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This essay critiques the relevance of historical antecedents about children's play in nature and how these historical and political mechanisms create cultural rovoked by Taylor's (2013) exploration of the pervasive influence of romanticised images of innocent children in nature and our own experiences of never-ending 'nice' stories about young children in nature, here we trouble how nature experiences may or may not preclude children's meaningful and agentic participation in sustainability. We question is engagement with nature, a tangible and easily accessible approach in early childhood education (ECE) promoting a 'nature by default paradigm' and potentially thwarting a fuller transformative engagement with sustainability. Thus, we argue the case for shifting our frames beyond idealised romanticised notions and human-nature dualisms to a 'common worlds' (Haraway, 2008; Latour, 2004; Taylor, 2013) frame guided by collectivist understandings within connective life worlds. Such a shift requires a significant recasting of ethical human-nature understandings and relationships in ECE. Keywords: nature-play, early childhood education, sustainability, common worlds, relationality, Questions and Historical Antecedents We question: 'Are evocative images of children playing in nature and the dominance of nature experiences in early childhood curriculum enough to promote a sustainable future?' [...]

DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM EUROPEAN forest preschools, Westgarth Kindergarten instigated a Bush Kinder Pilot Program as an innovative response to the Australian Government's universal access directive to provide 15 hours of preschool per week for all four-year-olds. The preschool children at Westgarth Bush Kinder participated in a play-based child-centred program within their local Darebin Parklands each Wednesday with two kindergarten teachers. In total the children attended 12 hours of preschool per week at Westgarth Kindergarten (home kindergarten) and three hours per week at the Bush Kinder. This study examined how the pilot program addressed the vision of the kindergarten community and the efficacy of the service model as a response to the universal access directive. The positive impacts of the program for children, parents and teachers offer key findings for other kindergarten communities seeking alternative responses to universal access. The Westgarth Bush Kinder Pilot Program exceeded the expectations of all involved; the right people, in the right place, at the right time inspired this unique response., Introduction The Westgarth Kindergarten Bush Kinder Pilot Program was established in response to the Australian Government's universal access directive to provide 15 hours of preschool for all four-year-old preschool children. [...]

Global environmental changes and substantial social justice issues are impacting all, raising significant concerns for the Earth's future. There is a need for equitable education as an avenue towards addressing these sustainability challenges. This qualitative content analysis study examined a representation of the concerns and interests of professionals involved in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS). We analyzed a conference document collated for the Transnational Dialogues in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability Research (TND) that included contributions from 60 educators and researchers from nineteen different countries. Three significant global and interrelated ECEfS themes emerged from the data: urgency, equity, and agency. The data indicate an urgent need for change as well as a much-needed push for equity alongside stakeholder concerns and interests in the role of children's agency. There was evidence of an inherent tension between child-centered and more teacher-centered pedagogies to achieve specific education for sustainability (EfS) goals. The findings have implications for applied EfS practices, co-operative research, and future investigations on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

doi: 10.1017/aee.2015.44, Published online by Cambridge University Press, 8th December 2015 In the above mentioned article the following error has occurred where some text has been omitted from the abstract. [...]