Finland
摘要
In this chapter, I offer an overview of how Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) is currently addressed in the Finnish context and how sustainability issues are approached in both pedagogy and practice, based on recent empirical research. In Finland, the concept ecosocial education is included as a key concept which guides sustainability education at all stages from early childhood to adulthood. Since the renewal of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) Act and national core curricula in the mid-2010s, ecosocial education is the stated goal of ECEfS. However, since the concept is relatively new to both ECEC practitioners and leaders, the interpretation of its pedagogical and practical implications is still in progress. Hence, a special focus here is directed towards how the concept ecosocial education might be understood by ECEC pre-service teachers. Further, I discuss how understandings of the ecosocial education concept can be supported and how it might be promoted through nature and culture. As a possible future direction, I suggest that both initial teacher education and ongoing professional development should adopt embodied learning strategies that strengthen human relationships with nature and culture, thereby promoting relational worldviews where humans are seen as entangled with the more-than-human world.