Undervisning för hållbarhet i förskolan – en handlingsorienterad didaktisk modell

To empower the young generation to bring about sustainability change is imperative. Living in Anthropocene requires new forms of teaching for sustainability in order to achieve such paradigm shift in regard to sustainability. We build on John Dewey’s educational idea ‘democracy as a way of life’, a pragmatic orientation which is in alignment with civic education conceptualized as ‘learning as participation’. The research project makes use of didactic modelling, a cyclical process where empirical results and theoretical knowledge have been processed by preschool teachers, principals, and researchers, in close collaboration. A new action-oriented model for teaching sustainability was developed and contains the following: A purpose continuous with an authentic sustainability problem; Children participating in processes that include creativity, deliberation and critical evaluation. These aspects are all embedded in an approach of preschool didactics. In addition, by incorporating children’s voices all along the course of action, an agency process is formed, and consequently, an expanded action repertoire for sustainability is achieved.