ABSTRACT
The sustainable development agenda continues to be a significant influence across different economic, social, environmental and political sectors (Siraj-Blatchford and Huggins, 2015; Davis, 2015; UNICEF, 2013; Davis, 2010; Tinney, 2010). One important aspect of sustainable development philosophy has been a recognition that education and children play a key part in changing people’s behaviour in order to allow for a society and environment which is capable of sustaining life now and in the future (Davis, 2015). Education for sustainable development (ESD) provides an internationally driven agenda to facilitate all members of society’s engagement with sustainable development. Bourn et al. (2016) suggests that Wales has been significant within Europe in developing this agenda with its Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) policy response to the global agenda (Bourn et al., 2016; Bennell, 2011; Bennell and Norcliffe, 2009; DCELLS, 2008a; DELLS, 2006). In Wales, it is now compulsory for all maintained education settings from primary schools to higher education to include ESDGC within their work with all age groups. Since devolution, the Welsh Government has been actively promoting sustainable development and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and the recent publication of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (2016) re-emphasises the central importance of both rights and sustainability to a prosperous and healthy Wales, and highlights the continued relevance of these areas to young children’s education in Wales.
