Place-based education: enhancing equity and sustainability in early childhood development

South Africa is a signatory to United Nations (UN) treaties on sustainable development (SD) and has endorsed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Early childhood development (ECD) is central to SD and is also considered a fundamental human right in South Africa. This centrality is premised on recognising that comprehensive ECD benefits both the individual and the South African society by addressing key challenges such as inequity and inclusion. Hence, the National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy (NIECDP) (2015) was promulgated. The South African ECD context is plagued with inequalities, and a lack of equitable and inclusive access to quality education increases injustices experienced within the ECD sector. This results in environments with little educational stimulation and poor-quality ECD programmes. These insufficiencies not only negatively impact the cognitive development of young children and their skills and educational attainment, but they also jeopardise the country’s vision of SD. This article proposes place based education (PBE) as an educational approach to address educational disparities in ECD, and to create the equitable, inclusive and sustainable learning environment required to deliver ECD effectively. PBE fosters a learning environment that connects children with their immediate ’place’. The NIECDP (2015) enables, through PBE, the creation of teaching and learning settings that provide quality support and inclusive and equitable experiences to stimulate children’s development and learning. We use a desktop study and generated data through a thorough literature review of primary and secondary sources on ECD, SD, and PBE, complemented by an analysis of related SA ECD policies, grounded in critical pedagogy. We found that integrating ‘place’ into the ECD curriculum enables children to explore and appreciate their cultural, ecological, and social environments, thereby enhancing cognitive development and improving learning. Against this backdrop, we recommend an appreciation and a validation of a learner’s place as an auxiliary pedagogical site.