A comparative study of content areas in education for sustainability in eco- and non-eco-certified preschools in Sweden

Content areas in education for sustainability can be defined as the domain of knowledge and skills that are crucial for laying the foundation for children’s understanding of sustainability practices. This study explored and compared the integration of sustainability-related content areas in the teaching practices of 25 eco-certified and 25 non-eco-certified preschools across 25 municipalities in Sweden. Cross-sectional data on sustainability-related teaching practices were collected from 322 teachers using an open-ended questionnaire. An interpretative content analysis was used. Qualitative responses were analyzed using the OMEP ESD Rating Scale, while quantitative data were processed with IBM SPSS Statistics. The study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. The results showed that the preschool teachers addressed economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. Commonly used content areas in education for sustainability were waste sorting and recycling, guardianship (nature stewardship), cultivation, social and cultural diversity, and equity and equality. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences between eco- and non-eco-certified preschools in terms of the number of content areas addressed. However, teachers from eco-certified preschools demonstrated higher-quality responses in one of the 12 content areas: waste sorting and recycling. The findings indicate that teachers engage more strongly with the economic and social dimensions of sustainability. These findings of this study differ from previous research, likely because the present study classifies waste sorting and recycling as economic sustainability rather than environmental sustainability.