How can a continuing professional development programme cultivate a community of sustainability informed early childhood education and care (ECEC) teacher/educators?

The study examines how to introduce the concept of sustainability into Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in England, a critical challenge given the climate crisis impacting young children (Louv, 2012). The literature review revealed limited research in this area, with UNESCO (2023) reporting insufficient progress toward achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Elfert, 2019). To accelerate change, the research explored how ECEC teacher/educators attending a sustainability-focused CPD programme could transfer their learning into their settings, influencing colleagues and anchoring sustainability practices. The research aimed to build a sustainability-informed ECEC community, guided by the question: How can a Continuing Professional Development Programme cultivate a community of sustainability-informed ECEC teacher/educators? Situated in England, the study adopted a pragmatic paradigm and action research methodology filtered through an ethically attuned praxeological lens. A CPD sustainability programme provided the bounded case study space. Perspectives from 20 participants who attended the programme were gathered through interviews and focus groups, analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2022) thematic analysis approach. Findings revealed strong emotional responses to sustainability. Participants highlighted compassion as a driver for making sustainability-informed decisions personally and professionally, influencing colleagues, and fostering a sustainable future for children (Rawls, 1971). Compassion was pivotal to embedding an ethic of sustainability and cultivating a workplace culture committed to sustainability. Four key actions emerged for CPD design: credible cognition, compassionate conversations, compassionate coaching, and a community of practice. These elements coalesce into the ACT model, a framework with transferable benefits for CPD in other emotionally charged ECEC subjects, such as physical development. This research underscores the potential of targeted CPD to anchor sustainability in ECEC, leveraging compassion and collaboration to drive systemic change.

Citation

O'Sullivan, J. (2025) How can a continuing professional development programme cultivate a community of sustainability informed early childhood education and care (ECEC) teacher/educators? University of Wolverhampton. https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/625962

Publisher

University of Wolverhampton

URI

https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/625962

Type

Thesis or dissertation

Language

en

Description

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Collections

Theses and Dissertations