Finnish ECEC personnel's views on the challenging nature of promoting social justice: a sustainability research perspective

Previous research has shown that the importance of education for sustainability is acknowledged in Finnish early childhood education and care but not systematically put into practice. At present, curricula require considering social, cultural, economic and ecological sustainability in all activities. In this research, discourse analysis was used to examine Finnish personnel's views on the ways in which social and cultural sustainability are taken into account and implemented in work with children. The participants consisted of 53 ECEC teams. The data were gathered through the Assessment tool for Promotion of Sustainability in ECEC (PROSUS). Based on the analysis, three constructions emerged which describe the sustainability work with children under 6 years old. Findings revealed the challenging nature of integrating social justice issues into pedagogy. The implications of this research point the necessity of strengthening personnel's knowledge and understanding of social justice and emphasising children's own agentative role in promoting sustainability work.