New Initiatives for Building Education for Sustainability in Initial Early Childhood Teacher Education in Sweden - Critical Aspects and Noticeable Needs - Article 5

Oct 15, 2026

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An identified need exists for research that strengthens understanding of effective practice in embedding Education for Sustainability (EfS) within Initial Early Childhood Teacher Education (IECTE). Innovative teaching strategies are also required to build new teachers’ capacity to prepare future citizens for critical sustainability challenges. This study examines how EfS is implemented in two IECTE programmes at two Swedish universities and what learning students demonstrate at programme completion in relation to EfS.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Embedding EfS in initial teacher education

Need for IECTE-focused research

Structure and responsibilities of IECTE in Sweden

Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 47
Issue 5 Special Issue | Article 5 | | --- | --- | | 2022
New Initiatives for Building Education for Sustainability in Initial Early Childhood Teacher Education in Sweden – Critical Aspects and Noticeable Needs
Eva Ärlemalm-Hagsér
Laila Gustavsson
Kristianstad University, Sweden
Susanne Thulin
Kristianstad University, Sweden
Neus (Snowy) Evans
James Cook University, Australia
Follow this and additional works at: [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte) | | Recommended Citation Ärlemalm-Hagsér, E., Gustavsson, L., Thulin, S., & Evans, N. (2022) . New Initiatives for Building Education for Sustainability in Initial Early Childhood Teacher Education in Sweden – Critical Aspects and Noticeable Needs. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 47(5) . [http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.5](http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n5.5) [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/iss5/5](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol47/iss5/5) New Initiatives for Building Education for Sustainability in Initial Early Childhood Teacher Education in Sweden – Critical Aspects and Noticeable Needs Professor Eva Ärlemalm-Hagsér Mälardalen University, Sweden Dr Laila Gustavsson Kristianstad University, Sweden Assistant Professor Susanne Thulin Kristianstad University, Sweden Associate Professor Neus (Snowy) Evans James Cook University, Australia Abstract: There is an identified need for research capable of enhancing understanding of effective practice in the embedding of Education for Sustainability (EfS) in Initial Early Childhood Teacher education (IECTE). Research further finds that innovative teaching strategies are needed to build new teachers’ capacity to prepare future citizens to manage critical sustainability challenges. This study meets this need by investigating how EfS is implemented in two IECTE programmes at two Swedish universities where EfS is embedded throughout the years ofstudy, and the learning students demonstrate at the end of the programmes in relation to EfS. Findings reveal that students demonstrate a range of understandings related to EfS and the role of the early childhood teacher in EfS. Findings further suggest there is an overall need to deepen IECTE students’ EfS theoretical and pedagogical content knowledge to enable them to close a gap between the theory and teaching of EfS in early childhood education settings. Introduction In these times, when environmental, economic, and social challenges are causing uncertainty, instability, complexity and rapid change (Lenton et al., 2019), the embedding of Education for Sustainability (EfS) into initial teacher education (ITE) is of greater importance than ever (Evans, 2016, 2019, 2020; Evans et al., 2021) . However, there is growing awareness that ITE does not adequately prepare future teachers for teaching EfS (Ferreira et al., 2009), even if several examples of good practice have been presented in recent years (Evans, 2016, 2019, 2020; Ferreira et al., 2019) . Innovative strategies are needed to build new teachers’ capacity to prepare future citizens to manage critical sustainability challenges such as climate change, deforestation, over population and gender violence. Overall, findings from international studies identify a need for further studies capable of enhancing understanding on the effective embedding of EfS into ITE (Ferreira et al., 2019) . This is particularly the case for Initial Early Childhood Teacher Education (IECTE), which is a marginalised area of research and, consequently, lagging even further behind other sectors (Davis & Davis, 2021) . This study meets this need by investigating how EfS is implemented in two IECTE programmes at two Swedish universities and the learning st

FAQs

What gap does the study identify in embedding EfS in IECTE?

The study identifies a need for research that enhances understanding of effective practice for embedding EfS in IECTE and for innovative teaching strategies that build future teachers’ capacity to teach sustainability.

How does the study investigate EfS implementation?

It investigates how EfS is implemented in two IECTE programmes at two Swedish universities and examines the learning students demonstrate at the end of the programmes in relation to EfS.

What do the findings suggest about IECTE students’ EfS preparation?

Findings suggest that IECTE students need to deepen their EfS theoretical and pedagogical content knowledge to close the gap between EfS theory and teaching in early childhood education settings.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Franzy