The majority of parents outside the early years sector are unaware of the tiny green passport that is circulating in British nurseries. It doesn’t appear to be much. A kid-friendly synopsis of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is printed inside a laminated cover with a few sticker slots. However, this modest document serves as the foundation for the OMEP UK Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Citizenship Award, which is doing something truly unique in British early education. It asks whether three-year-olds can start to comprehend what it means to be a part of the world and then demonstrates, setting by setting, that they can.
The program resulted from a ten-year international research partnership. The World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) developed an Environmental Rating Scale for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood between 2010 and 2014 in ten countries, including Chile, Kenya, and South Korea. John Siraj-Blatchford, an honorary professor at the University of Plymouth in the UK, led that research, which was published in 2016 and served as the basis for the eventual creation of the ESC Award. It’s important to remember that this wasn’t created in a boardroom. It originated in classrooms, where educators observed kids engaging with soil, birdsong, and one another.
The award’s insistence on not being a curriculum add-on sets it apart from the majority of green accreditation programs. The program incorporates sustainability into everyday routines, unstructured play, and everyday nursery life. By working with their parents on tasks like identifying three wild birds, identifying wildlife habitats, recycling materials, and observing linguistic and cultural diversity in their communities, kids can earn stickers for their passports. It has an almost antiquated quality. Screens are not necessary. Just curiosity, focus, and a stroll outside.
One of the biggest nursery chains in the UK, Tops Day Nurseries, implemented the program in all of its locations beginning in 2022. Before formally launching at their annual conference in early 2023, regional managers were trained and baseline audits were completed. By that summer, settings were pursuing accreditation for the Bronze Award. The fact that Tops recently received a King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development and that the chain’s managing director, Cheryl Hadland, has been outspoken about sustainability for years indicates that the ESC framework is finding its way into environments that are already ready to take it seriously.
However, a motivated chain adopting the program is one thing. There is currently no definitive answer to the question of whether smaller independent nurseries and childminders can handle the audit process and parent engagement goals.
The most ambitious component is probably the parent partnership component. A setting must have at least 60% of families actively participating in the extracurricular activities in order to be eligible for the Bronze Award. It’s a high standard. It takes time, trust, and a certain kind of relationship between the practitioner and the family to get parents to fill out booklets, register for an online platform, and have discussions about sustainability with their kids. Reaching that threshold may be challenging in environments where parents are already overburdened.
However, it seems that the designers of the award were aware of this conflict. The exercises are purposefully straightforward, based on widely accessible materials, and centered around the skills and knowledge that kids already possess. Instead of imposing abstract concepts from above, the SchemaPlay approach, created in collaboration with OMEP UK, builds on each child’s preexisting patterns of exploration. A youngster who enjoys playing in the water may discover that she is learning about conservation. A child who has an obsession with sorting things could be encouraged to recycle. The pedagogy seems to respect the way young children truly think.
In keeping with OMEP’s global ethos and the notion that citizenship transcends national boundaries, Silver level settings are required to work with a preschool abroad. Through shared experiences of planting trees and cultivating food, as well as the sharing of images and voices via mobile phones, previous projects have brought British and Kenyan children together. Even if you’re unsure about the long-term viability of those collaborations, it’s difficult to avoid feeling that way.
The ESC Award is not ostentatious. It lacks both a viral marketing campaign and a celebrity ambassador. However, there’s a sense that something real is taking hold as it quietly permeates British early childhood settings, driven by practitioners who support it. It’s unclear if it scales outside of committed settings. However, learning has already started for the kids who are gathering those stickers, naming birds in the garden, and bringing their tiny green passports home.
