Parent–Practitioner Collaboration to Support Sustainable Development in Early Years Education

Abstract

This article stems from a research project in five early childhood development (ECD) centres in South Africa, and focuses on parent–practitioner collaboration for sustainable development in early years education. Using a qualitative approach, we followed a participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) design to answer the main research question: “How can parent–practitioner collaboration support education for sustainable development in the early years?” Participants formed an action learning set (ALS) in which they acted as co-researchers and equal partners to construct their own meanings in order to advocate for social change. Data were collected in the ALS during Cycle 3 of the PALAR process. We relied on transcribed, recorded ALS discussions and photovoice activities to generate data, and used thematic content analysis to collaboratively analyse the data. Our findings disclose that education for sustainable development is possible when parents and practitioners collaborate.