Content Analysis of Turkish Early Childhood Education Curriculum (2006) in terms of Sustainable Development and Teacher Awareness

Author(s):

Deniz Kahriman Öztürk(presenting / submitting)Refika Olgan

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES D 10, Collaborative Learning and Cooperative Engineering

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-09

13:30-15:00

Room:

A-204

Chair:

Helena Ribeiro de Castro

Contribution

Sustainable development was first defined in the World Commission on Environment and Development’s Brundtland Report (WCED, 1987, p. 43) states that “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. Sustainable development includes three integrated dimensions: social, environmental and economic. Social dimension of sustainable development concerned with social, cultural and political issues; environmental dimension of sustainable development deals with the drawbacks of depleting natural resources, and economic dimension of sustainable development concern with reducing the direct environmental burden of producing, using and disposing goods and services (Siraj-Blatchford, Smith & Pramling Samuelson, 2010). In addition to that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has also been discussed and it was proposed that ESD should be integrated into formal schooling process beginning from early childhood in order to underpin ideas, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors to promote sustainable ways of thinking and living (UNESCO, 2012). Since the new perspectives on universal early childhood education also consist of intellectual, psychological, emotional, social and physical bases for sustainable development and sustainability issues are not beyond the grasp of young children, it is not dire to talk about integration of sustainable development into early childhood education. In this aspect preschool teachers’ awareness and their role is crucial. They are responsible for making children involved and actively participated in daily routines about sustainable development. While doing this, teachers should consider children’s interests and needs and take into account their readiness about issues of sustainability. Relevant literature provides some pieces that reveal examples of sustainable development integrated early childhood education curriculums and practices (Davis, 2010; Duhn, 2012).

In this regard, the current study aimed to investigate content of the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) Early Childhood Education Curriculum (2006) based on three components of sustainable development. Secondly, this study also aimed to explore preschool teachers’ awareness about MoNE Early Childhood Education Curriculum (2006) content in regard to three dimensions of sustainable development.

Method

The aim of the current study is twofold: First, content analysis was conducted to investigate emerging dimensions (social, environmental and economic) of sustainable development in MoNE Early Childhood Curriculum (2006) by the authors and objectives were identified. Secondly, with descriptive approach it was aimed to explore preschool teacher’s awareness about MoNE Early Childhood Curriculum (2006) content in regard to dimensions of sustainable development. For the content analysis, the first author scanned MoNE Early Childhood Curriculum (2006) in terms of three dimensions of sustainable development. In order to have inter-rater reliability the second author and an expert in early childhood education field also analyzed the content. For the descriptive part, based on the findings of content analysis a checklist was constructed including special days-weeks (e.g. energy saving week, habitat saving week…etc.) and goals-objectives referred in MoNE curriculum. Participants were asked to rate the items into four categories: Social, environmental, economic and none. Fifty (n=50) preschool teachers participated in the second part of the study.

Expected Outcomes

MoNE Early Childhood Education Curriculum (2006) was developed for 36- 72 month-old children based on a holistic approach. It includes goals and objectives for each developmental domain (Physical, Cognitive, Language, Social, and Self-Care). Early childhood teachers plan their daily activities based on these goals and objectives. In the curriculum, it is possible to find baselines for all three dimensions of sustainable development. For example, goals and objectives of the curriculum and special days and weeks provide a baseline for teachers to prepare activities for children to raise their awareness about three dimensions of sustainable development and encourage them to develop sustainable attitudes, values and behaviors. Preliminary findings about teacher awareness related to sustainable development integration into MoNE Early Childhood Education Curriculum (2006) revealed that most of preschool teachers do not consider any goals-objectives and special days-week as related to any dimensions of sustainable development.

References

Davis, J. (2010). What is early childhood education for sustainability. In J.M. Davis, (Eds.), Young children and the environment: Early education for sustainability. (pp.21-43) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Didonet, V. (2008). Early childhood education for a sustainable society. In I.Pramling Samuelsson & Y. Kaga, (Eds). The contribution of early childhood education to a sustainable society. (pp. 25-31). UNESCO: Paris. Duhn, I. (2012). Making ‘place’ for ecological sustainability in early childhood education. Environmental Education Research, 18 (1), 19-29. Ministry of National Education, (MONE). (2006). 36-72 Aylık Çocuklar İçin Okul Öncesi Egitim Programı ve Okul Öncesi Egitim Kurumları Yönetmeligi, The curricula and regulation for early childhood education. Morpa Kültür Yayın İstanbul. Siraj-Blatchford, J., Smith, K., & Pramling Samuelsson, I. (2010). Education for sustainable development in the early years. Organisation Mondiale Pourl´Education Prescolaire (OMEP). UNESCO. (2008b). The Gothenburg Recommendations on Education for Sustainable Development.Retrieved30/01/09 from http://omep.vrserver2.cl/cgibin/procesa.pl?plantilla=/archivo.html&bri=omep&tab=a _6&campo=c_file&id=270 UNESCO. (2012). United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Rio+20. (2005 2014) Retrieved November 11, 2012 from http://www.uncsd2012.org/content/documents/492UNESCO%20Input%20to%20Rio 0%20Compilation%20Document.pdf WCED. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. General Assembly Resolution 42/187, 11 December 1987.

Author Information

Deniz Kahriman Öztürk (presenting / submitting)

Middle East Technical University

Early Childhood Education

Ankara

Refika Olgan

Middle East Technical University, Turkey

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