considering the importance of these findings for this book, here, I will delve deeper into the reasons for why these happened within the Maltese geo-political context. In addition, the findings of this study prompted me to reconsider the literature on early childhood teachers’ environmental knowledge. Threads of teachers’ environmental knowledge and pedagogical responses have been included in previous chapters; here, I draw on these together more comprehensively and consider their professional knowledge in more depth from a post-colonial perspective. My intention here is to use these threads first, to recognise and articulate the value of early childhood teachers’ funds of knowledge; second, to increase the professional development opportunities for early childhood teachers based on their pre-existing knowledge; third, to  recognise early childhood teachers’ professional identity in ECEfS; and fourth,  to recognise the richness and depth of previously under-­ researched and under-recognised informal environmental learning held by teachers. Together, these threads have significant impact on teaching and pedagogy. In order to achieve the aims of this chapter, here, I will draw on data collected via individual semi-structured interviews with teachers and one head of school, participant observations that I conducted in the classroom, and my reflections in my researcher’s journal.

Teachers’ Funds of Knowledge Now, I will build on that paper (Spiteri, 2022) to conceptualise teachers’ data by building on their funds of knowledge, and how these could possibly have impacted their pedagogy. In keeping with the significant relationship between teachers and children, I explain funds of knowledge as sources of interest that matter to teachers and reflect their developing capabilities. I also outline that these funds of knowledge require commitment and reflection and are to be critically applied to the curriculum, pedagogy and teacher training programmes. While this book remains focused on children’s voices, the sociocultural perspective adopted in this book also makes room for teachers’ perceptions, culture and context, and how these impact curriculum provision and environmental learning in the early years. I also show ways in which Malta’s colonial legacy, sparked by community funds of knowledge and culture blended with other funds of knowledge over a long period of time. Such funds

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of knowledge help strengthen our understanding, built from teachers’ ideas, as revealed in their interviews and conversations during the fieldwork. Overall, the  teachers possessed a moderate level of environmental knowledge and they had a positive attitude towards the environment as nature and a sense of place. They drew on a variety of funds of knowledge, ranging from family-based funds of knowledge, community-based funds of knowledge and school-based funds of knowledge. Teachers’ funds of knowledge around the environment appeared to have been framed by the community-based funds of knowledge via interaction and relationships with other people. The influence of the Maltese culture and the impact of colonialism on how people relate to the environment were significant. These data show that these teachers also drew on a wide range of personal and professional knowledge that was related to the environment and environmental sustainability. In such instances, however, long-standing didactic practices, commonly adopted by teachers in the two schools, were hard to change. Indeed, amongst teachers, there seemed to have been an embedded understanding of environmental education as learning that only takes place in the classroom. What struck me the most in this study was the fact that while these teachers demonstrated awareness of the dynamics of human-environment relationships and how these were impacted by human behaviour in and around nature, they refrained from discussing the political aspect and implications of these (Spiteri, 2022). There are several reasons to explain why and how this historically and socioculturally-­ mediated learning happened. First, in a competitive context on a small island like Malta, natural resources and employment prospects are scarce, and therefore, competition for resources is huge. In such circumstances, people tend to view the environment as secondary to their most immediate needs (Baldacchino, 2018; Connell, 2018). Second, this competitive context is also replicated by the Maltese education system with its focus on academic achievement as a means of achieving economic growth by increasing human capital, while ignoring the importance of environmental learning. Third, since anonymity on a small island is difficult (if not impossible) to ensure, educators refrained from expressing a political opinion because they feared the repercussions this could have on their employment prospects. Fourth, this finding seems to have been triggered by the basic human need to belong to a community. As a result of their relationships within their sociocultural context, teachers have been encultured into the behaviour that is culturally-acceptable within their community, and they enacted it.

Teachers’ Funds of Identity From a funds of identity perspective, people select lived experiences and practices that are significant and meaningful to them, and use them as cultural resources to develop their identity (Esteban-Guitart, 2021a; Hedges, 2022). Research suggests that early childhood experiences within the family, school and wider community help shape interests and capacities to learn, understand and interact with the world

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around us and construct our identities (Hedges, 2022). In this study, while teachers have developed multiple identities based on their lived experiences, they also developed a common identity based on their interactions within their sociocultural context. The impacts of capitalism and colonialism on the disruptions of the ecosystem, land degradation and human-environment relationships are widely acknowledged, particularly on small islands where the vulnerability of the people and the ecosystem to climate change are more pronounced (IPCC, 2022). In fact, teachers were aware of the disruption in the Maltese ecosystem and were very vocal about the acts of massive land degradation happening in Malta as a result of overdevelopment and bird hunting. In this context, teachers illustrated ways of caring for the environment that were developed with, and supported by, their funds of knowledge and by their lived experiences within the Maltese context. Therefore, these were supported by their social, geographical and cultural funds of identity too. Expressed through a variety of ways, teachers’ responses reflected the impacts of colonialism on their pedagogy, and perhaps, on the Maltese education system at large. The fact that they refused to discuss any political implications related to the environment, environmental sustainability or sustainability in general with particular reference to Malta, was significant. This finding incorporates the structural, social, and relational problems surrounding life on a small island state. Teachers’ refusal to engage with the political aspect of the environment could have also been an indirect impact of Malta’s colonial legacy. From a Vygotskian perspective (Vygotsky, 1978), this finding highlights the learning and identity based on Malta’s colonial history and legacy, therefore Malta’s past, but also Malta’s present and future, based on their identity. Such behaviour was developed from the interaction between the social and institutional funds of identity they acquired historically, culturally and socially, and became embedded in their behaviours, beliefs and practices. Esteban-Guitart (2021b) calls these invisible funds of identity. Applied to this study, invisible funds of identity helped teachers to maintain their place and significance within their community. This finding suggests that the funds of knowledge and funds of identity acquired within the Maltese community as a result of Malta’s historical, geographical and sociocultural context were reflected in the way teachers refused to deal with the political aspect of the environment  and environmental sustainability.

A Colonial Legacy A closer look at Malta’s most recent colonial history could help us further understand the political implications behind the teachers’ resistance to discuss political issues related to the environment and environmental sustainability. In Malta, colonialism has been endured beyond the physical forms and has been transported in sophisticated ways to various sectors of life, including education, politics, and the

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country’s values and norms. Furthermore, the role of colonialism in a postcolonial era is clear. By nature, Malta lacks natural resources. Consequently, it did not offer its colonists the same industrial wealth and resources afforded to them by other countries, such as tobacco, sugar, gold, or diamonds, to mention but a few. Rather, colonisers invaded Malta for its strategic geographical position in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, making the islands ideal for trade routes and military defence. Colonisers came from diverse cultures and religions, and used Malta to win over their enemies during times of war. In the literature, colonialism has been described as “an activity on the periphery” (Young, 2016, p. 17) that is driven by the economy of the home government, even though at times this was hard to control. In this sense, while colonisation of the Maltese islands was all pervasive, the colonists had to accommodate some of the requirements of the Maltese in order to avoid riots. For example, this was the case in Malta’s most recent history under British rule when the British tried not to create political unrest unless it was only necessary because Malta was a strategic military base for them, and they could not afford to lose it. At first glance this might minimise the impact of colonialism on Maltese culture and society. However, Young (2016) argues that: The British system of relative non-interference with local cultures, which today appears more liberal in spirit, was in fact also based on the racist assumption that the native was incapable of education up to the level of the European  – and therefore by implication required perpetual colonial rule. Association neatly offered the possibility of autonomy (for some), while at the same time incorporating a notion of hierarchy for the supposedly less-­ capable races. (p. 33)

Despite the physical dominance and power exerted over the Maltese during colonial times, the particular set of strategies employed benefitted both the Maltese and the colonisers, in this case the British. Relationships between colonisers and colonised (invader and occupied) were forged in some interesting ways, the impacts of which are significant today. In colonial times, colonisers gained such power over the land by a military force. However, as a result of these military invasions, it was not only the land and its resources that were colonised. Often, the inhabitants of the land that survived the invasion and occupation were displaced to other countries or exploited. All of this was driven by the ideology of superiority of the ‘whites’ (Nieuwenhuys, 2013). Larger and more powerful nations believed they had the divine right to rule other nations because they were different (non-white) or less powerful. However, this also led to the belief that anything that was created by a foreign country was better that anything created in the colonised home country, an idea that still prevails in Malta. In this study, this was evident when teachers talked about environmental sustainability practices employed in foreign countries as being by far better than the practices employed in Malta. While this may be true to a certain extent, it also reflects the ideology of superiority ingrained in Maltese society following years of colonialism. In this instance, teachers drew on social and cultural funds of identity to discuss these ideas.

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Years of colonialism have taught the Maltese to remain silent in relation to political issues for fear of rejection and as a means of survival. Here, I challenge the discourse of power, identity and voices that unless these are decolonised, our understanding of ECEfS in early childhood education remains a colonising tool. Identifying the impacts of colonialism is not enough. These need to be unpacked in order to effectively help restore and centre early childhood education. To date, teachers have refused to discuss the political aspect of environmental issues for fear of rejection or loss of employment. Therefore, it would suffice to say that even though some would consider colonialism redundant or a paradigm of centuries long gone, its discourses and impacts linger on, namely,  within the power  structures, identity and voices of the inhabitants of previously colonised nations. In order to survive under colonial rule, people had to change their identities and subsequently their voices and power. Nowadays, sophisticated forms of colonialism are hard to see but their impacts on every part of the lives of the Maltese are still evident. Based on the findings of this study, it is clear that these teachers still held on to the funds of identity they created within their geographical, practical, cultural, social and institutional settings (Esteban-Guitart, 2021a; Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014). Clearly, to date, colonial discourses remain entrenched and reified in the Maltese early childhood education system.

A Eurocentric Legacy The robust discourse surrounding early childhood education centres around improving children’s developmental outcomes. Likewise, discourse around environmental education in the early years is largely centred around teaching young children to develop the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes required for lifelong environmental stewardship (UNESCO, 2021). Such discourses are largely based on Western, Eurocentric and colonial perspectives of early childhood education that often ignore the locally and historically acquired understanding of the environment that constitute the culturally-grounded knowledge of the community in favour of a Euro-centric perspective. In fact, since Malta joined the European Union (EU), the Maltese have adopted a Eurocentric, albeit elitist, identity. As per Bonfenbrenner and Morris’ (2006) bioecological model, at the individual or micro level, this may feel liberating. However, it warrants an examination of the macro level, where decisions about early childhood education are made and implemented to fully understand how the beliefs, values and funds of knowledge and funds of identity that were entrenched in our psyche centuries ago through colonialism still prevail. Certainly, there must be a more relevant model for our approach to education in the early years in Malta. This is not to be taken as criticism of the EU or any of the pedagogical approaches to early childhood education, but rather to make the point that over the years, early childhood education has been colonised in different forms. If Malta is to uphold it believe in a socio-cultural approach to early

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childhood education, an idea borrowed from other Eurocentric approaches such as the Reggio Emilia approach, Montessori and Steiner amongst others and as proposed by the National Curriculum Framework [NCF] (MEDE, 2012), it needs to understand the nature of how it is so. Therefore, applying an initial postcolonial framework to the data presented in Chap. 6 shows how the field of early childhood education in Malta and the relationships therein have been conditioned by certain colonial identities and voices, hence highlighting the influence of postcolonialism.

Teacher Training While still giving prominence to children’s voices as the central argument of this book, I argue that teachers draw on their personal interests and related knowledge more overtly in their pedagogy. These are valuable assets that can enhance and extend young children’s environmental learning. In this chapter, I therefore make the case to position teachers’ perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability. In doing so, I will address the issues around teacher training and professional knowledge, and the implications of these upon early childhood teachers’ identity, a topic that is still under-researched in the literature, particularly in early childhood environmental research. The purpose is to apply what has been learnt about teachers to improve future training programmes. The impact of postcolonialism on education, including early childhood education, is not new. Starting in the 1990s, postcolonial scholars have challenged the dominance of Western Eurocentric theories of child development and early childhood education curricula and pedagogical provisions. Based on this understanding, it seems that in this study, teachers have been conditioned to do things in predictable manners, circumscribed by a curriculum and their context, both of which still echo the effects of colonialism. Specifically, the data suggest that teachers have been preconditioned to teach in ways that have long been established and accepted in the early years. Furthermore, teachers have been conditioned to not look at the environment and sustainability as an intervention of political, social, economic entities but simply as being good for us and for young children. Simply put, early childhood teachers have been colonised and are themselves the product of colonialism in a postcolonial era, thus confirming the lingering effects of colonialism and the impacts of this on their funds of knowledge and funds of identity to this very day. A contrasting perspective in this regard is offered by Viruru (2005), who argues that postcolonialism has had “minimal impact” (p. 7) on early childhood education as a discipline and academic field. She also argues that such impact was “even less on the daily practices of early childhood educators” (Viruru, 2005, p. 7). This argument does not hold true for this book and it seems to normalise the effects of Western Eurocentric theories of early childhood curriculum, pedagogy, philosophy, values and purposes.

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Conclusion This chapter explored Maltese early childhood teachers’ funds of knowledge and funds of identity and how these impacted their pedagogy. The teachers displayed and negotiated multiple identities and a diversity of knowledge, both of which were historically and socioculturally-mediated. In doing so, this chapter illustrated the deep, personal and subjective environmental knowledge held by these teachers. These were inspired by their relationships with people in diverse contexts, including family, school, friends, professional development, and the Maltese socio-cultural and political context. This chapter has also provided a theoretical framework based on funds of knowledge, funds of identity and postcolonialism in order to identify the layers of conditioning affecting environmental education in early childhood education, in Malta today and what to do next. Certainly, knowledge is not neutral, but rather it has been conditioned over time in particular ways and for particular purposes. Perhaps, here, we can never find the answers as to how the teachers’ environmental knowledge has really been created but what is certain is that this chapter put certain ambiguities to the fore. A postcolonial framework requires us to look beyond these ambiguities (Nieuwenhuys, 2013) and challenge what has been taken for granted in order to afford young children the power to take action, to affirm their Maltese identity, and to enable them to become comfortable in asserting their voice. Nevertheless, a number of dilemmas and tensions remain to be explored both in research and in practice. Since the positioning of early childhood teachers’ funds of knowledge and funds of identity in ECEfS were hard to resource, the role teachers play in supporting young children’s environmental learning needs support from researchers. Knowing this means that teachers’ professional development could help transform the curriculum and pedagogy in the early years towards sustainability. Such professional development programmes might include teacher’s funds of knowledge and funds of identity and new ways of  how these can be enacted in sociocultural theoretically-informed practices. The implementation of such practices requires a move away from traditional practices commonly employed in some of the early childhood settings. Without removing the child-centred approach to teaching and learning commonly adopted in early years settings, teachers’ environmental knowledge needs to be centrally located in the curriculum and pedagogy by repurposing these for pedagogical reasons and predetermined outcomes in didactic ways. This is referred to by Hedges (2022) as “relational pedagogy”, one that “allows teachers to draw on their professional knowledge and their own knowledge and experiences in flexible and sensitive ways to promote young children’s learning” (p. 149). Next, more research is needed to identify early childhood teachers’ funds of knowledge and funds of identity in relation to the environment and sustainability in a range of contexts and in diverse cultures, including small island states, particularly those with a colonial history. Here, teachers might be supported to engage in research-based inquiry and sustained professional learning opportunities to challenge didactic practices and provide themselves with the permission to use their

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environmental knowledge and interests in their pedagogy, while analysing their knowledge base with regard to the literature on professional knowledge. In turn, this would help teachers appreciate the potential contributions of their funds of knowledge alongside their professional learning and increase their professional identity.

References Baldacchino, G. (Ed.). (2018). The Routledge international handbook of island studies: A world of islands. Routledge. Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 793–828). Wiley. Bruner, J. (1996). The culture of education. Harvard University Press. Connell, J. (2018). Islands: Balancing development and sustainability. Environmental Conservation, 45(2), 111–124. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892918000036 Decker, A., & Morrison, S. A. (2021). Decoding gender in nature–based education: Perceptions of environmental educators. Environmental Education Research, 27(6), 848–863. https://doi. org/10.1080/13504622.2021.1898548 Esteban-Guitart, M. (2021a). Advancing the funds of identity theory: A critical and unfinished dialogue. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 28(2), 169–179. https://doi.org/10.1080/1074903 9.2021.1913751 Esteban-Guitart, M. (2021b). Invisible funds of identity in urban contexts. Urban Education, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859211016536 Esteban-Guitart, M., & Moll, L.  C. (2014). Funds of identity: A new concept based on the funds of knowledge approach. Culture & Psychology, 20(1), 31–48. https://doi.org/10.117 7/1354067X13515934 González, N., Moll, L. C., & Amanti, C. (Eds.). (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities and classrooms. Routledge. Grant, M.  J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91–108. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1471-­1842.2009.00848.x Hedges, H. (2012). Teachers’ funds of knowledge: A challenge to evidence-based practice. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 18(1), 7–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1354060 2.2011.622548 Hedges, H. (2021). The place of interests, agency and imagination in funds of identity theory. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 28(2), 111–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2020.1833931 Hedges, H. (2022). Children’s interests, inquiries and identities: Curriculum, pedagogy, learning and outcomes in the early years. Routledge. Hogg, L., & Volman, M. (2020). A synthesis of funds of identity research: Purposes, tools, pedagogical approaches, and outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 90(6), 862–895. https:// doi.org/10.3102/0034654320964205 IPCC. (2022). Climate change 2022. Impacts, adaptations and vulnerabilities. Summary for policymakers. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/ report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf James, S. (2009). The presence of nature: A study in phenomenological and environmental philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan. Jorgensen, B. S., & Stedman, R. C. (2001). Sense of place as an attitude: Lakeshore owners’ attitudes toward their properties. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21(3), 233–248. https:// doi.org/10.1006/jevp.2001.0226

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Loughland, T., Reid, A., Walker, K., & Petocz, P. (2002). Factors influencing young people’s conceptions of environment. Environmental Education Research, 9, 3–19. https://doi. org/10.1080/13504620303471 MEDE. (2012). A national curriculum framework for all. Ministry of Education & Employment. Retrieved from https://curriculum.gov.mt/en/Resources/The-­NCF/Documents/NCF.pdf Moll, L.  C. (2019). Elaborating funds of knowledge: Practices in international contexts. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 68, 130–138. https://doi. org/10.1177/2381336919870805 Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849209543534 Nieuwenhuys, O. (2013). Theorizing childhood(s): Why we need postcolonial perspectives. Childhood, 20(3), 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568212465534 Pace, P. (2007). Empowering citizens through education for sustainable development. In P. G. Xuereb (Ed.), Business ethics and religious values in the European Union and Malta – For a moral level playing field (pp.  209–220). The European Documentation and Research Centre, University of Malta: Civil Society Project Report 2007. Pace, P. (2009). Emerging from limbo: Environmental education in Malta. In N.  Taylor, M. Littledyke, C. Eames, & R. K. Coll (Eds.), Environmental education in context. An international perspective on the development of environmental education (pp.  73–82). Sense Publishers. Payne, P. (2014). Children’s conceptions of nature. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 30(1), 68–75. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2014.26 Read, R. (2021). Size, governance and expenditure on defence and education: Realpolitik and the peace dividend for small economies. In L. Briguglio, J. Byron, S. Moncada, & W. Veenendaal (Eds.), Handbook of governance in small states. Routledge. Rodríguez-Arocho, W.  C. (2020). Funds of knowledge and funds of identity in dialogue with the theory of subjectivity: Their relevance for the education of socially disadvantaged populations (Fondos de conocimiento y fondos de identidad en diálogo con la teoría de la subjetividad: Su pe. Studies in Psychology, 41(1), 95–114. https://doi-­org.ejournals.um.edu.mt/10.108 0/02109395.2019.1711348 Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. Oxford University Press. Smyth, J. (1998). Learning to sustain. Scottish Environmental Education Council. Spiteri, J. (2022). Early childhood educators’ conceptions of the environment: A ‘funds of knowledge’ approach. Environmental Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350462 2.2022.2098932 Spiteri, J., Higgins, P., & Nicol, R. (2022). It’s like a fruit on a tree: Young children’s understanding of the environment. Early Child Development and Care, 192(7), 1133–1149. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/03004430.2020.1850444 UNESCO. (2021). 5th UNESCO Forum on transformative education for sustainable development, global citizenship, health and well-being. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://events. unesco.org/event?id=3314976382&lang=1033 Viruru, R. (2005). The impact of postcolonial theory on early childhood education. Journal of Education, 35, 7–29. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA0259479X_104 Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. Young, R. J. C. (2016). Postcolonialism: An historical introduction. Blackwell Publishing.

Chapter 12

Bringing the Stories Together: The Way Forward

Introduction A significant objective of this book was to determine the perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability held by young Maltese children (aged 3–7 years), and the influences upon these. In its focus on Malta, the research study presented here is the first major qualitative study in ECEfS conducted in a small island nation, that provides an in–depth view into young children’s environmental perceptions. It is apt to reiterate at the beginning of this chapter that this book is not a comprehensive look at ECEfS in Malta, or the world. Rather, it is an attempt to gain new insights within the larger field of ECEfS within the Maltese context. This book highlights the dynamic and diverse environmental perceptions presented by young Maltese children. The different theoretical perspectives presented in Chap. 5 revealed how young children make sense of the world around them, adaptively. Each theory essentially addressed how young children may potentially perceive the environment and environmental issues, based on their lived experiences. This revealed that the nature and quality of young children’s environmental perceptions were directly influenced by the context, culture, social structures, education system and information available to them. Children’s pro–environmental behaviours were motivated by the need to care for nature, and the functionality of nature as an extension of life requirement for the survival of humanity and other living species on the planet. As has been consistently highlighted throughout this book, there is no doubt that young children are capable of understanding certain elements present in the environment and they are capable of understanding certain environmental issues. This book confirms that young children  are capable of understanding environmental issues and they can talk about them in ways that make sense to them. However, it also moves away from the major Western concerns presented in environmental research with young children, including lack of independent mobility and fear of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7_12

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nature. Compared to children from more affluent countries, these children appeared to enjoy the physical geographical restrictions of the Maltese islands and enjoyed nature, an idea that positively influenced their perceptions. Also, children who spent a significant amount of time with their parents or other family members, such as grandparents, who were environmentally-conscious of the impact of their behaviour on the environment, were more likely to behave pro-environmentally. The broader consequences of this were evident in the children’s capacity to deal with diverse environmental issues in a number of ways. The environmental setting of this book posed diverse and distinctive environmental issues when compared to those presented in international research. Therefore, it is to be acknowledged that diverse environments afforded children diverse experiences. The children in this study hailed from a small island state in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, a place where resources are limited and the culture of insularity prevails. At times, their behaviour toward the environment was different to those of children hailing from more urban or international backgrounds  (e.g., Ardoin & Bowers, 2020; Arlemalm-Hagser & Elliott, 2020; Davis & Elliott, 2014; Engdahl, 2015; Monus, 2021; Sageidet et  al., 2019; Simsar, 2021). Acknowledging these socio-cultural realities also illustrates the importance the children’s perceptions presented in this book have on serving their needs as citizens. Regardless of their geographical location and socio-cultural norms, these children’s relationship with the environment had a lot in common with children from other parts of the world, in that these were predominantly universal. Young children in this book were located in Malta, a physical space restricted by geography and a postcolonial history, issues that continued to exhibit typical characteristics of postcolonial mentality and with an overwhelming dependence on the government. The children lacked exposure to critical thinking skills related to different aspects of sustainability, including the economic and political aspects of environmental sustainability. This can be understood when looking at the issues at play – the postcolonial mentality that to survive on an island, one has to keep political ideas to oneself if they want to be accepted in their community. This was also evident in the adult’s data (parents, teachers and head teacher), when they refused to discuss political issues for fear of rejection by the community or unfair treatment at work. Hence, it was clear that the children were already becoming socialised in the norms of their community. At this age, some were already showing signs of influence and conformity, which were apparent through their perceptions about certain local environmental issues. The strong postcolonial influences from their local community and from Malta’s colonial past were almost always prevalent. Nevertheless, some children were willing to adapt their own socio-cultural values by influencing the environmental behaviours of the adults around them. This book acknowledges children’s right to a voice about issues that matter to them, in this case environmental issues, and recognises the critical role played by young children in achieving environmental sustainability, now and in the future. Listening to children’s voices is the first step in the right direction toward creating a better future for current and future generations of living species on the planet. In

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light of the important findings, it is hoped that all of the children’s voices presented in this book are heard by Maltese authorities, and are taken into consideration. Clearly, children are more vulnerable to environmental degradation (UN, 2015; UNESCO, 2020). Considering that the children in this study lived on a small island state that is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (IPCC, 2022), there is an urgent need for an educational reform in ECEC in Malta to help young children learn how to face complex and scientific issues by providing them with the skills, knowledge, values and dispositions necessary to do so (UNESCO, 2020). It is important therefore, to prevent children from growing into similar environmental behaviour that currently defines Maltese society. Should such practices continue, children run the risk of repeating the same destructive patterns in the future. This calls for urgent action for change toward sustainability. A move toward sustainability could be achieved by implementing changes to the Maltese education system via the introduction of ECEfS and by creating policies that take children’s voices about environmental issues  into consideration. Gradual changes to the Maltese context may bring about change in other settings on small island states around the world as well.

 Critical Reflection on the Implementation of ECEfS A in Malta The links between education across all sectors and sustainability, and the link between positive experiences in nature and sustainable lifestyles have long been acknowledged. Investment in ECEC has been shown to be a fundamental means of achieving sustainability and essential for strengthening children’s ability to reach their full potential from an early age (Malone, 2018). The data presented in this book have shown that children develop a relationship with nature and are aware of events happening in their surroundings, good or bad, from an early age. The findings of this study have prompted several questions as to how to move the ECEfS field forward, particularly in Malta. The questions remain as to how can an investment in ECEC help young children develop a relationship with nature while taking into consideration the realities and limitations of people living on small island states? And how might we do curriculum and pedagogy differently to achieve this? This section attempts to answer these questions by addressing the practical implications of the findings of this study for ECEfS. Since the Maltese education system is built to meet the needs of the  Maltese industry, its curriculum is largely based on academic achievement. In its attempts to meet the needs of the industry, and therefore generate economic growth, the Maltese education system deviates from the principles of ECEfS. In doing so, it perpetuates the dominant economic paradigm and reproduces the existing social conditions. Indeed, both schools in this study were also faithfully carrying out the intention of the curriculum and the policies issued by MEDE, which were aimed at creating

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citizens able to abide by the status quo and able to contribute towards the country’s economy. While schools are expected to follow a curriculum, within the Maltese system, the notion of ESD was strongly equated with the concept of keeping the environment clean, while engaging in the reproduction of the economic paradigm of education. This certainly deviates from the principles of ECEfS. The two schools described in Chap. 6 were participating in the EkoSkola programme, internationally known as the Eco-school programme, and both had achieved the Green Flag award. EkoSkola was introduced in Malta with the intent of providing a good starting point and a mechanism for engaging schools in ESD processes (Pace, 2007). One cannot deny that topics in the EkoSkola programme are significantly important for Malta, especially since the islands lack natural resources, and even the little natural landscape available is being overdeveloped in an attempt to increase the country’s economy. Indeed, the data presented in Chap. 6 suggest that EkoSkola made positive contributions to young children’s environmental knowledge. However, the data also showed that EkoSkola has operationalised the term ESD in a techno-centric manner (Orr, 1992) because of its primary focus on behavioural activities, such as recycling, and water and energy conservation within the local context, rather than focusing on the big environmental issues. Knowledge alone is not enough to encourage young children to engage in pro-environmental behaviour. This does not mean that the EkoSkola programme does not lead to the successful implementation of ESD in school. What the data show is that both schools were failing to fully integrate ESD into the curriculum, in that both used ESD processes as “add-on” activities, or units, to encourage children in taking local actions. On the one hand, EkoSkola encouraged some active participation and social change. On the other hand, the children’s environmental learning seemed to have been compartmentalised as a unit to be dealt with, specifically to obtain, or maintain, the EkoSkola certification, particularly the Green Flag award. While ESD and the EkoSkola programme  call for situated, whole-school approaches that engage children with more critical and participatory pedagogies, mechanisms in place in both schools were influenced by policies, which when implemented, hindered the effective implementation of ESD. It seemed that there were two kinds of restrictions regarding the implementation of effective ESD in the schools: policy restrictions imposed by education authorities and hidden restrictions imposed by the community. More specifically, restrictions, such as rules on what goes on in the classroom and the financial costs involved, and hidden restrictions imposed by education authorities influenced the practice of implementing ESD/ECEfS. Therefore, I argue that the real scope of ESD was only partially achieved through EkoSkola and my study served to show which type of school activities encouraged, or hindered, engagement and interaction in ESD. Additionally, there was a lack of joined-up thinking between the schools’ environmental activities in general and teachers’ pedagogy, an important element when developing systemic approaches to ESD. At first glance, there seemed to have been some processes of alignment with ESD through environmental activities, but these tended to be dominated by the didactic relationships of control. It could be deduced that a pure focus on a programme, such as EkoSkola, might actually limit the extent

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to which schools integrated thinking about environmental sustainability into their everyday practices, in that it seemed to limit their imagination for engagement with ESD and environmental sustainability. Perhaps this could be the consequence of the narrow nature of EkoSkola. It could also due to a tendency by teachers to show that they had covered the recommended sections in the programme. It seemed that any ESD processes included in both schools were fragmented, such as solely focusing on recycling as a main activity for achieving environmental sustainability, rather than focusing on the processes of democratic decision-making, critical thinking and situated learning, which are key aspects of ESD. In reality, both schools focused on learning about the environment (Davis, 2010), and engaged in what Vare and Scott (2007) called ESD1, which resulted in measures that reduce environmental impacts of human activity. This could be one of the reasons why young children expressed awareness of, and concern for, certain environmental problems in their community and the environmental impact of human intervention in nature. Indeed, the fact that children had formed such strong notions of the environment shows that many ideas have already permeated their world. However, while an ESD1 approach was good, it left out ESD2 (Vare & Scott, 2007). This kind of education lacked the focus on education for and in the environment (Davis, 2010), and also lacked the social, economic, political and cultural aspects associated with environmental sustainability issues. Therefore, it did not teach young children how to think about what it means to be (un)sustainable, how to be critical and reflective, and it  was not enough to teach children about the broader sustainability issues that must be addressed (Elliott & Davis, 2009). These findings are supported by prior Maltese research (Bezzina & Pace, 2004; Mifsud, 2012; Pace, 2009), which also shows that in the past, trends of ESD in Malta tended to revolve around environmental issues rather than address the deeper causes of environmental sustainability. This book confirms that little, if anything, has changed since then. Here, Davis’ (2010) conclusions apply. While Davis (2010) was not referring specifically to the Maltese context, but rather to international contexts, here argument still holds true. She concludes that usually education in and about the environment is easily incorporated in ECCE. Yet, she further clarifies that this type of education is not enough to create the foundations for sustainable living because it fails to address the human-environment interactions that are at the root  cause of environmental sustainability issues. The literature is clear – when ESD is understood in this manner it has a narrow focus, it becomes a mechanistic education system that requires a radical shift (Sterling, 2001, 2010). Therefore, Davis (2010) argues for ECEfS that caters for education for the environment in order to create social change for sustainability. So, the data presented in Chap. 6 suggested that in an attempt to accommodate the day-to-day requirements of the Maltese education system, schools were only partially implementing ESD. Therefore, I suggest that in order for EkoSkola to effectively implement ESD at the school level, teachers need to better understand ESD. This is where teacher training becomes useful in promoting the integration of ESD across the curriculum. The human factor in ECEfS can be stressed by integrating social, cultural, economic and political perspectives into the study of environmental sustainability

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issues. For example, a greater emphasis on environmental sustainability and social justice not only frames ECEfS in a multicultural context (e.g., exploring environmental impacts across cultures, gender, ethnicity and class), it also emphasises the fact that both physical and human processes shape the environment. In previous chapters, The data have shown a preoccupation by children with natural elements of the environment, or an emphasis on nature conservation. However, such preoccupations without an appreciation of the human element can undermine the broader purpose in ESD, and consequently ECEfS. As evidenced by the literature, knowledge about natural phenomena and the impact of human activity on the environment is not enough to be able to act sustainably (Canosa et  al., 2020; Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002). By examining children’s surroundings and by using an integrated (both human and physical) approach to teaching and learning, children’s understanding of the human-environment relationship is strengthened. In addition, young children’s understanding that both natural and human forces are constantly shaping the world  increases. ECEfS programmes in ECEC could help young children acquire the skills and attitudes needed to live sustainably and encourage those around them to do the same. Environmental sustainability issues are not solely about human-nature relationships. Rather, they are also about conflicts of interest between, and within, humans (Schnack, 1998). Therefore, an action-competence approach would provide children with insight into the social, cultural, political and economic issues, as well as conflicts of interests, related to environmental and  sustainability issues. This approach implies a desire to solve a problem by taking action to create change. However, for children to acquire action competence they need to be aware of the issue and its conflicts of interest. Consequently, they need to be able to think critically and reflectively, which require them to engage with issues and then analyse them to be able to evaluate possible solutions. Overall, the data presented in this book support the fact that young children are capable of being critical and reflexive thinkers and their thinking skills can be enhanced and developed through appropriate pedagogy and practices. Therefore, children need to be involved in informed and democratic discussions about different ranges of environmental sustainability issues, so that through debates and critical thinking, they gain awareness and empowerment that would eventually lead to action competence. This did not seem to be happening in schools at the time of the study. This is important to clarify because for ESD to be understood for its greatest transformational potential, the critical and reflexive qualities central to ECCE need to be incorporated into the delivery of ESD. Critical and reflective thinking is possible in the early years if the appropriate pedagogies are adopted. The point that needs to be clearly understood is that an overview of the literature for ESD, ECEfS and ECCE share the same position on the need for pedagogy to be critical and reflexive. Clearly, young children had first-hand experience of dealing with some environmental issues within their local contexts, but they lacked opportunities to deal with social, cultural, economic and political issues which lead to environmental sustainability issues. This is to be expected when taking into consideration the

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shortcomings of the Maltese education system, particularly when it comes to ESD, and the fact that environmental sustainability issues, and their possible resolutions, cannot be effectively addressed unless these factors are understood. At first glance, this might be interpreted as children lacking the ability to think critically since they were unaware of certain causes of environmental problems. The children were interested in, and concerned about, environmental sustainability issues and were able to express their interests about them. This was evident when they discussed environmentally-­ sensitive ways to treat the natural environment; when they expressed disapproval of loss of species and biodiversity; when they proposed solutions to environmental sustainability issues through their behaviours, drawings, discussions and actions. At face value, such solutions seemed to be very simplistic and sometimes confusing, particularly when they discussed simple solutions and individual action within the local environment to tackle complex global issues. Yet, such thinking is the first step toward critical thinking and empowerment that could eventually lead to action. This was illustrated by examples such as when children introduced recycling, and water and energy conservation measures to their parents, which resulted from the children’s participation in school activities aimed at teaching children about the need to act pro-environmentally. Thus, efforts to make meaningful connections to children’s lives must also take into account both their emotional and their physical engagement with environmental sustainability issues. Helping them become more aware of their everyday actions may sensitise them to the collective environmental impact of individual behaviours and cultivate social capital. Taking litter as a concrete example, it was plainly worthwhile to teach children how to separate plastic and paper, however, weighing litter each day, measuring the amount of water used to brush teeth, and calculating the cost of purchasing versus reusing disposable water bottles could have further enhance the children’s environmental responsibilities and lead to long-term behaviour change. Based on the findings presented in this book, I argue that despite the fact that EkoSkola did not necessarily teach children how to be critical and reflective, the children indicated that they were able to think critically and reflectively about environmental sustainability issues they were familiar with. This could possibly be the result of their upbringing or other aspects in their education system which did not appear in the data. Consequently, they had the potential to take positive action for sustainability, beginning in their local contexts, even though they need opportunities to participate in learning opportunities. Such opportunities would enable them to participate in positive change for sustainability, especially through co-construction of knowledge and appropriate ECEfS programmes. While the curriculum was rooted in anthropocentrism, teachers were unaware of the hidden values that perpetuate Western worldviews within it. They were also unaware of how this reinforced many of the children’s anthropocentric worldviews of environmental sustainability. In fact, most of the data provided clear evidence that the early years’ curriculum needs to be underpinned by diverse worldviews, particularly ones that emphasise the interdependence of different species within the environment and how everything in nature is interconnected. Discussions about the integration of ECEfS across the early years’ curriculum should be concerned with

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what is expressed in classrooms, as well as with the underlying implicit messages it tries to convey. By critically analysing their own teaching practices, teachers may become more aware of their own assumptions about environmental and sustainability teaching and learning. Children exhibited a connection with nature, both in terms of their ability to conceptualise human-environment relationships and in their ability to take personal responsibility for environmental impacts, despite the fact that ESD, and ECEfS in particular, were disconnected from education as a whole. This disconnection prevented teachers from devoting adequate resources to teaching and learning about environmental sustainability issues and concepts. If children are to move toward a more integrated and holistic conception of environmental sustainability, there is a need for ECEfS to be taught as an inter-curricular theme as well. Only then will we be in a better position to conceptualise the connections that exist between environmental sustainability, behaviour and its consequences on the natural environment.

A Way Forward The children’s stories told in Chap. 6 and the conclusions formed from the data analysis in Chaps. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 alluded to a multiplicity of elements involved in the process of learning about the environment and environmental sustainability in the early years. Such learning went beyond the contexts of the school and family, and included (but were not limited to) wider familial, cultural, historical, social and political influences, from the perspectives of children living on a small island state. The quest of this book to understand young children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, and the influences upon these, is beneficial for helping researchers to further develop the important and emerging field of ECEfS. The data presented in this book demonstrated that young children are competent collaborators in the research process and are capable of communicating their views about environmental and sustainability issues at a level which they can understand and relate to. The relationship between young children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability and their engagement  with these  issues within their contexts highlight the need for researchers to attend to cultural variability arising from children’s participation in social worlds rather than relying on maturational models of human development alone. Rather than following a prescribed pattern, children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability differed according to their socio-cultural (Rogoff, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978) and bio-ecological contexts (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Based on the findings of the current study, researchers are encouraged to listen to young children’s voices and afford them the opportunity to share their own ideas about a variety of environmental and sustainability issues, unrestricted by predetermined response categories or frameworks. Acknowledgement of the key roles of the family and the school in young children’s meaning-making requires researchers to work in school-family partnership

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by engaging with families towards participating in developing ECEfS programmes and services that are family-centred and directly relevant to children’s family life. This book has provided a baseline from which future studies about the environment and environmental sustainability in ECEfS can be developed. It is worth noting, however, that the unique situations and the findings that became evident in each case study presented here cannot be used to make huge generalisations. Each case study presented in this book is closely connected with a specific context and therefore, my findings should not be directly transferred to other contexts. Nevertheless, the cross-case analysis offered in Chaps. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 offered a deeper understanding of children’s environmental perceptions and how these were developed in the context of a small island state. These chapters also offered some insight into how we might explore the relationship between contexts and policy-making. Some of the implications drawn from my research would be relevant to others in ECEfS especially by drawing on Stake’s (2006) naturalistic generalisations, by building up the body of knowledge on the bases of which people can act. This study showed that despite their age, young children are competent and confident in expressing their ideas about the environment and environmental sustainability, and can join in shared discussions with adults to illustrate their views. They clearly demonstrated their abilities as active learners who had a voice and agency. Giving children a voice on matters that are of significance to them has implications for both how and what children are taught. They constructed their knowledge from their surroundings in ways that made sense to them and not necessarily in ways that made sense to the adults around them, or in the way adults would like them to. All of these issues need to be considered within the specific learning context when planning educational programmes if environmental learning is to be meaningful to children. This means that teachers need to be aware and understand how children construct their experiences. Then, teachers need to incorporate new knowledge related to children’s experiences to ensure that ECEfS becomes a positive experience for children. Teachers need to recognise that children’s voices and experiences are embedded within a certain socio-cultural context. Such reflection may prompt teachers to question what is being taught in schools, the way this is influenced by other socio-cultural contexts and global pressures, and the impact of these on children’s educational experiences. Furthermore, the way childhood is constructed by teachers has implications for young children’s environmental learning as well. Some of the children in my study were clearly upset about certain environmental issues they discussed with me; there is the danger of making things worse by not talking to them about issues that concern them and just imposing a curriculum without proper debate and consultation with young children. Conversations with young children on environmental topics of their interest can be a meaningful way to achieve this. It is also important that teachers be open to children’s topics of environmental interest, and to pick up on them and support their interests. A major concern that emerged throughout the data analysis phase illustrated that teacher education programmes in Malta are in need of urgent reform if educators are to be able to encourage children to become agents of change for sustainability. Teachers, however, cannot work alone and are in need of support from parents,

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funding from the government, and teacher training from universities. My study has shown that, at least in Malta, there is a need for training that will raise teachers’ awareness of up-to-date ECEfS information and provide them with the knowledge and skills to address the above issues with young children. This is especially the case for in-service teachers, who may benefit from further training programmes in ECEfS. Teachers also need to value the parents’ role in their children’s environmental learning. This book supports the notion that children’s everyday experiences, beliefs and practices within families may lead to significantly different understanding of the environment and environmental sustainability, and that these ways of knowing are entwined with school, community and socio-cultural factors. Having an awareness and appreciation of children’s prior knowledge gained within the family will place teachers in a better position to develop programmes that are culturally relevant and meaningful to very young children. While children demonstrated that they had distinct views about the environment and environmental sustainability, they lived in a world where policies and programmes were often formulated and implemented without consulting them. Certainly, the curriculum, policies and resources in place at the time of the fieldwork were not based on young children’s environmental understanding. In fact, the data made clear the need to consider young children’s personal priorities and how they constructed meaning of environmental and sustainability phenomena within their socio-cultural contexts when designing ECEfS programmes. Indeed, their environmental concerns did not always reflect the traditional environmentalist ideologies as presented in the curriculum but instead focused on events that directly affected their lives. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all consideration of young children’s environmental perceptions undermines their learning potential, as well as the professional status of the teachers. While a recommendation for a policy reform in Malta is a step in the right direction, the data illustrate that alone, policy had not changed the field of EE in other sectors of the Maltese education system. It is likely that in ECEfS too, policy alone may not create the much-needed change in the Maltese education system, especially in the early years. This book points to the lack of environmental literacy programmes in ECEC in Malta. However, two much-debated ethical questions remain – Should young children be exposed to large-scale environmental problems which they did not create? How much should children be exposed to large-scale environmental issues? Some scholars (e.g., Sobel, 2008; Davis, 2010) have long debated the ethical concerns raised by talking to young children about large-scale environmental problems. Some question the ethical implications involved in asking children to propose solutions to complex environmental problems beyond their control, and the impact this might have on their mental health and wellbeing. Like the parents and teachers in this study, some may argue that since at this age, children are too young, they might not be able to understand the scientific concepts behind complex environmental issues. Adults fear that children may even develop ecophobia as a consequence (Sobel, 2008), and there is evidence to support the development of ecophobia in childhood (e.g., Barraza, 1999; Keliher, 1997; Rejeski, 1982; Rickinson, 2001; Wilson, 2019). While it is true that if children are exposed too early to

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environmental issues, they might develop ecophobia, there is also the risk that by not exposing them to environmental issues based on scientific facts, children will develop scientific misconceptions. In fact, prior research has also confirmed that children hold misconceptions about environmental issues (Madden & Liang, 2017). Turning to the ethical questions, one must carefully consider the risk involved in failing to empower children in creating a more sustainable world. ECEfS is not about burdening young children with responsibility for environmental issues which they did not create and which are also beyond their control, and it does not hold children responsible for the current environmental crisis. However,  postponing teaching about environmental and sustainability concepts that have everyday applicability in young children’s lives because they are assumed to be too difficult for children to understand, may fail to acknowledge children’s capacities to understand and respond to environmental and sustainability issues later on. Postponing teaching about environmental issues may also result in superficial levels of understanding of these issues. Rather, young children need to learn how to deal with these issues as agents of change for sustainability and live well in an uncertain future. All this requires young children to be exposed to environmental issues in ways that they can understand, they will enable them to develop the right skills, values, knowledge and attitudes to be able to deal with environmental and sustainability issues, now and in the future. While these strategies do not guarantee that children will act sustainably and adopt pro-environmental behaviours, the fact that they have been exposed to the correct science behind environmental and sustainability issues may help them understand these issues better and possible try to act sustainably in some ways (Spiteri et al., 2022). These implications are the outcome of further analyses and reflection as they emerged during the writing of this book. To recap, my research has provided a number of new insights into young Maltese children’s perceptions of the environment and environmental sustainability, and the contextual influence upon these. The motivation for this book has been to expand current knowledge in ECEfS, and to promote its practical application in relation to the development of ESD for this age group. Additionally, this book has enabled new perspectives related to the environment and environmental sustainability to emerge from the perspective of young children living on a small island state, and has also generated suggestions for potential further research.

Conclusion When children are young, they are more amenable to change. As they get older, they are unlikely to change what they have always known. Living on a small island state, and escaping the cycle of dependence and conformity to social norms, rests upon education to cultivate a culture of sustainability. It is hoped that this study promotes other studies that could capitalise on the findings described in this book and seek to determine how ECEfS can be facilitated on small island states. There is a clear need

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for more comprehensive study that extends this research in ways that open up the field of ECEC to serious change towards sustainability. If children are to act as agents of change for sustainability to overcome the environmental challenges that Malta, as a small island state, is facing and will face in the future, more needs to be done to support young children’s environmental literacy. By not prioritising ECEfS, ambitious policy reforms like the ones we have seen recently in Malta, have little to no impact. As highlighted in this book, within the Maltese education system there is a gap between policy, practice and implementation of ECEfS. Unless this issue is addressed seriously, hopes and expectations for change towards sustainability in ECEC will remain a rhetoric rather than a reality. Finally, to bring the book’s content and arguments together, I suggest that attention to children’s environmental perceptions provides a way forward for an effective ECEfS pedagogy. It is time to take children seriously. An understanding of children’s worldviews about the environment and environmental sustainability issues and the cultural and contextual influences upon these means that an effective curriculum that integrates ECEfS, not as another subject to be taught but rather as an inter-curricular theme, will be possible as an approach. Curricular changes are not enough. A re-evaluation of teachers’ professional knowledge is the next important goal, suggesting important work ahead for educators, policymakers and researchers to explore these possibilities in the future.

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Name Index

A Abela, A.M., 30 Abia, W.A., 3 Abrahamse, W., 153 Adams, S., 150, 151 Agius Muscat, H., 29 Agyeman, J., 230 Albon, D., 94, 98 Aldrich, R., 19–21 Alerby, E., 148 Almqvist, J., 51 Amanti, C., 212 Ang, F., 158, 161 Angrist, N., 171, 191 Anning, A., 99 Antonello, D., 192, 202 Anžlovar, U., 146 Ardoin, N.M., 50, 51, 53, 88, 161, 225 Arlemalm-Hagser, E., 5, 37, 46, 49, 50, 154, 225 Arndt, S., 8 Åsberg, C., 27 Attard, M., 68, 70–73 Aubrey, C., 100 Axiaq, V., 77 B Bakewell, H., 192, 202 Baldacchino, A., 82, 211 Baldacchino, G., 5, 16–21, 25, 29, 217 Ballantyne, R., 165, 179, 193, 194, 196, 197 Barnosky, A.D., 2 Barratt Hacking, E., 7, 86, 100

Barratt, R., 7 Barraza, L., 99, 148, 152, 153, 164, 185, 198, 234 Bascopé, M., 50, 51 Bassey, M., 91 Bebbington, J., 154 Beery, T.Y., 150 Bennett, D.W., 40 Berndt, A., 192, 202 Bertram, T., 87 Bettany, S.M., 196 Bezzina, C., 22, 78–80, 184, 200, 229 Bjørgen, K., 51 Blake, J., 185 Boissevain, J., 21, 28, 29 Bonnet, M., 51, 52, 146, 164 Booth, A., 215 Borg, C., 68, 70–73 Boshoff, K., 192, 202 Bowers, A.W., 50, 51, 53, 88, 161, 225 Box, P., 50 Boyd, B., 28 Boyd, W., 51, 196 Brady, L., 164 Braus, J., 150 Briguglio, L., 29, 30, 76–79, 198 Briguglio, M., 25, 28, 30 Brinkmann, R., 157 Brinkmann, S., 94–96 Brock, C., 20 Brondizio, E.S., 26 Bronfenbrenner, U., 3, 4, 7, 88, 101, 172, 178, 179, 181–185, 191, 193, 194, 199, 202, 232

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7

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240 Brooks, G., 21 Brown, B., 96 Brown, Z., 87 Bruner, J., 213 Burns, D., 197 C Calleja, C., 23 Camilleri, J.J., 23, 72 Canosa, A., 230 Carammia, M., 20 Carrier, S.J., 193 Carroll, C., 153, 164 Carson, R., 203 Caruana, S., 29 Cassar, G., 15, 63, 68 Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 3 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 22 Chen, A., 151 Cheng, H., 202 Chineka, R., 193, 196–198, 202 Christensen, M., 146, 148, 161 Christensen, P., 85, 88 Christie, B., 3 Clair, A.L.S., 27 Clark, A., 7, 98 Connell, J., 17–19, 21, 25, 28–30, 217 Connell, S., 193, 197 Corsaro, W.A., 8 Cox, E., 154 Craus, B., 70–73 Creswell, J.W., 91 Crossley, M., 20, 75 Crucifix, M., 2 Crutzen, P.J., 2 Cullen, J., 105 Cutter-Mackenzie, A., 7, 51, 86 Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, A., 8 D Dahl, S., 100 Dahlberg, G., 4, 7, 71 Darwin, C., 16 Davies, G.R., 158, 161 Davies, K., 50 Davis, J., 3, 4, 7, 38, 39, 46–51, 161, 182, 196–198, 225, 229, 234 Decker, A., 209 Defoe, D., v, 16 DeLoughrey, E., 27

Name Index Depraetere, C., 16 Dewey, J., 1 Diamond, K.E., 180, 195, 199, 202 Dikčius, V., 196 Dillon, J., 39 Djankov, S., 171, 191 Dockett, S., 87, 88, 98 Dogan, Y., 50, 51, 146, 199, 225 Donges, J.F., 2 Dreijerink, L., 153 Duvall, J., 196, 197 E Earth Charter International, 42 Education Information Network in Europe, 4 Edwards, S., 51 Eglington, A., 196 Einarsdottir, J., 98 Elliott, B., 17 Elliott, S., 5, 7, 37–39, 46–52, 86, 88, 145, 150, 154, 198, 225, 229 Ellul, P., 29 Encycloepedia Britannica, 16 Engdahl, I., 3, 50, 146, 148, 150, 161, 162, 167, 174, 178, 195, 200, 225 Esteban-Guitart, M., 213, 214, 217, 218, 220 European Commission, 4 European Map of Intergenerational Learning, 192 F Farnum, J., 147 Fazio, X., 5 Ferreira, J.A., 198 Ferro, E., 154 Fetzer, I., 2 Fien, J., 41, 164–166, 179, 193, 194, 197 Finger, M., 41 Folke, C., 2 Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), 78, 197 Fox, S., 3 Frendo, H., 20 Fulton, J., 40 G Gack, J., 196 Gallagher, M., 100 Gandhi, L., 21 Ganzhorn, J.U., 17

Name Index Gauci, V., 77 Generations United, 192 Gibson, M., 196 Gifford, R., 151 Gill, I., 171 Goldberg, P., 171, 191 Golding, W., v, 16 Gonzalez, A.B., 160, 186 González, N., 212, 213 Gordon, I.J., 99 Gough, A., 2, 3, 5, 24, 25, 39–44 Gough, N., 3 Gough, S., 3 Grant, M.J., 215 Griffore, R.J., 150 Grodsinski-Jurczak, M., 162 Grove, R.H., 28 Gstöhl, S., 17 Guinto, R., 3 Guler, T., 161, 162 H Hackmann, H., 27 Hall, T., 147 Ham, S., 192, 197 Harach, L., 192 Harden, C.P., 27 Hauschild, A., 192, 202 Hedefalk, M., 51 Hedges, H., 105, 212–215, 217, 222 Hedrén, J., 27 Higgins, P., 3, 39, 147, 164, 211 Hines, J.M., 164 Hogg, L., 213 Hogg, M.K., 196, 213 Holland, A., 70 Hornborg, A., 2, 27 Hu, A., 191 Huberman, A.M., 106 Hungerford, H.R., 164 Hutchison, D., 21 I Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 23 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), 24 Istead, L., 88, 192, 193, 196, 197

241 J James, A., 85, 86, 105 James, S., 211 Jeizan, B., 192, 202 Jenks, C., 86 Jerman, J., 146 Jickling, B., 41, 43 Johnson, M., 19–21 Jorgensen, B.S., 211 Jørgensen, K.A., 150 Jules, T.D., 28, 29 K Kaga, Y., 3, 5, 45, 46, 48–50 Kagawa, F., 75 Kahriman-Ozturk, D., 161, 162 Kalvaitis, D., 145 Kaplan, M., 202 Kavaliauskė, M., 196 Keliher, V., 147, 149, 150, 152, 182, 234 Kellert, S.R., 187 Kennedy, D., 28 Kennedy-Behr, A., 192, 202 Kerrane, B., 196 Kollmuss, A., 230 Kos, M., 51, 146 Kraftl, P., 147 Kruger, L.E., 147 Kuczynski, L., 192, 196, 198 Kvale, S., 94–96 L Lade, S.J., 2 Lansdown, G., 87 Lasczik, A., 230 Lawlor, M.A., 196 Lawson, D.F., 193, 196–198 Leffers, J.M., 48 Lekies, K.S., 154 Lenton, M., 2 Li, J., 201, 202 Li, M., 191 Liang, J., 183, 235 Liu, S.T., 202 Liverman, D., 2 Logan, M., 230 Loughland, T., 211 Louv, R., 51, 145–147, 150 Lowe, R., 3

242 Lucas, A., 41 Lyndon, H., 87 Lyu, K., 201 M MacGregor, J., 40 MacNaughton, G., 100 Madden, L., 183, 235 Mallia, A., 77 Mallia, E., 77 Malm, A., 2, 27 Malone, K., 8, 71, 87, 149, 150, 154, 227 Malta Environmental and Planning Authority (MEPA), 29, 78 Marcinkowski, T., 167 Marshall, C., 100 Martin, S., 39 Mason, J., 91 Mayall, B., 86 Mayo, P., 5, 21, 28–30, 68, 79, 200 McEwen, L.J., 197 McMullen-Roach, S., 192, 202 Meeusen, C., 179, 193, 194 Meier, D., 52 Melis, C., 51 Mercier, J.L., 17 Merriam, S.B., 91 Mifsud, C., 21 Mifsud, M., 22, 63, 68, 76, 77, 79, 80, 184, 200, 229 Miller, M., 196 Milligan-Toffler, S., 150 Milton, J., 21 Ministry for Education (MFED), 22, 29, 63–68, 70, 76–78, 80 Ministry of Education & Employment, 73 Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment, 64 Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs, 18 Moe, B., 51 Moll, L.C., 212–214, 220 Moncado, S., 25, 28, 30 Monhardt, R.M., 145 Montefort, M., 29, 183 Montefort, S., 29, 183 Mónus, F., 26, 50, 167, 175, 225 Moore, D., 51 Moran, E.F., 26 Morris, P.A., 3, 7, 88, 101, 172, 178, 179, 181–185, 191, 193, 194, 199, 202, 220, 232 Morrison, S.A., 209

Name Index Moser, S.C., 27 Moss, P., 4, 7, 70, 71, 98 Mukherji, P., 98 Murphy, J., 28 Murphy, T.P., 182 Murray, C.M., 192, 202 Musser, L.M., 180, 195, 199, 202 N National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 4 National Statistics Office (NSO) – Malta, 18, 29, 62, 185 Neff, D., 212 Neimanis, A., 27 Neumann, I.B., 17 Newman, S., 202 Niarn, K., 147 Nicol, R., 147, 164, 211 Nieuwenhuys, O., 7, 20, 21, 219, 222 Nowak, P., 40 O Olgan, R., 161 Organisation Mondiale pour l'Education Préscolaire (OMEP), 47, 50 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 3, 4, 191 Orr, D., 24, 228 Ostman, L., 51 Ostman, R.E., 182 Otto, S., 49 Owens, P., 199 P Pace, P., 5, 22, 23, 28–30, 68, 75–81, 184, 185, 198, 200, 212, 228, 229 Pace, R., 20 Packer, J., 165, 179, 193, 194 Pakalniškienė, V., 159, 196 Palmer, J.A., 162 Paquette, M.L., 230 Park, E., 51 Parker, J.L., 182 Pascal, C., 87 Patrinos, H., 171, 191 Payne, P., 146, 148, 182, 211 Pence, A., 4, 7 Pensini, P., 49 Perasso, P., 50, 51

Name Index Percy-Smith, B., 197 Perry, B., 98 Peters, C., 39 Peterson, M.N., 192, 193, 196–198, 202 Peterson, N.M., 192, 197, 198, 202 Petocz, P., 211 Phenice, L.A., 150 Piaget, J., 86, 153, 159 Pikturnienė, I., 196 Pilcher, S., 3 Pillay, H., 17 Pirotta, J.M., 20, 22 Pitman, R., 192 Pramling Samuelsson, I., 3–5, 45–51, 191 Pratt, R., 196 Prince, C.M., 146, 153, 177, 180 Prothero, A., 196 Prout, A., 85, 88, 105 Pufall, P.B., 86 Punch, S., 88, 91 Q Quinn, N., 197 R Rabušicová, M., 146, 148, 161, 162, 174, 178, 195, 200 Randeria, S., 26 Ratter, B.M.W., 16–18 Ray, R., 196 Read, R., 209 Reardon, J., 196 Reid, A., 41, 167, 211 Reiss, K., 50, 51 Rejeski, D.W., 146, 148–150, 234 Ribot, J., 2, 27 Richardson, K., 2 Rickinson, M., 152, 198, 234 Rinaldi, C., 92 Ring, K., 99 Robottom, I., 99, 148, 185 Rockstrom, J., 2 Rodríguez-Arocho, W.C., 213 Rogoff, B., 8, 179, 180, 185, 193, 194, 200, 202, 213, 232 Rossi, E., 192, 202 Rossman, G., 100 Rousell, D., 50 Rowntree, N., 196 Rubin, H.J., 95 Rubin, I.S., 95

243 Ryan, L., 198 S Saavedra, J., 171 Sachs, A., 28 Sachs, W., 41 Sageidet, B.M., 50, 51, 146, 148, 150, 159, 161, 225 Saldana, J., 100 Savahl, S., 150, 151 Scheffer, M., 2 Schellnhuber, H.J., 2 Schembri, P.J., 77 Schleicher, A., 4 Schnack, K., 230 Schwartz, S.H., 165 Scott, W., 39, 229 Scriha, L., 21 Seekamp, E., 193 Šeimienė, E., 196 Selby, D., 75 Sezer, G., 51, 146, 199 Shapiro, B., 88, 192, 193, 196, 197 Shiu, H., 202 Simsar, A., 50, 51, 146, 199 Siraj-Blatchford, J., 47 Sisk-Hilton, S., 52 Smith, K., 47 Smyth, J., 210 Sobel, D., 234 Sollars, V., 62, 68, 70–74 Soloranzano, H., 196 Sommerville, M., 50 Sorin, R., 99 Šorytė, D., 159 Spiteri, J., 3, 5, 6, 25, 28, 30, 46, 48–51, 80, 88, 96, 150, 154, 159, 164, 186, 193, 194, 196, 197, 202, 210–212, 215–217, 235 Sprague, T., 75 Stake, R.E., 91, 94, 105, 143, 233 Stapp, W.B., 40 Stedman, R.C., 211 Steffen, W., 2 Steg, L., 153 Sterling, S., 42, 43, 80, 81, 229 Stevenson, K.T., v, 193 Stocker, L., 28 Strnad, R., 193 Strom, R., 202 Strom, S., 202 Stuhmcke, S.M., 146, 153, 177

244 Suggate, J., 162 Sultana, R., 17, 21, 29, 63 Summerhayes, C.P., 2 Sutherland, D., 192, 197 Sykes, H., 164 T Tabucanon, G.M., 50 Ta-Young, L., 192 Tesar, M., 8 The Sustainable Development Solution Network (SDSN), 5, 47, 48, 178 Thomson, D.J., 3 Tikly, L., 21, 26, 81 Tilbury, D., 41 Tisdall, E.K.M., 88, 91 Tomera, A.N., 164 Torkar, G., 51, 146 U United Nations (UN), vii, 3, 7, 24, 37, 40–43, 45, 46, 48, 49, 78, 88, 101, 199, 201, 227 United Nations Children’s Fund, 37 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), 40–42 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 3–5, 28, 37, 38, 40–47, 50–52, 81, 86, 165, 171, 177, 183, 191, 192, 201, 210, 220, 227 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 24, 40 Unsworth, R.P., 86 Uzzell, D., 179, 192, 194, 197 V Van Passel, S., 158, 161 Vare, P., 229 Vaughan, C., 196, 197 Veale, A., 96 Vella, A.J., 77 Vella, L., 77 Ventura, F., 75–77 Viruru, R., 7, 21, 210, 221 Visanich, V., 22 Volman, M., 213 von Borries, R., 3

Name Index Vygotsky, L.S., 7, 87, 98, 101, 172, 174, 178, 179, 191, 193, 194, 196, 202, 214, 218, 232 W Walker, K., 146, 164, 211 Wals, A.E.J., 41, 164 Weeks, G.E., 153, 164 Wells, N.M., 154 Wertsch, J.V., 185 White, R., 26 Williams, C., 50 Williams, J., 146, 164 Williams, S., 197 Wilmé, L., 17 Wilson, R., 5, 51–53, 145, 147, 150, 234 Wilson, R.A., 152 Wilson, S., 154 Winkelmann, R., 2 Wivel, A., 17 Wold, P.A., 51 Woodhead, M., 85 World Bank, 16–18 World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), 24, 40, 158 World Health Organization (WHO), 29, 37, 183 World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP), 47 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), 41 Wright, T.S.A., 40 X Xu, Y., 201 Y Yasukawa, K., 193, 196–198, 202 Yencken, D., 164 Yin, R.K., 91 Young, R.J.C., 28, 219 Young, T., 51 Z Zammit, E., 5 Zammit, R., 23 Zint, M., 196, 197

Subject Index

A Agency adults, 99 children’s, 7, 38, 86, 94, 99, 101 Agenda 21, see Policy Animals, 16, 121, 135, 139, 152, 153, 158, 175 Anthropocene/anthropocentrism, 2, 27, 52, 231 Attitude and behaviour, 3, 49, 51, 154 B Behaviour biophobia, 151, 152 Biocentric, 65, 153, 159, 176 Biodiversity, 2, 17, 23, 25, 27, 28, 42, 159, 231 Bio-ecological theory, 7 C Capitalocene, 3 Cartoons, 77, 111, 118, 119, 127, 133, 182 Challenges, vi, 4–6, 8, 10, 17, 25, 27, 28, 31, 38, 47, 61, 65–67, 78, 80, 86, 96, 100, 145, 200, 209, 220, 222, 236 Child-centred research methods, 92 Child development, xiii, 47, 61, 86, 88, 172, 191, 221 Children definition of, 181

and the environment, 88, 101, 145–154 fear, 8, 151–153, 220, 225 rights, 7, 37, 86, 88, 96, 167 roles, 52, 70, 99, 101, 160, 167, 178, 179, 191, 194, 196, 198, 199, 202, 203, 214, 226, 232, 234 rural, 2, 152 stories, 6, 8, 10, 15, 89, 99, 105–143 voices, 8–11, 85–87, 90, 92, 99–101, 216, 221, 226, 227, 232, 233 Children’s experiences socio-cultural factors, 87, 166, 234 Climate change, vi, viii, xix, xx, 2, 4, 5, 23, 25, 27, 37, 43, 50, 116, 130, 167, 187, 196, 218, 227 Colonialism (colonisers, history, impact of, legacy, postcolonial past), 15–31, 53, 151, 209–211, 216–219, 221, 222, 226 Commonwealth Secretariat, 75 Community (belonging, conformity, coping strategies, politics, involvement, construction, maintenance processes, land use), 5, 8, 17–19, 21, 25, 27, 38, 42, 53, 75, 78, 79, 87, 90, 99, 108, 147, 150, 159, 161, 165, 172, 180, 181, 184, 185, 187, 193, 195–199, 209, 212, 213, 216–218, 220, 226, 228, 229, 234 Conceptual knowledge, 6 Context, influence of, 150 Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), xx, 7, 37, 46, 88, 91, 199

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 J. Spiteri, Educating for Sustainability in a Small Island Nation, International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education 11, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23182-7

245

246 Cultural change, 21, 26, 28, 61, 79, 179, 185, 194, 198, 200 identity, 213, 214, 218–220 intergenerational, 8, 198 practices, 8, 21, 65, 87, 179, 180, 185, 194, 195, 212, 213, 217, 219 understanding of the environment, 220 Culture defined, 87 funds of identity, 214 funds of knowledge, 212–214, 216 and politics, 21, 172 social conflict, 2, 180, 184, 195, 209 sociocultural theory, 212, 214 Curriculum early childhood, 9, 47, 220–222 pedagogy, 79, 146, 216, 221, 222, 227, 228, 236 reforms, 64, 234 transformative, 80 D Data analysis, 95, 100, 178, 232, 233 Dependence culture, 235 on local environment, 29, 211 Development and nature, 149 and quality of environment, 25, 29 and social conditions, 227 Drawings, 50, 71, 89, 96, 98–99, 109–115, 117, 119–123, 125, 128, 129, 131, 134, 138–140, 147–149, 152, 153, 157, 173–175, 181, 214, 231, 233 E Early childhood definition, 3 environmental competence, 203, 230 importance of, vi, 43, 45–48, 65, 67, 216 Early childhood education approaches to, 47, 220 definitions of, 4 emergence of, 210 Early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) approaches to, 212 definitions of, 46 emergence of, 9, 46, 50 pedagogy, 9, 11, 50–53, 222, 227, 230, 236 practice, 9, 50–53 Ecocentric, 52, 65, 147, 153, 175, 176

Subject Index Ecological perceptions, 187, 232 research, 3, 88, 101 Ecological approach, to perceptions, 88 Eco-school (EkoSkola), xix, 78, 79, 106–108, 116, 124, 128, 133–135, 137, 162, 197, 198, 228, 229, 231 Education (Malta, sectors of, reforms, changes, learning outcomes), 6, 11, 61–65, 67–69, 71, 72, 80, 171, 202, 209, 210, 221, 222, 227, 234 Education 2030 Framework for Action, 171 See also Policy Education for sustainable development (ESD) approaches to, 47, 228 definition of, 45 Educators head teachers, 88, 200 teachers, 52, 53, 65, 75, 79, 88, 180, 181, 184, 191, 200, 203, 217, 233 Environment asset, 150–151, 186, 213, 221 fear for, 152 fear of, 151, 152, 225 identity, 22, 52, 147–148, 210, 211, 213, 218, 221 as nature, 76, 108, 113, 115, 130, 137, 146–147, 154, 176, 177, 181, 217 positive perspectives, 153 responsibility, 28, 76, 78, 111, 115, 159–161, 165, 177, 209, 212, 231 sense of place, 147–148, 150, 211, 217 understanding of, x, 2, 7, 9, 26, 39, 46, 50, 88, 98, 120, 152, 161, 172, 210, 216, 217, 220, 234 Environmental affordances, 8 campaigns, 77, 108, 182 and child development, 86 competence, 203, 230 control and lack of, 41 degradation, 3, 23, 25, 28, 30, 39, 65, 141, 151, 152, 159, 200, 227 knowledge, 4, 7, 11, 22, 26, 27, 38, 39, 44, 47–51, 75, 76, 81, 87–89, 91, 111, 142, 161, 165, 167, 171–173, 179, 191–193, 196, 197, 199, 210, 216, 217, 220, 221, 227, 228, 230, 231, 233–236 learning, vi, vii, xiii, 1–3, 5–8, 10, 38, 39, 41, 42, 45, 46, 48–52, 65, 67, 79, 80, 82, 86–91, 101, 105, 111, 116, 118, 145, 150, 166, 171, 176, 178–180, 184, 187, 191–203, 212, 214, 216–218, 221, 222, 228–234

Subject Index problems, ix, 3, 7, 23, 27, 30, 31, 38–41, 115, 121, 123, 159–161, 164, 165, 185, 197, 218, 229–231, 234 responsibility, 27, 119, 135, 160, 165, 181, 232, 235 skills, 4, 5, 30, 31, 38, 39, 44, 48, 51, 79, 111, 113, 119, 127, 165, 167, 171–173, 184, 191, 200, 220, 226, 227, 230, 234, 235 Environmental education approaches to, 41 definitions of, 40 emergence of, 9 Environmental education (education in, for, about the environment), 6, 8, 9, 38–45, 75–80, 215, 217, 220, 222 Environmental issues global, 2, 11, 23, 40, 47, 53, 107, 108, 113, 161–167, 198, 199, 231, 233 local, 2, 11, 45, 77, 81, 107, 108, 113, 161, 163–165, 167, 175, 197–200, 230 Environmental knowledge behaviour, 197, 199 co-construction of, 231 learning, 176, 193, 197 literacy, 3, 6, 8, 11, 52, 65, 89, 90, 146, 173, 184, 191–203, 234, 236 values, 3, 4, 26, 52, 227 Environmental sustainability barriers to, 108 concerns about, 30, 123, 185 understanding of, ix, 9, 10, 26, 53, 87, 89, 151, 158, 164, 166, 172, 173, 178, 180, 185, 192, 195, 200, 209, 210, 213, 230, 233, 236 Ethical aspects of research benefits for participants, 199 confidentiality, 99 data analysis, 95, 100 permissions/consent/assent, 99 Experiences lived, 8, 97, 152, 154, 161, 213, 217, 218, 225 with places, 211 F Families funds of knowledge, 212, 213, 217 informal learning, 213 intergenerational learning, 88, 191–203 involvement, 192, 196 Fear context-specific, 8

247 for nature, 151–153, 225 place aversion, 152 positive place experiences, 151 Fieldnotes researcher’s journal, 94 Funds of identity, 10, 210, 213–222 Funds of knowledge, xiv, 10, 210, 212–218, 220–223 G Gender responsibilities, 196 Gothenburg Recommendations on Education for Sustainable Development, see Policy Government law, 22, 75, 76, 139, 160 policies, 107 politics, 17–19 H Habitats, 158 See also Animals Home environmental values, 26 family, 10, 93, 94, 107, 109–113, 115, 118, 123, 126, 132, 133, 142, 147, 172, 176, 179, 183, 192–194 identity, 147–148, 214 place attachment, 148 resource, 70, 126, 137, 219 sense of environmental control, 7, 147–148 Human-environment relationships actions, 26 interactions, 26, 27, 30, 49 understanding of, 26 Hunting, 124, 140, 218 I Identity culture, 213, 214, 216, 222 development of, 211, 214 Intergenerational activities, 201 Intergenerational learning adult-to-child, 202 child-to-adult, 196, 202 child-to-school, 197–201 formal, 10 grandparent-to-grandchild, 10 school-to-child, 88 International documents, 25, 39, 201

248 Internet access, 126 Interviews (techniques for), 95, 96 Island life (politics, environment, culture, religion, relationships), 5, 16, 19, 28, 45, 146, 150, 171, 172, 175, 176, 179–181, 185–187 Islands (small islands, small island states, vulnerability of), 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 15–31, 37, 53, 61, 74, 75, 89, 96, 99, 124, 146, 152, 167, 184, 185, 187, 209, 210, 213, 216–219, 222, 225–228, 232, 235, 236 Isolation, v, 16–19, 21, 25, 28, 172, 185, 211 K Knowledge building of, 27 conceptual understanding, 6 curriculum, 216, 222 derived from funds of knowledge and culture, 210, 212, 213, 216 formal learning, 86 informal learning, 212 pedagogy, 210, 212, 221 transmission, 38, 193 L Language age, 70, 174 barriers, 174 developments, 70, 82 Learning development over time, 6, 67, 173, 184, 194 environmental, vi, xiii, 2, 3, 5–8, 10, 38, 39, 41, 44, 47–51, 65, 67, 80, 81, 86, 87, 89–91, 101, 105, 111, 116, 146, 166, 171, 176, 178–180, 184, 187, 191–203, 212, 214, 216–218, 222, 223, 228, 229, 231–234 formal, 10, 86, 173 funds of knowledge, 212, 213 informal, 86, 212, 213, 216 research gaps, 160 Learning environments home, 192–195, 199 school, 191, 193, 194, 196, 198, 199 sociocultural context, 191, 195, 202, 211, 220, 222 Listening (methods, ways of listening, observations, drawings, photographs,

Subject Index interviewing techniques, puppet), 91–99 M Malta colonialism, 19–21, 28, 30, 82, 218–220 curriculum development, 9, 47 history, 20, 21, 28, 68, 76, 151, 218, 219 NCF, 183, 221 NMC, 63, 70, 77, 183 postcolonialism, 221, 222 teacher training, 68, 72, 73, 75, 79, 234 Media impact of, 182 Methodology, 7, 10, 72, 78, 90, 92, 100, 101, 215 Methods visual, 96 N National Curriculum Framework (NCF), xix, 65, 66, 77, 80–82, 183, 221 See also Curriculum; Policy National Minimum Curriculum (NMC), xix, 63, 65, 70, 77, 78 See also Curriculum; Policy Natural resources conservation of, 24, 127, 157 nonrenewable, 158 renewable, 158 Nature physical, 201 spiritual, 186 Nature-culture binaries, 89 O Observations by children, 92–94, 153 as research methods, 92, 94 Outdoors for activities, 49, 51, 65, 106 nature exploration, 49, 71, 165 P Parents, vii, x, xi, 10, 62, 63, 67, 69–72, 79, 81, 82, 87, 88, 90, 93–95, 101, 106–109, 111, 118, 126, 129–131, 133, 143, 151, 160, 162, 166, 167, 172,

Subject Index 176–182, 185, 186, 191–200, 202, 203, 213, 226, 231, 233, 234 Participatory research, 87, 90–92, 98, 99, 101 Pedagogical activities, 210 Perceptions, 8–10, 17, 26, 85, 87–90, 95, 98, 99, 105, 106, 108–143, 146, 148–151, 153, 154, 157–159, 163, 164, 167, 171–187, 191–195, 199–201, 213, 215, 216, 221, 225, 226, 232–236 Photographic interpretations, 96, 98, 99, 110, 115, 117, 120, 121, 125, 140, 146, 157, 174 Place attachment, 147, 148 as experience, 211 identity, 147–148, 211 preferences, 148 relationships with, 211 sense of, 51, 147–148, 150, 211, 212, 217 significance of, 210–212 source of life, 148 Policy education, 9, 37–53, 63–65, 67, 76, 77, 79–81, 91, 107, 150, 183, 228, 234, 235 environmental planning, 78 Politics, 17–19, 21, 23, 172, 182–184, 218 decisions, 182, 183 partisan, 167, 184 Pollution air, 107, 108, 118–121, 124, 132, 136, 137, 139, 140, 160, 162, 163, 167, 173, 174, 182, 185 dust, 29, 118, 119, 163, 174 power stations, 120, 121, 137, 140, 160, 162, 163, 167, 173, 182 transport systems, 141 waste, 29, 77, 125 Postcolonialism colonial past, 21 politics, 21 Puppet, 85, 96–97, 109, 112, 114, 117–120, 122, 126, 128, 129, 132, 135 R Religion (Roman Catholic, Church), 22, 110, 111, 186, 211 Research case studies, vii, 10, 91 ethics, 99

249 fieldnotes, 93, 94 methods, ix, 10, 87, 90–92, 98, 100, 101 qualitative, 91, 99 visits, 100 visual methods, 98 Resources renewable and nonrenewable, 158 Roles of adults, 72, 203 of children, 101, 191, 196, 203 S Scaffolding, 89, 95 Schools funds of identity, 210, 213–216, 220–222 funds of knowledge, 10, 210, 212–217, 220–222 place attachment, 211 resource, 93, 107, 108, 184 values, 44 Semi-structured interviews, 94, 216 Size (population, geographical), 16–18, 25, 29, 30, 79, 185, 209, 211 Sociocultural community, 212, 218 environments, 11, 43 factors, 87 theory, 212, 214 Sociology of childhood, xix, 46, 88 Sustainability sustainable development, vii, 24, 25, 30, 39–45, 51, 67, 75–80, 158, 215 SDGs, vii, 43–45, 48, 49, 52, 80 Sustainable development (education, resources, SDGs), vii, 24, 25, 30, 39, 42–45, 47, 75–80, 215 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), vii, xiii, 43, 44, 49, 80 T Teacher training, 52, 68, 72–75, 79, 184, 216, 221, 229, 234 Teaching learning techniques, 66 traditional, 64, 66 Television access, 181 The Brundtland Report, 24, 40, 158 The Education Act of Malta, 22, 63

250 Transport modes, 125, 126 pollution, 141 suggestions for, 132, 134, 141 V Voices children’s rights, 7, 67, 226 ways of listening, 91, 92 Vygotsky, L.S., 7, 172, 178, 179, 191, 193, 194, 196, 202, 214, 218, 232

Subject Index W Wellbeing of children, 46 Western-European perspectives education, 211, 220 society, 212, 221 Z Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), xx, 178, 196 See also Vygotsky, L.S.