ABSTRACT
Prior to 2017, sustainability was only noted as a theme within natural sciences in the Norwegian kindergarten curriculum, but now it is recognized as a core curriculum value (NMER, 2017). Also, in Norway Early Childhood Teacher Education (ECTE) courses integrate the strands of natural sciences, physical education (PE) and pedagogics into “nature, health and movement” (NHB), as one of the five knowledge areas to be addressed. In this chapter, we will elucidate the background, content and pedagogical goals of the interdisciplinary NHB knowledge area with regard to education for sustainability (EfS). NHB collaborations within two early childhood teacher courses are shared as examples from the NHB approach in practice at two Norwegian universities, the University of Stavanger (UiS), and the Western University of Applied Sciences (HVL). These examples were analysed through critical inquiry and a dialogic process around NHB content and descriptions. The examples revealed practical experiences from two student excursions that permitted identification of themes including bodily and sensory explorations, nature play, species knowledge and interrelationships in nature. Further, we elucidate how collaborative PE and natural sciences teaching can contribute to educating early childhood teacher students for their EfS work with young children. We discuss the possibilities and challenges of the NHB approach, and how it might be developed to further support Early Childhood EfS (ECEfS), the 2030 Global Sustainability Goals (SDGs)(UNESCO, 2017) and the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development (GAP) (UNESCO, 2018). We conclude the chapter with suggestions and provocations for future planning and practice around interdisciplinarity and EfS, and we specifically argue that PE and natural sciences can be mutually supportive in ECEfS. Further studies about early childhood teacher education research are shared in Chapters 9 and 15 of this volume.
