Care and social sustainability in early childhood education : transnational perspectives

Journal article


Weldemariam, Kassahun, Chan, Angel, Engdahl, Ingrid, Samuelsson, Ingrid, Katiba, Timothy Chepkewsi, Habte, Tewodros and Muchanga, Roland. (2022). Care and social sustainability in early childhood education : transnational perspectives. Sustainability. 14(9), pp. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14094952
AuthorsWeldemariam, Kassahun, Chan, Angel, Engdahl, Ingrid, Samuelsson, Ingrid, Katiba, Timothy Chepkewsi, Habte, Tewodros and Muchanga, Roland
Abstract

This article explores how the notion of care is conceptualised and described in early childhood education policies across countries in the majority (Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia) and minority (New Zealand and Sweden) world. A central focus is the relationship and balance between care and education. The authors examined whether there are trends and tendencies to strengthen or weaken the care/education component at the expense of the other. Grounded in local and national knowledge, the authors employed a cross-national collaborative inquiry approach and interrogated the notion of care while extrapolating its implications for the endeavour to design socially sustainable early childhood education. The results revealed that care has remained ingrained within policies in the minority world, while there is a tendency to view it as separate from education in the majority world. Although quantitative goals for early childhood education and care still dominate the majority world, the importance of care and sustainable development are present in all policy documents across the five nations. The authors concluded that strengthening these promising policy endeavours paves the way towards effective educare approaches, which lay the foundation for social sustainability in early childhood education.

Keywordscare; collaborative inquiry; early childhood education; educare; majority and minority world; policy; social sustainability
Year01 Jan 2022
JournalSustainability
Journal citation14 (9), pp. 1-15
PublisherMDPI AG
ISSN2071-1050
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3390/su14094952
Web address (URL)https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4952
Open accessOpen access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range1-15
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online20 Apr 2022
Publication process dates
Accepted11 Apr 2022
Deposited17 Oct 2024
Additional information

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Place of publicationSwitzerland
Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/91028/care-and-social-sustainability-in-early-childhood-education-transnational-perspectives

Download files


Publisher's version
OA_Katiba_2022_Care_and_Social_Sustainability_in_Early.pdf
License: CC BY 4.0
File access level: Open

  • 4
    total views
  • 2
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

A qualitative case study of joint media engagement between parents and children aged birth-to-three years in Nairobi County in Kenya
Katiba, Timothy Chepkwesi. (2020). A qualitative case study of joint media engagement between parents and children aged birth-to-three years in Nairobi County in Kenya [Thesis]. https://doi.org/10.26199/phyx-e546
The role of cultural tools and motive objects in early childhood teachers' curriculum decision-making about digital and popular culture play
Nuttall, Joce, Edwards, Susan, Grieshaber, Sue, Wood, Elizabeth, Mantilla, Ana, Katiba, Timothy Chepkwesi and Bartlett, Jacinta. (2019). The role of cultural tools and motive objects in early childhood teachers' curriculum decision-making about digital and popular culture play. Professional Development in Education. 45(5), pp. 790 - 800. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2018.1511456