Redesign of an Outdoor Space in a Swedish Preschool: Opportunities and Constraints for Sustainability Education

The study investigates how kindergarten employees, together with children, kindergarten management and parents, carried out a process where they redesigned the kindergarten’s outdoor area together. The study focuses on how children’s involvement in the project can form a basis for later attitudes and responsible action related to sustainable education.

The results show that a deeper understanding of and better self-confidence in practical pedagogy among kindergarten employees is necessary for effective sustainable teaching. The researcher believes that a common frame of reference for pedagogical practices and reflection processes is necessary within and between kindergartens.

The study has taken the data material from a larger research project that investigated the collective redesign of a kindergarten’s outdoor area in the period 2018-2019. In this study, the researcher has selected two situations from the project to illustrate aspects of the redesign process that shed light on sustainability and the children’s engagement. The kindergarten in the project is located in a multicultural urban area in Sweden with 20 newly arrived immigrant children who spoke little Swedish. The data material consists of participatory observation, conversations with children and kindergarten employees, and the children’s pictures of the outdoor area.

Nordén, B. & Avery, H. (2020). “Redesign of an Outdoor Space in a Swedish Preschool: Opportunities and Constraints for Sustainability Education”. International Journal of Early Childhood, 52(3):319–335.