Små barn og læring for bærekraftig utvikling – inspirasjon fra et besøk i Queensland, Australia

Abstract

This article presents the pedagogical practices, related to small children and sustainability, as experienced on a visit to an outdoor school and five kindergartens in Queensland, under a research stay at
the School of Early Childhood, Brisbane, University of Technology. By means of observation, conversation, and qualitative mapping, we find an interdisciplinary inquiry-based learning culture which gets the
children focused on nature, community spirit and sustainability. Play and learning is united. In the
kindergartens in Queensland, the children do not go outside of the playground, but all have gardens
and some grow vegetables or herbs, and trade in them within the local community. Not everything is
different in the kindergarten’s everyday life in Queensland and Norway, so mutual inspirations could
easily be implemented in each other’s practices. Opportunities for children’s participation related to
real life should be further developed in both places. Early childhood teachers do need both interdisciplinary and specific competences in every subject, to give children experiences with and a growing understanding of the earth as our common neighborhood, which is including every subject.