Approaches and Dimensions of Kindergarten Sustainability - Validation of Scale and Educator’s Assessment on the Practice of Education for a Sustainable Development in Kindergarten

Abstract

The systematic process of Education for Sustainable development begins in kindergartens, i.e., early and preschool education institutions. Existing practices and pedagogical approaches in Education for Sustainable development often vary, as do different aspects of kindergarten teachers’ work. In this study, the focus is on assessing practices in developing sustainability domains in the work of preschools and examining kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward prevailing approaches in practice. 81 kindergarten teachers from three districts of the Republic of Croatia participated in the research. Three scales were constructed for the research, which examined the kindergarten teachers’ working practices in certain dimensions of sustainability: social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In addition, the frequency of implementation of specific sustainability dimensions and approaches in kindergarten work practices in the field of Education for Sustainable development were examined. Research tasks included validation of the scales, i.e., verification of their measurement properties, views on the evaluation of pedagogical approaches in the practice of Education for Sustainable development, assessments of the implementation of different practices of dimensions of sustainability in kindergartens, and correlation calculations. The research results showed the adequacy of the measurement indicators of all three constructed scales. It was found that kindergarten teachers most often implement a project approach in the practice of Education for Sustainable development. It was found that there is a statistically significant relationship between all dimensions of sustainability, which is consistent with integrated approaches in the work of kindergartens. The overall results of the research point to further reflections on the measurement of dimensions of sustainability as indicators of the level of implementation processes of upbringing and Education for Sustainable development in preschool institutions, but also significant indicators of aspects of the dimensions of kindergarten work that need further improvement.