Using eco-social justice to develop a continuous professional development workshop exploring how education for sustainable development can be embedded into early childhood education and social care courses in South East Technological University, Ireland
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Social pedagogy is grounded in the belief that education can drive meaningful and lasting change in society. Traditionally focused on human relationships and mutual care, social pedagogy is now being extended to include our relationship with the planet and its ecosystems. Eco-social justice highlights the dangers of prioritising economic growth at the expense of human rights and environmental sustainability as it leads to ecological degradation and deepening economic inequalities. We propose eco-social justice as a lens through which climate change, and its broader social impacts, can be understood as a pressing issue for early childhood education and social care work in Ireland. Our initiative responds to the urgent need to reframe the climate crisis beyond an environmental concern to a social justice concern. Increasingly, educators are expected to help students connect global challenges, such as sustainability, inequality and justice, with their future professional roles. This article outlines the conceptual foundation for a continuous professional development workshop developed for academics in early childhood education and social care at South East Technological University. The workshop offered participants a space to reflect on their existing knowledge, attitudes and practices related to eco-social justice and education for sustainable development. It encouraged dialogue around how these themes are currently integrated into course content and their enhanced embeddedness. The workshop was analysed as part of a Master of Arts in Teaching and Leaning, and because of ethical and academic constraints, participant insights cannot be shared at this time.
Authors: Eileen Farrell, Lillian Byrne
Institution: South East Technological University
Language: English
Subfield: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4415376910