Why and how to teach the SDGs in Early Childhood | Natalie Haas | TEDxDonauinsel

Summary

The speaker, a youth delegate to the United Nations for Austria, emphasizes the importance of integrating the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development into early childhood education. They advocate for teaching children about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from an early age, using pedagogical methods to engage them in understanding global issues. The talk encourages parents, politicians, and educators to be role models, incorporate SDGs into education, and empower children to become active global citizens, fostering a generation that grows up with a values system aligned with global goals.

Takeaways

• 🌟 The speaker decided to pursue a career in education at 14, which later evolved into political science and international relations.
• 🔄 A natural progression from elementary pedagogy to political science was highlighted as a logical step for the speaker.
• 🌐 As a youth delegate to the UN for Austria, the speaker combines early childhood education with global politics.
• 📅 The Global Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030 is a key focus, emphasizing the need for universal involvement to achieve these goals.
• 👶 Values and empathy begin to form in children as early as two to three years old, suggesting the importance of early education in shaping values.
• 🌱 The speaker advocates for including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in early childhood education to instill these values from a young age.
• 👨‍🏫 Pedagogy is described as the science and art of teaching, with a focus on empowering children to understand and shape the world.
• 📚 Teaching the SDGs to children involves simple questions about the world and their place in it, fostering curiosity and learning.
• 👪 Parents are encouraged to be role models, engaging their children in their actions and fostering their development of opinions and confidence.
• 🏛️ Politicians are urged to integrate the SDGs into national curricula to educate the next generation about sustainable development.
• 👩‍🏫 Educators are advised to teach children about their rights and dedicate sessions to the SDGs, helping them become knowledgeable and confident global citizens.

Q & A

At what age did the speaker decide to pursue a career in education?

The speaker decided to pursue a career in education at the age of 14.

What were the speaker's initial career aspirations?

Initially, the speaker aspired to have a career in the science of education in elementary pedagogy.

What sparked the speaker's interest in politics and international relations?

The speaker's interest in politics, international relations, and civic engagement grew while they were involved in various projects and initiatives during their educational path.

What is the speaker's current role in relation to the United Nations?

The speaker is currently serving as the youth delegate to the United Nations for Austria.

What is the global agenda the speaker is most familiar with?

The speaker is most familiar with the global agenda for sustainable development, which includes goals to be achieved by 2030.

Why does the speaker believe involving everyone is crucial for achieving the Global Agenda 2030?

The speaker believes involving everyone is crucial to create a world where everyone can live in dignity and to make the sustainable development goals a lived reality.

At what age does a child first develop roots of empathy according to the speaker?

According to the speaker, a child first develops roots of empathy between the ages of two and three.

How does the speaker suggest teaching the Global Agenda 2030 to young children?

The speaker suggests using the science of education pedagogy to plan and practice sessions in kindergarten dedicated to the SDGs, starting with simple questions and being role models through daily actions.

What is the speaker's advice for parents regarding the Global Agenda 2030?

The speaker advises parents to be role models, engage their children in their actions, and give them the chance to develop their own opinions and be self-confident drivers of change.

What is the speaker's message to pedagogues working with young children?

The speaker encourages pedagogues to teach children their rights, design and practice sessions dedicated to the SDGs, and help children become knowledgeable and confident about their potential to shape the world.

What is the speaker's hope for the TEDx talk's impact?

The speaker hopes the TEDx talk will have a snowball effect towards raising awareness and getting everyone involved, from early childhood, to achieve the UN's vision of a more peaceful, healthy, and equitable world.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 From Pedagogy to Global Politics

The speaker shares their journey from deciding to pursue a career in elementary education at the age of 14 to becoming increasingly interested in politics, international relations, and civic engagement. They discuss how their passion led them to study political science and eventually become the youth delegate to the United Nations for Austria. The speaker emphasizes the importance of involving everyone in achieving the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030 and highlights the role of early childhood education in shaping values and empathy, suggesting that children as young as two to three years old can develop a foundational understanding of empathy and values.

05:02

📚 Teaching Global Goals to Young Minds

The speaker advocates for a two-tiered approach to teaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to children. The first tier involves using educational strategies in kindergarten to help children understand and experience the importance of the SDGs through storytelling, experimentation, and discussion. The second tier focuses on being role models for children, demonstrating the values and actions associated with the SDGs in daily life. The speaker encourages parents, politicians, and educators to actively involve children in understanding and contributing to the SDGs, fostering a culture of sustainable development and active global citizenship from an early age.

10:06

🌱 Cultivating a Sustainable Future Generation

In the concluding paragraph, the speaker calls for a collective effort to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into early childhood education and to involve children in shaping the world they are growing up in. They invite everyone, including educators, parents, decision-makers, and children themselves, to be part of this movement. The speaker envisions raising a generation that not only understands the SDGs but also incorporates them into their value system from an early age, thereby becoming active contributors to a more peaceful, healthy, and equitable world. The talk ends with a call to action to spread the word and create a snowball effect towards achieving the UN's vision.

Keywords

💡Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The SDGs are a global agenda consisting of 17 goals established by world leaders to address challenges such as poverty, inequality, and climate change by 2030. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of teaching these goals to young children, ensuring they become part of their values and actions from an early age.

💡Early Childhood Education

This refers to the formal teaching of children in the early stages of their development, typically up to the age of five. The speaker argues that this period is crucial for instilling values related to empathy, sustainable development, and civic responsibility, as children's foundational understanding of the world forms during this time.

💡Values

Values are core beliefs or principles that guide behavior and decision-making. The speaker highlights how values begin forming between ages two and five and how introducing concepts like the SDGs early can help shape a generation of socially responsible individuals.

💡Global Citizenship

Global citizenship refers to understanding and acting upon global issues such as sustainability, equality, and human rights. The speaker envisions children as future global citizens, whose upbringing and education are essential in achieving the SDGs by instilling a sense of responsibility toward the world.

💡Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. According to the speaker, children begin developing empathy as early as age two, making it an ideal time to introduce them to concepts like social justice and environmental responsibility, which are essential for achieving the SDGs.

💡Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was an influential educator who developed a child-centered approach to learning, emphasizing independence and self-directed activity. The speaker refers to Montessori's philosophy of 'help me do it myself' to advocate for teaching children about the SDGs in an interactive and exploratory way.

💡Pedagogy

Pedagogy is the science and art of education, particularly how teaching methods are applied to different age groups. The speaker discusses how pedagogy can be used to teach young children about complex topics like sustainable development by engaging them through storytelling, experimentation, and discussion.

💡Youth Delegate

A youth delegate is a young person selected to represent their country at international organizations like the United Nations. The speaker identifies herself as Austria's youth delegate to the UN, using this platform to promote the integration of the SDGs into early childhood education.

💡Civic Engagement

Civic engagement involves participating in activities that contribute to the governance and betterment of the community or society. The speaker shares her personal journey of becoming passionate about civic engagement and how it led her to focus on political science and international relations.

💡2030 Agenda

The 2030 Agenda refers to the United Nations' plan to achieve sustainable development goals by 2030. The speaker emphasizes the critical role that education plays in ensuring that the next generation not only understands but actively works towards these global goals, starting from early childhood.

Highlights

The speaker decided to pursue a career in education at the age of 14.

Interest in politics and international relations developed during high school.

Graduated with a diploma in elementary education but chose to study political science.

Currently serves as the youth delegate to the United Nations for Austria.

Combines early childhood education with world politics in the UN role.

Emphasizes the importance of involving everyone in achieving the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development by 2030.

Children develop the roots of empathy and values between the ages of two and three.

Proposes teaching the Global Agenda 2030 to children using simple questions about the world.

Pedagogy is the science, technology, and art of teaching and educating children.

Maria Montessori's educational philosophy is used to help children understand the world.

Children are creative and can answer questions we haven't thought of.

A two-tiered approach is suggested: using pedagogy to teach SDGs and being role models.

Children should be given the chance to shape the world they live in.

Parents should be role models and engage their children in their actions.

Politicians should include the sustainable development agenda in national curricula.

Pedagogues should teach children their rights and the SDGs.

The speaker encourages spreading the word about involving children in sustainable development education.

The goal is to raise a generation that lives with the sustainable development goals from early childhood.

Transcripts

[Music]

when did you decide how you see the

world and what your values are when I

was 14 years old I decided to pursue a

career in the science of education in

elementary pedagogy while I was in my

educational high school pursuing this

career path I became more and more

interested in politics in international

relations and in civic engagement I

became involved in a variety of projects

and initiatives and I became really

passionate about it so but it's time I

graduated from high school and I

received my diploma in elementary

education I already decided that I'm

going to study political science and now

I actually want to pursue a career in

international relations and for me this

actually was not a big step for me it

really logically and organically

followed after each other going from

being an elementary pedagogy towards

political science and a career in

international relations today I'm

talking to you as the youth delegate to

the United Nations for Austria and in

this position I am combining the

seemingly contradictory concepts of

early childhood education and world

politics as youth delegate to the United

Nations one of the concepts that I am

most familiar with is the global agenda

for sustainable development which should

be achieved by 2030 world leaders have

committed towards doing everything in

their power to achieve these goals and I

believe that if we really do want to

achieve these goals we need to get

everyone involved we need to get

everyone involved too in order to it

if this chaste world where everyone can

live in dignity so let me ask you again

when did you decide how you see the

world and what your values are if we do

want to achieve the Global Agenda 2030

we need to make it part of each and

every one's concept of values it is

between the ages of two and three years

when a child for the very first time

develops first roots of empathy and

science proves that in early childhood

development psychology until the age of

five a human being has already developed

the general concept of values so this

should make us think it is thus that if

we want a future world where the

sustainable development goals become a

lived reality we should give the

youngest of our societies the chance and

opportunity to shape the world that we

are living in we need to give them the

chance to have heard off and experienced

what sustainable development means and

we need to give them the chance to make

it part of their construct of values but

how do you teach a global agenda

negotiated by world diplomats to young

children

the science of Education pedagogy

pedagogy is the science the technology

and the art of teaching and educating

children

the famous pedagogy scientists of

Education Maria Montessori once that

helped me to do it myself so

let's exactly do this let's help and

support young children to understand and

shave the world that we are living in

together with them children love

learning

they love to explore and children are

very very creative they find interesting

answers to questions we didn't even ask

yet and teaching the Global Agenda 2030

to children starts with simple questions

where does our garbage go where does our

water come from where is this where we

live and how is this in other parts of

the world so let's follow a two-tiered

approach first let's use the science of

Education to plan and to practice

sessions in kindergarten dedicated

towards the SDGs we can let the children

feel experienced and understands the

importance of each of the SDGs by

philosophizing with them by vividly

telling stories by letting them

experiment and by helping them being

aware of their rights as a child we can

help them express their opinion on each

of the different goals and we can show

them what goals we have but even more

importantly why we have them and why it

might be important today to tell about

the goals to other people second

children don't only listen to what we

say they mainly watch what we do so

let's be role models and let

practice what we preach let's set our

daily actions accordingly and separate

the garbage together with them let's

mainstream chenda equality into the

interaction with children and let's do

this at every given time

let's give children the chance to learn

from our positive examples we can make

the SDGs

part of our daily lift culture and we

can actually make them part of our

concept of values let's implement the

agenda 2013 in early childhood education

on every level possible and let's listen

to the ideas and actions the children

want to implement once children have an

understanding of the SDGs and why they

are necessary they will be inspired to

make positive changes big and small ones

and this goes even further they will go

home and they will tell their parents

about it and they will be part an active

part in shaping the world that they are

growing up in I have talked about

elementary pedagogy the science of

Education and about the 2030 agenda for

sustainable development if we want to

achieve the global goals we need to

teach them from the very beginning in

early childhood education in elementary

education and we need to give the

youngest of our society the chance to

become active global citizens while

granting them their right to be involved

in the processes that concern them I

want you to take three points with you

first if you're a parent be role models

engage your children in what you are

doing

give them the chance to develop their

own opinion and be self-confident

self-confident drivers of change we need

them second if you're a politician are

part of the decision-making process and

involved in national curricula for

educating your paragraphs make the

sustainable development agenda part of

their education and mainstream the

sustainable development agenda in every

part of the education third if you are a

pedagogy

working with young children teach them

their rights design use and practice

sessions dedicated towards the SDGs and

lets them become part of your culture

and help the children being

knowledgeable and confident about what

they want and what they can do in order

to shape the worlds that they want

finally I want to address all of you and

spread the word do you know someone

working with young children who would

want to bring the SDGs closer to

children into elementary pedagogy or are

you interested in learning more about

how to teach children about the

sustainable development

I generally hope the TEDx will have a

snowball effect towards raising more

awareness that we need to get everyone

involved from their early years together

with pedagogues teachers parents

decision-makers and children we can be a

powerful force for achieving the UN's

vision of a more peaceful healthy and

equitable world think about when you

first heard about the sustainable

development goals maybe three years ago

well let's now think about the fact that

we do now have the chance to raise a

generation that lives with the

sustainable development goals from the

very early childhood we have the chance

to raise a generation that can actually

have the sustainable development goals

in mind while building and developing

their construct of values so let's give

this future generation the chance to

develop their concept of values well

being aware of the global goals while

being aware of their rights and well

being aware of the world that they want

thank you

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]