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Drawing on posthuman concepts, it highlights limits of orthodox assumptions, challenges human–nonhuman binary thinking, expands ontological and epistemic foundations, and concludes that posthuman theories enable multiplicities in ECEfS teacher education.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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2022\u003Cbr>Broadening Ontological and Epistemological Possibilities within Early Childhood Teacher Education for Sustainability\u003Cbr>Kassahun Weldemariam\u003Cbr>Follow this and additional works at: [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte) |  |\n\nRecommended Citation  \nWeldemariam, K. (2022) . Broadening Ontological and Epistemological Possibilities within Early Childhood Teacher Education for Sustainability. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 47(5) .  \n[http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.3](http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.3)  \n[This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[ ](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol47/iss5/3](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol47/iss5/3)  \nBroadening Ontological and Epistemological Possibilities within Early Childhood Teacher Education for Sustainability  \nKassahun Weldemariam  \nUniversity of Gothenburg, Sweden  \nAbstract: The dominant sustainability ethos and discourse within  \nearly childhood education pursue a normative ontological and epistemological direction aimed at empowering children’s agency and thus, building certain predefined moral values, knowledge, and skills.  \nLikewise, mainstream early childhood teacher education programmes strive to build early childhood pre-service teachers’ sustainability  \nknowledge and skills, especially to enhance their capacity to be transformative agents and motivators for change to engage children with sustainability challenges. In this conceptual article, drawing on posthuman concepts, I highlight the limits of such orthodox assumptions in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) teacher education and invite broader ontological and epistemic  \npossibilities. I interrogate the human-centric assumptions that  \nunintentionally perpetuate the deep-rooted binary thinking that separates humans from non-humans and other species. In doing so, I offer an expanded understanding of the underlying ontological and epistemic assumptions within teacher education for ECEfS. I conclude by indicating how posthuman theories serve as an impetus for  \nepistemological and ontological multiplicities in early childhood  \nteacher education for sustainability.  \nIntroduction  \nIt is generally agreed that important sustainability attitudes and values are formed very early in life, thus emphasizing the integral and vital role of early years education in working towards sustainability. This is particularly important as today's children are reared, and educated, in a world facing unprecedented environmental, socio-cultural and economic challenges. It is now widely agreed that we have entered the so-called Anthropocene predicament. Although it is not a central focus of this conceptual article, the Anthropocene concepts provides the context in situating the problem. Anthropocene is described as an era wherein human (the west in particular) activities have widely and increasingly altered the planet’s ability to self-regulate and sustain life (Crutzen & Stoermer, 2000) . The era is characterized by excessive human consumption and the anthropogenic exploitation of the planet’s resources (Crutzen & Stoermer, 2000) . It is widely discussed that the Anthropocene is a direct result of human-centred ways of being and anthropocentric worldviews about life and the ways we engage in education. To critically engage with the damage caused by humans, we need a distinct way of thinking about ourselves, about the nonhuman and the wider planetary environment. Hence, the concept of Anthropocene poses various distinct and novel challenges for education at large and teacher education in particular. Scholars argue that the Anthropocene redefines academic disciplines that had previously focused on conventional ways of knowing and being (Horn & Bergthaller, 2020","cbCaigyW2FONc5ga","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigyW2FONc5ga","pdf",250001,18,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Posthumanist Theories","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the article identify in current ECEfS teacher education?\",\"answer\":\"It identifies orthodox, normative sustainability assumptions that direct teacher education toward predefined moral values, knowledge, and skills in a human-centric way.\"},{\"question\":\"How does posthumanism change the article’s view of sustainability education?\",\"answer\":\"Posthumanism is used to decentre the human and question human–nonhuman binary thinking, enabling broader ontological and epistemic possibilities for teacher education.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the article’s central research question?\",\"answer\":\"How can posthumanist thinking offer broader possibilities for educating teachers to engage children developing within anthropogenic sustainability challenges?\"}]","Broadening Ontological and Epistemological Possibilities within Early Childhood Teacher Education for Sustainability | PDF",1792078486,45]