Key words: education for sustainable development, family education, ECCE, sustainable lifestyle Many documents in the area of sustainable development and education mention the need for family ESD. It's in the family where a... [ view full abstract ]
Key words: education for sustainable development, family education, ECCE, sustainable lifestyle
Many documents in the area of sustainable development and education mention the need for family ESD. It's in the family where a child takes her first lessons about relationships between people and their environment and acquires first skills of sustainable lifestyle. In early age children develop habits and patterns of behavior in social and natural environment. The question arises, what is the specific contribution that family can make to ESD? How can parents be motivated to become involved in ESD? In order to analyze the situation two types of families were distinguished: a family with a child who attends kindergarten, and a family with a child that is educated at home. The analysis of family experience allowed to outline a number of aspects in ESD. Some of them are common for both types of families: “Transportation and us”, “How we learn”, “How we teach”, “How we spare resources”, “How we go shopping”, “How we play with children”, “How we communicate with nature”, “How we interact with society”.
In order to outline ESD aspects for families with a kindergarten-attending child, cases of successful interaction between kindergarten and families has been analyzed, in particular, in the course of various projects (including ESD OMEP Project). Several areas of cooperation have been emphasized: doing homework, creating models, home experimenting, participating in environmental festivities and events, scientific research in kindergarten, finding information, etc. Special attention is given to links between generations. All the findings are illustrated by cases from practice.
