The Green Early Years Choices Champions Organisation (GECCO) has launched the petition on the change.org website.
The DfE consultation on changes to the EYFS framework, which closes today (31 January), makes no reference at all to sustainability.
The petition states, ‘The Department for Education’s consultation on changes to Early Years Foundation Stage Reform does not include any reference whatsoever to sustainability.
‘We believe that protecting our planet and ensuring it is fit for future generations is important and that children should learn about this from an early age. We owe it to our children to teach them about the world they inhabit and that our planet is precious and must be preserved.’
The move is part of a wider campaign to promote sustainability in early years education.
Cheryl Hadland, founder of GECCO and managing director of Tops Day Nurseries, said it was important to teach and model sustainability from children’s earliest years.
‘Young children have the biggest stake in the future of our planet and it is the duty of the Government, early education and childcare sector, and all members of society to teach them the value of the natural environment and work to safeguard their futures against climate change to, she said.’
GECCO would like to see in the EYFS:
- the the Government supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in the framework
- introducing sustainability to the curriculum as early as possible
- encouraging all behaviours that will teach children to secure a more sustainable future for all.
Ms Hadland added, ‘This includes embedding an ethos of sustainability into the management of early years settings, training employees to be role models for sustainable citizenship, and teaching children how to reduce the environmental impact of the spaces they inhabit through participation and example.’
A group of early years educators, including Ms Hadland, Liz Bayram, chief executive of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, Mark Bird of the Childbase Partnership, Diane Boyd, senior lecturer in early years at Liverpool John Moores University, and others, have also published a letter in The Guardian today on the issue.
It says that, 'England lags behind not just Scotland and Wales, but also New Zealand and Australia, which have already embedded sustainability into early years education. We must catch up.
'Early years providers are uniquely placed to cultivate respect for sustainable practices, and we believe that the Government must recognise this and extend the support for the environment that already exists in primary schools into early years too.'
- Sign the petition here.