Absent and present places. Perspectives on childhood, nature and society in Danish early childhood education for sustainability

This chapter explores the presence and absence of different sustainability perspectives in Danish early childhood education, using place as a methodological and analytical lens. Sustainability is relatively weakly anchored in Danish early childhood policies and primarily centered on nature pedagogy. Based on a participatory mapping of early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) in two municipalities, the chapter suggests that educational practice mirrors the strong focus on nature experiences seen in the policy framework. The mapping showed that nature places and nature pedagogical approaches have a strong presence in educational practice and are the most dominant entry points to ECEfS. While the mapping process also highlighted some examples of places where social, cultural, and political tensions were visibly present in the landscape, questions of children’s complex nature relations, social inequality and justice were absent in reflections and discussion about the maps. Furthermore, places characterized by a strong human influence and control were absent as places for ECEfS on the maps, suggesting an educational practice that leaves relatively little space for acknowledging children’s entanglement in society and politics. The chapter proposes that participatory mapping is a relevant methodology for identifying perspectives present and absent in ECEfS, and for generating reflections on – and possibly emerging disruptions of – broader conceptualizations of and dominant approaches to sustainability in early childhood