To achieve an education for sustainable development we need to build on children’s current understandings and we also need to help the children recognise the commonalities of human experience rather than the differences between people around the world. In other words we need to build upon what children around the world have in common. A good starting point is for them to share their experiences of learning about sustainable development and one very effective way of doing that is for your preschool to join Carbon Partners.
Another valuable approach in the early years is to identify the most basic physiological survival needs that every human being shares. We all need clean air, clean water, food, shelter and sanitation. Each of these provides strong grounding for education for sustainable development in early childhood and it is for this reason that OMEP is currently working with UNICEF and the Wash in Schools partnership in developing Wash from the Start.
We need to share more examples of practical Wash from the Start activities. The Tippy Taps activity and Wash United examples are a beginning – lets have lots more for Global Handwashing day.
