Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a catalyst towards new ways of conceptualising Early Childhood Education and Care for Sustainability (ECECfS) and so supports changes in practice. It presents a frequent tendency for Education for Sustainability (EfS) to be framed in terms of discourses of crisis and disaster, potentially dispiriting and even alienating. The book focuses on the role of leadership in an ECEC setting, drawing on the seven principles of Hargreaves and Fink. Promoting EfS with young children throws up a further complexity for ECEC educators, especially for those concerned with the two- to five-year-old age group. The book focuses on EfS in Hungary, by Aniko Nagy Varga and colleagues, offers a rare insight into an EfS approach in Eastern Europe, describing ways in which Hungarian preschool education deliberately develops and shapes children's responses to sustainability in accordance with Hungarian approaches and principles.