Sandra Hesterman

Combining nature pedagogy and education for sustainable development, this Western Australian action research project brought together children aged 3-6 years with their local community to plant, monitor, observe, care, create, and be part of a pocket forest on their school site. Aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the project allowed for rich engagement in hands-on learning to promote agency and citizen science, while enabling authentic connection to nature. Utilising nature journaling with regular Zentangle™ practice alongside curriculum learning areas and priorities, children were able to express their creativity as part of their learning. This rich, place-based provocation offers an environment in which children’s rights are respected, their lived experiences are drawn upon, and their voices are heard. It is hoped that the deep connection and understanding of their local natural world will inspire future citizen scientists. Los resultados muestran la capacidad infantil para resignificar su trayectoria, comprender la situación sanitaria y las medidas (aunque estas no consideraron la primera infancia), identificando la vulneración de los derechos a la educación y al juego. Los efectos fueron mayores en el quintil 2, pero en ambos contextos se percibe una proyección positiva hacia la primaria. La investigación destaca la relevancia de la perspectiva infantil para ayudar a pensar futuras decisiones en el ámbito educativo en momentos de crisis.

This study investigates the knowledge and experiences of 11 teachers in China, facilitating online learning for young children aged two to six in Early Childhood Education (ECE) during the COVID- 19 pandemic. The pandemic caused global school closures, prompting a swift move to online education. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework was used as an analytical tool to investigate how ECE teachers incorporated information and communication technology (ICT) to facilitate play-based learning in a virtual environment. A multi-case study approach was employed, collecting qualitative data from five international schools implementing three curricula. The study aimed to uncover the strategies teachers used, identify the challenges they faced in sustaining playbased pedagogy online, and highlight the potential of ICT in fostering engagement and developmental learning for young children. The findings offer insights into the challenges and opportunities of online teaching for young children, offering practical guidance for creating effective online environments that support play-based learning within diverse curricula. This research contributes to a broader understanding of online pedagogy for young learners in crisis contexts.

This study contributes to the research in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) by exploring a case study of two Western Australian early childhood education classes who welcomed an Indigenous Elder to share their expertise about the native plants in the schools’ bush space. The findings from this study demonstrate the impact Indigenous perspectives had on teacher’s and children’s relationship with the bush and the development of their botanical literacies. Indigenous peoples in Australia, and across the world have botanical practices that have existed for tens of thousands of years. This study acknowledges botany as a settler colonial practice and contemplates changes to botanical practices and pedagogies that include Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing.

Environmental education across the early years has become increasingly important in Australia since the implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework and the Australian Curriculum. These documents promote a connection to nature for young children as well as environmental responsibility. In Western Australia, large areas of natural environments are bush spaces, accessible by young children, families and schools. There is no existing research investigating early childhood teacher’s knowledge of plants in these bush spaces and the utilisation of these spaces in teaching botany as part of their teaching practice. The discussion in this article examines part of a larger year-long multi-site case study of the changes in the botanical understanding of two early childhood teachers of children aged 5–8 years, in Western Australian schools both before and after the Mosaic Approach, botanical practices and Indigenous knowledges were incorporated into their teaching practice. This article focuses on the changes of botanical literacies of the early childhood teachers specifically. The findings suggest that using inquiry-based and place-based methods and including First Nations Peoples’ perspectives about plants whilst teaching in the bush can significantly increase the plant knowledge and understanding of teachers, as well their own scientific and botanical literacies.

In Western Australia (“WA”), teachers are required to undertake 100 hours of professional learning (PL) to maintain their registration. REmida WA Creative Reuse Centre offers Reggio-inspired “100 Languages” workshops as part of its PL programme, thus enabling interested teachers to attain the necessary hours. The purpose of this research is to help REmida WA identify the needs and interests of their clientele so they may design relevant educational experiences that accommodate clients’ professional learning goals. This mixed-methods study examines teachers’ motivation to attend REmida WA’s “100 Languages” workshop. One hundred teacher participants from across all education sectors were asked to identify their interest in REmida PL and how REmida supports their learning programmes. Findings show that teachers view REmida WA as an organisation that helps them to learn about and better understand Education for Sustainability (“EfS”) and creative pedagogies. REmida is also valued as a source of open-ended materials for resources that can support children’s learning about sustainability.

Human development theories identify child-initiated play as the primary source of early learning. Accordingly, the role of early childhood educators is to utilise the natural medium of play as a context for learning; an educational approach known as play-based learning. Recently, Western Australia (WA) has experienced an erosion of play-based learning opportunities across the early childhood education (ECE) spectrum, potentially violating children’s rights. This paper presents research evidence related to this concerning issue. A self-completion, electronic questionnaire was distributed to educators through via several WA early childhood advocacy organisations. Participants (n=204) shared their perceptions about the availability of play-based learning opportunities for young children. Results identified perceived barriers and enablers to providing play-based learning in WA early childhood education settings that impact on children’s wellbeing, development and learning. Assessment of play-based learning provision differed significantly between school-based and early education and care-based educators. Participants supported the implementation of a WA Play Strategy.

Although young children in Early childhood education (ECE) in Australia are often involved in learning in outdoor natural environments, research on their knowledge and attitudes towards plants is limited. Botanical literacies in young children involve developing knowledge and curiosity about plants, formulating questions about plants, and critically and ethically thinking about plants and their environments. This study explored young children’s knowledge and attitudes of the flora in the native bushlands on their school grounds. A total of 41 children, aged five to eight from two schools in Western Australia were involved in the research over one school year. Fortnightly visits to the school bushlands with the lead researcher involved bush walks, informal and formal conversations about plants, children creating drawings, maps and taking photographs, as well as visits from local Indigenous people to share Indigenous knowledge of the plants. The data were analysed using content analysis and a revised version of (Uno, American Journal of Botany 96:1753–1759, 2009) levels of botanical literacies. The results of this research led to the development of a framework for developing botanical literacies in ECE.

This paper discusses the findings of a qualitative research project conducted in 2017 that explored practitioners’ experiences and perceptions of the provision of play pedagogies in contemporary Western Australian early childhood education contexts. Interviews were conducted with four play-based learning teachers and an open-ended survey was completed by 40 early childhood educators who were members of the audience at a Western Australia conference in 2017. The study participants discussed beliefs and values pertaining to quality play-based learning and tensions associated with the diminishing role of play in the early years of schooling and its impact on young children. They also highlighted several enablers and barriers that influence and shape current early childhood education practice. The findings of this study provide further evidence for the issues identified in recent Early Childhood Australia (Western Australia) discussion papers and in other research surrounding play-based learning in the current social-political context.

Standardised testing in early childhood education has a direct impact on how teachers teach. In 2015, Western Australian early childhood teachers were invited to complete a questionnaire to provide feedback on their perceptions of standardised testing in the context of the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) implementation. Findings from 365 teachers showed that standardised testing was not aligned with the EYLF, but rather with a government-mandated formal literacy assessment regime that overshadowed teachers’ implementation of the framework and diminished opportunities for children to learn literacy through play-based learning approaches.

People of different ages, skills, and interests enjoy Zentangle as a visual arts practice. It is adopted as a hobby with the intention of creating an abstract art form comprised of drawn images and using repetitive and structured patterns. Zentangle has an associative language and a method that is easy to learn. Participants of Zentangle report feelings of wellbeing when engaged in the meditative drawing activities. In the field of education, research on the potential of Zentangle to support student learning is limited; in early childhood education, the benefits are unreported in the academic literature. This research project aims to fill this gap. The project examined the educational benefits of Zentangle for young children. The project was conducted over a ten-month period in two kindergarten classrooms (with children aged 3-5 years) at a Western Australian independent community school inspired by the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy. Two case study findings showed that Zentangle supported the development of children’s fine motor skills and enriched their language experience through the accommodation of cultural and linguistic diversity. Zentangle also provided opportunities for children to demonstrate the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia outcomes.