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Day care facilities for children up to 6 years have a special responsibility to support, initiate and carry out development and learning processes, but also to integrate parents and the community in educational work in general. Nursery schools offer excellent starting points for Education for Sustainable Development:

• Inclusiveness;
• Situation-based approach;
• Activity- and experience-orientation;
• Playful and creative learning methods;
• Self-determined but also cooperation-oriented living and learning;
• Close cooperation with parents.

The Working Group on Early Childhood Education pursues the objective of networking stakeholders in preschool education in relation to the field of ESD. The mission of ESD as it relates to Early Childhood Education should be communicated and disseminated in the public arena. In addition, initiatives in the field of ESD in Early Childhood Education are being supported and quality criteria for elementary ESD are being gradually developed.

The Working Group has the following vision for Germany in 2020:
ESD is an integral part of the daily routine for children and training institutions for educational professionals. It is embedded in the educational theory of Early Childhood Education and is reflected in the organisational structure and management of the institution. The day-care centres of the future will be shaped by parents, children and educators alike. Children and their families have many opportunities to forge new, future-orientated lifestyles.

Contact:
Working Group on Early
Childhood Education
Arbeitsgruppe Elementarbereich
University of Lüneburg, Institute for
interative Studies
Universität Lüneburg,
Institut für integrative Studien (infis)
Scharnhorststraße 1
21335 Lüneburg, Germany
phone + 49 4131 677-1720

Person to contact: Barbara Benoist
benoist@uni-lueneburg.de