Speaker
Description
Early childhood is a critical stage for shaping values, attitudes, and behaviours that underpin a sustainable future. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in early childhood care and education (ECCE) offers unique opportunities to nurture ecological awareness, empathy, resilience, and active citizenship from the very beginning of life. This keynote highlights transformative practices that embed sustainability into everyday learning through child-centered projects such as storytelling, play-based inquiry, community campaigns, and digital innovations. Drawing on international frameworks and local initiatives, it examines the challenges of fragmented curriculum integration, limited teacher preparedness, resource gaps, and inequities in rural and underserved settings. At the same time, it identifies opportunities for leveraging children’s voices, innovative pedagogies, family and community engagement, and cross-sectoral partnerships. The keynote concludes with a way forward that emphasizes inclusive policies, teacher capacity building, holistic assessment, and global collaboration to position ECCE as a cornerstone of sustainable societies.
