How do you know if your service is ready to move forward with embedding sustainability?

Perhaps you’ve been trying to get traction for years, but any project you’ve implemented has been met with resistance, or fizzled out after a short period of excitement and enthusiasm.  

Maybe your team lacks confidence and isn’t sure where to start or what to do next.

Or, you’ve done the basics but know there’s more you could do, especially now the way sustainability is defined in the revised Early Years Learning Framework 2.0 has expanded - what does social and economic sustainability look like in an early childhood setting?

Here’s five things that ECEC Services effectively embedding sustainability have in common.  If you see signs of these attributes in your service, chances are, you too will be able to effectively embed sustainability.

These attributes will help you embed sustainability in your service, and reap the benefits it brings for your team, children, community and organisation:

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Embedding sustainability in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is more than a trend, or something that's nice to do; it's a necessary shift towards nurturing future generations who are informed, empowered, and equipped to create a sustainable future - where they can thrive in uncertainty. In our new guide, Why Sustainability Matters in Early Childhood, we explore the vital role that early childhood education plays in developing lifelong sustainable habits and values.

The Importance of Early Years for Sustainability

The early years are crucial for setting the foundation of lifelong values and behaviours. Children are naturally curious and eager to explore the world and understand their place in it, making it the ideal time to introduce sustainability concepts. By fostering these values early, we reduce the need for behaviour changes later in life, which can be a challenging prospect - we all know behaviour change doesn’t come easy! Early childhood educators have a unique opport...

The journey towards sustainability is different for everyone. As sustainability champions and leaders we need to meet others where they are. Our team, and other stakeholders, may not understand sustainability the same way we do.  

There are lots of factors that can influence our understanding of sustainability - experience, knowledge, context and culture are some.  Getting everyone on the same page so that you can all move forward together is important.

But, how do you know where your people are at?  How do you know what sustainability means to them?  How do you know the best way to engage them?

Important questions to consider before jumping into your first or next sustainability initiative or project don’t you think...?

My advice - ask them.  Have a conversation, set up an “answer box” in the staff room so people can respond to the question “What does sustainability mean to you?”.  It’s good to get their responses individually, it doesn’t even matter if they’re anonymous - you can...

It’s that time of year, it seems to roll around quicker each time…⌛

I tend to spend a bit of time as the year comes to an end thinking about where I’ve come from and where I’m at.  What did I learn?  What would I do again or do differently next time?  What progress has been made?

In the business of sustainability, it’s easy to feel like you haven’t got very far - it’s such a big job…  

I encourage you to spend some time thinking about what you’ve achieved - all the little things - got a few catalyst projects happening; started some important conversations with your team, engaged the children learning more about a particular sustainability idea, theme or concept, used more sustainability language; saved some waste going to landfill, made a connection in your community; tweaked a procedure to make it more sustainable; included sustainability in your team meeting discussions - all the little things add up!

You’re probably familiar with the planning cycle, have you considered how you c...