dijous, 9 de gener del 2020

Creating the Habit of Recycling in Early Childhood: A Sustainable Practice in Spain

Creating the Habit of Recycling in Early Childhood: A Sustainable Practice in Spain
1
School of Communication, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Immaculada 22, 08127 Barcelona, Spain
2
Faculty of Education, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, 08127 Barcelona, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 19 October 2019 / Accepted: 8 November 2019 / Published: 14 November 2019

Abstract

:
Early childhood education on sustainability has been an issue of high relevance in the last decade. In Spain, many different efforts have been made to increase children’s knowledge, skills, and awareness related to sustainability issues. However, uncertainty about the effectiveness of education on sustainable development exists. This research reports on an exploratory study organized by the association that promotes aluminum packaging recycling in Spain (Arpal). Seven teachers were trained on sustainability in general and on aluminum packaging recycling in particular. These teachers defined and implemented a teaching unit with active learning activities that involved three preschools. Fifty-four children under 6 years of age, mainly 2 and 3 years old, along with their parents, participated in the teaching unit. Qualitative and quantitative methods (questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and focus groups) were carried out to assess the impact. The results proved that different partners, such as children, parents, teachers, managers, and associations, can work together with the common goal of improving education on sustainable development in early childhood, and all of them benefit from this collaboration. Moreover, this study confirmed that education on sustainability should be embedded in the daily routine of preschools. Furthermore, after the exploratory study, the teaching unit was implemented in 29 Andalusian preschools.
Keywords:
environmental children’s education; early childhood; sustainable development

1. Introduction

Sustainable development is considered a relevant and critical issue in contemporary societies [1,2,3,4,5]. In the field of education, special attention has been paid to sustainability [4,6,7,8]. Knowing that sustainable development is often considered to be an integrated concept with three pillars (environmental, economic, and social [9,10]), this paper focuses on environmental issues. Moreover, the research concentrated on education for sustainable development in early childhood [11,12], and particularly on the habit of recycling (see Figure 1), as this is a practice necessary to avoid the depletion of natural resources. Furthermore, different studies have shown that children can engage with ideas related to the environment when the issues connect mightily with localized experiences, such as recycling.
Figure 1. Position of “recycling” within the framework of sustainable development. Source: authors.
Education about the environment highlights the individual’s active participation and contribution in coping with environmental problems and making sustainable choices [13]. However, despite the efforts made to increase people’s awareness, skills, and sensitivity toward caring for the environment, there are doubts about the effectiveness of some of these programs and whether they contribute to sustainability [14]. It has been found that knowledge does not easily lead to a change in behavior [15,16]. On the other hand, it seems that these programs have overlooked children as relevant stakeholders [17] and that environmental education researchers did not direct their interest to very young children until 2007 [18,19]. Besides, according to Iliopoulou [20], research studying very young children’s understanding of waste management has shown that most of them regard waste disposal and recycling as others’ responsibility, and only a minority in that study talked about action.
For all of these reasons, this study aimed to define and implement a teaching unit that develops the habit of recycling in early childhood by focusing on a concrete sustainable practice: aluminum packaging recycling. Aluminum was chosen for several reasons. Firstly, it is a material that children are familiar with because they see and use it almost every day (foil wrapping for sandwiches, yogurt lids, pouches, etc.). Secondly, recycling aluminum creates significant environmental advantages, such as reducing consumption of the mineral bauxite and reducing energy consumption by 95% when manufacturing new products. Thirdly, aluminum can be recycled indefinitely without losing its attributes. The amount of aluminum packaging that is recycled should be increased in Spain in order to achieve the rates established by European regulations: 50% before 2025 and 60% before 2030 (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/852/oj) [21].
Thus, this study had the following research objectives:
1. Determine the levels of knowledge, awareness, and behavior that teachers, children, and parents have about sustainability in general and the recycling of aluminum packaging in particular;
2. Train teachers to design a teaching unit that educates children about sustainability in general and the recycling of aluminum packaging in particular; and
3. Assess the effectiveness of the aluminum packaging recycling program for teachers, children, parents, and preschools.
We approached our research questions according to this sequence. First, our purpose was to assess managers’ willingness to participate in educational programs to promote sustainability to children. Second, through the implementation of workshops, we trained teachers about sustainability in general and the recycling of aluminum packaging in particular. According to Varela-Losada, teachers play a key role, especially given the transition toward schools and communities committed to the environment and people [22]. Third, seven teachers developed and implemented a teaching unit to involve children and families in recycling activities.
This paper is organized as follows: first, we present the framing used to conceptualize early education on sustainability. Then, we describe the methodology. The results are presented afterwards. Finally, we engage in a more in-depth discussion, providing some concluding remarks and implications for future research.

2. Education for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood

The application of education for sustainability practices in early childhood has progressed slowly [23]. While it is true that sustainable development deals with abstract and complex relationships that are especially difficult for children [24], many authors have stressed the importance of environmental education, and some say that education in environmental sustainability should start in childhood [18,25,26,27,28,29]. In addition, early childhood education could play an essential role in sustainable practice, as it is considered to be a period of time when children’s main attitudes and values are established for the first time [27,30,31,32,33]. According to Davis [12], the experiences provided for young children are influential to their present and future beliefs, values, well-being, and individual and social development. Furthermore, children represent the interface between current and future generations [17].
In terms of early childhood sustainability education, attention to experiential learning is central and lies at the heart of early childhood education [33]. Learning through games and active exploration of the environment has been considered a characteristic of early learning [34]. Besides, cooperation between families and preschools appears to be a critical element when trying to obtain long-term benefits [35]. MacDonald [36] has highlighted that early childhood sustainability education should be promoted through active, collaborative, project-based methods rooted in self, family, school, and community. Chauhan, Rama Das, Haigh, and Rita [37] pointed out that pro-sustainability orientation includes changing habits and making sustainable choices as a matter of daily routine.
Additionally, there is room in the preschool setting to build connections with and participate in the community around them and to take advantage of physical and social resources in the district. This view is incorporated within place-based education, in which children learn to understand, value, and care for the heritage, culture, and landscape of the place where they live. As Luff points out [33] (p. 453) (after several studies), “Children who have opportunities to explore, connect with, and appreciate the places where they live develop a sense of care for self, others, and the environment. This can lead to work on local social and environmental projects and growing appreciation of wider national and global issues.” In summary, the literature recognizes the necessity of organizing experiences in early childhood environmental education that allow for maximum interaction and communication between teachers, children, and their families [38].
From the point of view of teaching, following Loubser et al., “The implementation of environmental education programs and activities conducted by teachers for their own students would seem advantageous in ensuring both continuity and the positive impacts of environmental education programs on school students, as teachers are familiar with the curricula and the time availability of students” [14] (p. 1165). Furthermore, it was found that to implement environmental education, it is necessary not only that teachers know how to educate young children, but also that they know general concepts of sustainability [38]. Therefore, governments and international organizations must provide the means for this to happen [35]. Moreover, according to Hopkins and McKeown [39], it is necessary that nonformal organizations and the private sector support formal education to ensure effectiveness in sustainable living. In this study, this is the role of the association that promotes aluminum packaging recycling in Spain (Arpal). Arpal provides people as facilitators and program developers. Experts from Arpal can also provide additional knowledge and active methodology so that teachers become sustainability leaders within their schools. According to Kennelly, Taylor, and Maxwell [40], when values and beliefs about the issues associated with sustainability are strong, they become part of the teacher’s identity and provide a personal motivation to incorporate those values into their teaching.
All of the ideas and knowledge obtained from a review of the literature were considered in the research that follows.

3. Materials and Methods

The goal of this research was to study whether the teaching unit could contribute to fostering recycling habits in early childhood. As has been said before, usually verbal persuasion is not enough to encourage children to act positively to protect the environment [41]. Moreover, it seems that one of the most crucial challenges in education for sustainable development is didactic [42]. Thus the researchers thought that a teaching unit with active learning activities that develop under multiple skills could have a better impact on children’s behavior by focusing on a concrete sustainable practice: aluminum packaging recycling.
The teaching unit was designed by seven teachers that were then responsible for the implementation of a pilot test developed in two preschools in Córdoba and one in Seville (with an average of 18 children in each preschool) to assess its efficacy. The teachers belonged to the association Supla (http://suplasl.es), which promotes social and solidarity economy. The research took place with the collaboration of Arpal, which was in charge of training teachers in aluminum packaging recycling issues and of the supervision of technical issues related to the content of aluminum. On the other hand, the impact that the teaching unit had on the preschools and the families was also evaluated. After this exploratory research, the teaching unit was implemented in 29 Andalusian preschools, with a total of 1300 children participating in the study.

3.1. Phases and Research Tools

3.1.1. Diagnosis

The goal of the first phase was to find out the level of knowledge, awareness, and behavior that children under 6 years old (mainly 2 and 3 years old), parents, and teachers had before the program.
For the teachers, a questionnaire was prepared to assess three parameters: four questions tested knowledge about recycling and about aluminum packaging, three about awareness, and two about behavior. This questionnaire was answered before the training that Arpal offered to teachers in November 2017. The survey questions included the following:
  • Q1: Do you know what material goes into recycling containers that are green, yellow, and blue?
  • Q2: Can you mention packaging made of aluminum?
  • Q3: Do you know in which container aluminum packaging must be placed in order to be recycled?
  • Q4: How important do you consider your participation in aluminum packaging recycling to be?
  • Q5: Why do you consider your participation in aluminum packaging recycling important (or not)?
  • Q6: Who benefits if you recycle aluminum packaging?
  • Q7: Do you recycle some of the following materials at home or in the workplace: beverage cans, bricks, aluminum packaging, foil paper, or other packaging made of metal?
  • Q8: Do you teach about waste recycling in the classroom?
  • Q9: Have you ever heard about a circular economy?
To determine children’s knowledge, teachers tested five parameters at the beginning of the teaching unit: knowledge of the containers for recycling, attitudes toward recycling, creativity when working with recycled material, the classification of packaging before recycling, and knowledge about where aluminum packaging must be placed in order to be recycled. They retested the same parameters at the end of the teaching unit.
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https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6393/htm

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